Toshiharu Okimuro, the president of Casio Taiwan, says camera phones and PDAs are not affecting the digital camera market, according to an article in Taiwan News.
Speaking during the debut of Casio’s 10.1 megapixel Exilim Zoom EX-Z1000 compact digital camera, Okimuro says that digital camera and camera phones “grow parallel to each other since they serve different purposes.
“My sons have a digital camera and a camera phone each. Sometimes, they use their camera phones to shoot some photos.
However, if they really want to photograph something, they use their digital cameras. Today’s consumers are very smart and very sophisticated.”
Yes, but…
The Taiwan News reports, “Digital cameras designed for hard-core amateurs comprise the fastest-growing segment in the market today.”
I agree that for people who want to take the best photos possible, digital cameras are the way to go. When I know I want to take great photos I can print large, I’ll take a digital and/or a film camera.
But how many people are “hard-core amateurs”? The vast majority of people around the world just want to snap a photo that is good enough to print in a 4” x 6” format.
Disagree
If I’m not taking Okimuro’s comments out of context, I disagree that camera phones and digital cameras grow in “parallel.” They are on the collision course.
When high-quality camera phones are the norm — regardless of the superior quality and functions of digital cameras — the cellular camera — with its camcorder capabilities — will be the primary camera for the majority of people.
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