May 21, 2004
Camera Phones Making A Difference (To Businesses)
Ever wondered how much impact the 'fun' cameras in mobile phones have on the rest of Digital Photgraphy? There could be over 169 million camera phones sold this year, reports Business Week - roughly one in four cameras - in an article entitled "The Camphone Revolution" via AllAboutSymbian.
Excerpts from Business Week:
"The shock waves are rippling through the imaging business. Sales of film and traditional cameras -- already hurt by the rise of digital photography -- could suffer further blows.
-- Digital camera makers are being forced to move upmarket as camera phones take over the lower end. And a whole new industry built around camphone snaps is starting to whip into gear.
-- Seiko Epson, and Canon are rolling out inexpensive color photo printers that connect wirelessly to handsets -- with no need to store pictures first on a PC.
-- Photography giants Eastman Kodak Co. and Fuji Photo Film Co are rushing to install in-store kiosks that churn out high-quality reproductions of photos taken with digital cameras and cell phones.
And the disruption is accelerating. In the last month, seven phonemakers have announced new models that incorporate megapixel cameras, which shoot pictures with a million points of resolution. That's three times the quality of most camphones on the market -- and comparable to digital cameras of a few years back."
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