Contrary to received wisdom cameraphones are not killing off the digital
camera industry and may in fact be boosting sales.
Analysts at IDC have spent
the past year studying the two markets and found that those who owned
cameraphones were more likely to purchase a digital camera having tried the
technology.
According to IDC's Mobile Imaging Survey the poor quality of cameraphones is
driving adoption of more high quality digital cameras.
The report noted that the evidence for this comes from the lack of pictures
being processed. Last year one cameraphone picture a month was being printed to
keep, but this year that has fallen to one every three months.
"Home is still the dominant place to print, yet the low number of prints
supports IDC's theory that end users have more reliable expectations regarding
mobile imaging than vendors themselves," said Chris Chute, senior analyst for
worldwide digital imaging solutions and services at IDC.
The report found that the bulk of cameraphones were owned by the 25-44 age
group. However, having tried the technology, over 30 per cent of those who
bought a cameraphone were planning to buy a digital camera.
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