Study: Camera phones to overtake digital camera

29.08.2005
Von Jenalyn M.

The next two years may see the fall of digital cameras and the rise of the camera phone market -- this was indicated in a recent study conducted by ABI Research. According to the study, mobile phones with 1.3-megapixel cameras will soon be very universal and will outsell VGA camera phones by early next year as low-end camera phones are expected to grab the bulk of the market share currently held by low-end digital cameras. The next years will then see 2-, 3- and 4-megapixel camera devices replace lower specification models.

The market research firm claims that, by 2008, more than 1 billion camera phones will be out in markets around the world and that by next year, mobile camera phones will outnumber non-camera phones in sales volume. A separate study by research company Strategy Analytics released in April of this year estimates that camera phones outsold digital still cameras by an almost 4 to 1 ratio, as sales of camera phones more than doubled last year 257 million units sold as compared to the 68 million sold in 2003.

In the recent opening of mobile communications company Sony Ericsson?s fifth concept shop at Greenbelt 1 in Manila, Patrick Larraga, marketing manager for Sony Ericsson Philippines said in an interview with Computerworld Philippines that they are ?definitely? seeing a higher demand from the camera phone market. He is quick to add however, that this does not necessarily mean that digital cameras will soon be ?replaced? by camera phones. According to Larraga, the issue is more of people wanting to have both the camera and phone function in one gadget than just a standalone camera or a phone.

Larraga stressed that it would be nearly impossible to see digital cameras faced-out in the next two years or so but he agrees that people today are beginning to realize the practicality of having a camera phone. The marketing manager however admits that the results of the study are very encouraging saying that, now, Sony Ericsson all the more has reason to constantly innovate and come up with better and better phones. When asked if they intend to target the low-end market as well, Larraga claims that Sony Ericsson has always been ?evenly? targeting both the low-, mid-, and high-end markets, although some of their latest camera phones lean on the mid-and high-end segment.

With the opening of its fifth concept shop at the second floor or Greenbelt 1, Sony Ericsson Philippines General Manager Dennis Manzano said that they wanted to be more ?available? and service-ready for their customers and that they are actually targeting to open five more concept shops by the end of the year. Manzano added that they coincided the opening of the shop with the launch of their entry into the mobile music scene with its new Walkman branded phone, the W800i. According to Manzano, the Walkman name has always been recognized the world over as almost synonymous to mobile music, and this is what they want to bring to their customers, the combination of Walkman-quality digital music player and a 2.0-megapixel camera. As of now, only the W800i is available in the country among the line of Walkman phones in the country, W800i is priced at P29,000.

A study by global research firm IDC states that, while digital-camera sales continue to grow, it seems to be slowing down as the segment"s growth in 2005 pales in comparison to the 50 percent growth during the first half of 2004 and one factor is the rise of the camera phone sales in the market. Now with the combination of a camera and a digital music player in the new line of Sony Ericsson phones, digital cameras may indeed have a tough time competing with the camera phone market.