.FLYINGHEAD INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
.TITLE Use of camera phones expected to triple in 2004
.AUTHOR William Ablondi
.SUMMARY Are you using a camera phone? According to a study by IDC, the answer is yes. For an in-depth analysis of camera phone adoption, read this fascinating article by analyst Bill Ablondi.
.FEATURE
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 About this article
As you know, here at Computing Unplugged, we like to bring you great resources and interesting opportunities. IDC, a division of IDG, is a top provider of technology intelligence, industry analysis, market data, and strategic and tactical guidance to builders, providers and users of information technology.
IDC has teamed up with ZATZ and Computing Unplugged Magazine to explore many aspects of mobile computing, and IDC analyst Bill Ablondi will regularly be contributing research results to Computing Unplugged. If you want to get involved, there’s a link at the end of this article where you can sign up and help contribute your opinion to future surveys.
.END_SIDEBAR
The Swiss Army knife is the classic example of combining multiple functions into a single device. There are numerous examples of other combination products: all-in-one printer/fax/scanner systems, cordless phone/answering machines, and clock radios to name a few.
However, some combinations didn’t make the cut: videophones, WebTV, all-in-one PCs, and combination washer/dryers. Others, such as TV/VCRs succeeded in carving out a niche for themselves.
So what about camera phones?
A few years ago the answer would have been just that: "What about them?" Today, they are the hottest thing in the consumer mobile phone market. Just ask any handset vendor who may have ignored the device a year ago, and you’ll find that they have become believers. You can see the results of one study in Figure A.
.FIGPAIR A According to IDC, use of camera phones among consumers is likely to triple in 2004
IDC recently conducted a survey through its Mobile Advisory Council, an international group of consumers, mobile professionals, and corporate buyers who provide their opinions about mobile phones, PDAs, laptops and other devices. The focus of this survey was to study personal use of mobile technology and profile what people used in their homes.
.BREAK_EMAIL For all the numbers, tap your mouse here. It’ll be worth it, we promise.
While council members are technologically savvy and not representative of the general population as a whole, they are representative of early adopters and current mobile device customers. Therefore, it was not surprising to see that back in August 2003, before the holiday buying season; nearly 8% of the 2,074 respondents were already using a camera phone, and now over 77% are using them.
Camera phones were originally pitched to the young and hip, but lately the marketing messages have expanded up the age bracket. Camera phone usage will likely evenly split between Baby Boomers and GenX’ers if the handset vendors are to have their way. Several of the major handset vendors are speculating that by the end of 2005, camera phones will represent 90% of their product portfolio, as component costs fall quickly and imaging quality improves. This could potentially drive camera phone penetration through the roof, and drive adoption among older adults and at lower income levels.
The income gap among users and non-users will narrow as camera phones become increasingly affordable. According to IDC’s study, less than 4% of those surveyed who had annual household incomes under $50,000 used a camera phone. This compares to 10% of respondents with $100,000 or more in household income, and 12% with greater than $200,000 in household income.
If predictions hold true, we could see more than 25% penetration in the under $50,000 bracket by the end of this year, as more affordable models come to market, especially in the US. Camera phones have been a huge success in Japan and other parts of Asia, and that success maybe replicated here even though US consumers are less-fad driven than their Japanese counterparts.
But what about other combinations, such as the PDA and mobile phone? While this combination looks like a winner in some circles, there were an equal number of respondents that still prefer a two-piece solution and just as many who haven’t made up their minds yet.
The problem with PDA phones or "smart phones," as others call them, is that they don’t play to your emotions like the camera phone does. They focus more on the utility of having the best of both devices in one design. But for many consumers and business people, the cost of the devices are still too high and they may not perceive that all of that functionality is valuable to them.
Many are simply not willing to pay more for what they see as increased complexity and features they don’t expect to use; kind of like how users perceived the old videophone idea. Cool, but is it really necessary?
We’ll be watching this area closely. More on the future of the videophone in another article.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Work with ZATZ and IDC to understand this market
In the meantime, we are interested in what YOU think. If you’d like to join IDC’s Mobile Advisory Council to share your opinions, please visit the link below. It takes just 5 minutes to register.
http://www.surveysolutions.com/cgi-bin/n.pl?u=ZZ14&P=../idc/macpanreg.htm
Join today for a chance to win one of five $50 gift certificates to Amazon.com. Plus, each time you participate in a survey, you are automatically entered to win one of five $100 Amazon.com gift certificates. Your individual responses to surveys are held in strictest confidence with results provided only in combination with the responses of others.
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.BIO William Ablondi examines technology convergence in the consumer, home office, small business, and education markets in the US and abroad. In his role at IDC, Mr. Ablondi drives the company’s thinking on technology convergence, digital new media adoption, and consumer and small business market segmentation and clustering. He looks at the interplay of such technologies as home PCs, video games, interactive TV, home use of the Internet, as well as the demographics and behavior characteristics of the work at home and telecommuting market, the home and virtual office, and the K-12 and higher education markets.
