The huge demand in Asia for camera phones is sparking hopes by handset manufacturers that they can capture market share from Nokia, according to an article in Channel NewsAsia.
Japanese and South Korean handset vendors with affiliated companies that already produce imaging-related products, such as camcorders and televisions, might be able to tap into this expertise to develop camera phones with better screens than Nokia, the article suggests.
After Japan and South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan are considered key areas for handset vendors to battle against each other to produce cutting-edge camera phones, Channel NewsAsia says.
A major challenge to camera phone manufacturers will be to consistently offer innovative phones on an ongoing basis, says Bryan Ma, regional senior research manager for personal computing at International Data Corp (IDC).
Asian camera phone statistics
IDC predicts that camera phone sales in Asia -- not including Japan -- will reach 16 million this year compared to six million in 2003.
Worldwide camera phone sales this year are forecast to be at least 93 million, compared to 57 million last year, according to IDC. Japan is expected to account for half of the sales.
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