Digital Camera Sales Fall for First Time

By the Betanews Staff | Published February 1, 2007, 5:24 PM

For the first time since they entered the marketplace, sales of digital cameras have dropped, according to market research firm IDC. In the fourth quarter of 2006, shipments fell 3 percent to 12.1 million cameras; 12.4 million were shipped in 2005.

This wasn't necessarily bad news for Canon, though, which surpassed Kodak as the top supplier of digital cameras in the quarter. The company shipped 2.5 million cameras, while Kodak shipped 2.4 million. Sony rounded out the top three suppliers, shipping 2.2 million digital cameras, IDC said. Canon controls about 20% of the total market, with Sony and Kodak holding 17% and 16%, respectively.

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What goes up must come down.

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Maybe they could boost sales by combining digital cameras with some other handy electronic gadget that sells in huge numbers.

Mobile phones maybe :-)

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Camera manufacturer need to sell products which have innovations.
such as
- Olympus SP 550UZ, which have big zoom on relatively small body.
- Fuji F30 and F31fd, which have good ISO 1600, and also has ISO 3200 which still acceptable.

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never seen a small camera with good quality at high ISO.

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I've got an f30. It ain't all that. at iso 100 the grain is big the photo is hardly usable.

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Two words: market saturation. It was inevitable.

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Everyone has one now.

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