Cameraphone sales paint pretty picture

Rapid adoption of cameraphones has boosted flagging mobile phone sales.

Annual unit sales have reached nearly 150 million, and this year alone around 29 billion digital images will be generated using the phones, according to a study by InfoTrends Research Group.

The analyst expects cameraphone sales to experience a compound annual growth rate of 55 per cent through to 2008, to 656 million units per year.

"More consumers are purchasing cameraphones and experimenting with taking, sending and even printing photos," said Jill Aldort, senior research analyst at InfoTrends, in a statement.

"Cameraphones have boosted slowing worldwide mobile phone sales and photo messaging has contributed to an increase in data sent over the wireless networks."

Japan was the leading region for cameraphone sales in 2003, with more than 50 per cent market share.