Specifically, consumer activity reported by auction giant eBay and leading online retailer Amazon has revealed searches for a number of desirable tech gadgets and cutting-edge products jumped significantly as the frantic Christmas rush began its rolling momentum.

While both online services had predicted reduced customer interest due to tighter purse strings and a fragile financial climate, Black Friday saw hugely popular devices such as the Nintendo Wii videogame console and Apple's iconic iPhone and iPod retaining their established market appeal.

Compounding that surge of interest by eager prospective tech buyers, eBay-owned payment service PayPal noted that it took almost 34 percent more online transactions this Black Friday than it did in 2007.

And, according to eBay, PayPal's performance amounted to some 12 percent of all e-commerce taken in the U.S. during Black Friday. Online tracking firm comScore has said that overall U.S. sales for the period throughout Christmas is expected to come in at around $29 billion.

Of those tech devices topping the lists of Black Friday shoppers, the Nintendo Wii remains highly desirable despite being released to retail more than two years ago, while the console's innovative Wii Fit exercise software is also showing its worth with those looking to burn away end-of-year excesses.

eBay reported that the Wii was its most searched-for product on Friday, building to more than 3,100 sales. Similarly, the Wii and Wii Fit were also tagged as the most popular items on Shopping.com and PriceGrabber.com.

“Consumers are responding to aggressive promotions and price drops on popular electronics,” said Ron LaPierre, president of PriceGrabber, in explaining the somewhat surprising product boost.

From Amazon's perspective, the all-conquering Apple iPod media player was the store's top-selling electronic device, while the Wii and Wii Fit topped its videogame department and the Canon PowerShot digital camera was the most wanted for photography enthusiasts.

Other devices listed by PriceGrabber as being massively popular during Black Friday, include the Sony BDP-S350 Blu-ray player, Sennheiser HD 555 headphones, the Acer Aspire One (AOA110-1295) notebook, and the Samsung LN52A650 52-inch LCD TV.