Newport Beach and Huntington Beach may each have their own reality TV shows, but don’t even think about putting the two Orange County beach communities in the same category when it comes to tech.

Amazon.com just sent me a list of the top gadgets people in those cities purchased Aug. 10 to Sept. 10.

Newport Beach shoppers made the $177 Canon Powershot SD1100IS 8 MP camera in blue their number one purchase. In second place was the $677 Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12 MP camera.

Meanwhile, the top gadget in HB was the $35 SanDisk Sansa Clip MP3 player, 1 GB, pictured below on right.

Maybe it has something to do with family budgets. In Huntington Beach, the median household income was $75,896 in 2006, according to the U.S. Census esimate. Comparably, Newport Beach’s income was $103,068.

Newport Beach residents are also, apparently, Apple fans. Two of the top 5 gadgets purchased were Apple iPods (the $198 8GB iPod Touch and the $250 iPod Classic, 80 GB). In Huntington Beach, the iPod doesn’t show up until No. 9 (the 8 GB iPod touch).

The only gadget to make both top 5 lists was the aforementioned blue Canon PowerShot camera. It was the most purchased gadget for Newport Beach, while it came in fourth in Huntington Beach. It came in 6th nationwide.

Strangest item? A $24.99 mount for Garmin GPS devices came in 4th for Newport Beach. What does this mean? I dunno. Are NB’rs too cheap to get GPS built into their car? Or are they like me and just don’t like the limitations of built-in GPS?

Anyway…  Here are the lists of the shopping habits of NB and HB, care of Amazon.com:

Top 10 Consumer Electronic purchases by Newport Beach customers:

1. Canon PowerShot SD1100IS 8MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Blue)
2. Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens (Black)
3. Apple iPod touch 8 GB (1st Generation)
4. Garmin Portable Friction Dashboard Mount for Nüvi Series and StreetPilot C5XX Series GPS Navigators (C530, C550 and C580)
5. Apple iPod classic 80 GB Black (6th Generation)
6. Sony S2 Sports Walkman Digital Tuning Weather/AM/FM Stereo Armband Radio (White)
7. Garmin nüvi 760 Portable GPS Automobile Navigator
8. Olympus Stylus 1030SW 10.1MP Digital Camera with 3.6x Optical Wide Angle Zoom (Black)
9. Philips Hard Disk/DVD Recorder 160 GB (DVDR3576H/37)
10. TiVo TCD652160 HD Digital Video Recorder

Top 10 Consumer Electronic purchases by Huntington Beach customers:

1. SanDisk Sansa Clip 1 GB MP3 Player (Black)
2. Garmin nüvi 770 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
3. Nikon Coolpix L18 8MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Navy)
4. Canon PowerShot SD1100IS 8MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Blue)
5. Lenmar DLC4L Lithium-ion Digital Camera/Camcorder Battery Equivelent to the Canon NB-4L Battery
6. Garmin Portable Friction Dashboard Mount for Nüvi Series and StreetPilot C5XX Series GPS Navigators (C530, C550 and C580)
7. Samsung LN52A650 52-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color
8. Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens (Black)
9. Apple iPod touch 8 GB (1st Generation)
10. Sony Walkman Digital Tuning Weather FM/AM Stereo Cassette Player (Silver)

Top 10 Consumer Electronic purchases in the U.S.:

1. Garmin nüvi 350 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Text-to-Speech
2. Canon PowerShot A590IS 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
3. Garmin nüvi 200 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
4. Garmin nüvi 660 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
5. Apple iPod nano 4 GB Silver (3rd Generation)
6. Canon PowerShot SD1100IS 8MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Blue)
7. Canon PowerShot SD750 7.1MP Digital Elph Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Silver)
8. Apple iPod classic 80 GB Black (6th Generation)
9. Apple iPod nano 8 GB Black (3rd Generation)
10. Canon PowerShot SD850 IS 8.0 MP Digital Elph Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

Images from Amazon.com

Here’s some of the most intriguing Orange County business stories of the past week …

• 3M buys O.C. car-wax pioneer
• Self-serving froyo chains invading O.C., including Cherry on Top
• Get cable Internet in O.C. without Time Warner
• No plastic surgery for Sarah Palin, but maybe Botox
• First outlet mall in O.C. gives more details on stores
• Fairness drove judge to reject Broadcom billionaire’s plea deal
• $34.5 million Laguna home sale is O.C.’s second priciest

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