InfoSync World reported on a new Datacomm Research report that predicts that a new generation of mobile phones with advanced features is pushing older models further downmarket. The features that the report cites as being most sought-after are integrated cameras and push-to-talk, although voice call quality remains paramount.
One aspect of the report that never crossed my mind is why camera phones are cannibalizing the low end of the digital camera market. Datacomm pointed out that as camera phones increase in photo resolution and include such features as flash and optical zoom, customers will gravitate to them because mobile carrier subsidies make them too cheap to ignore. Come to think of it, once phones begin to include 1 or 2-megapixel cameras, would anyone but a camera buff spend hundreds of dollars for a separate digital camera?
One of the better camera phones on the market today is the Samsung E715. This phone’s camera resolution tops out at 640 x 480 (0.3 megapixel), but it has a flash and a digital zoom. This phone lets you store a large number of photos on board due to its relatively large internal memory. A lot of people in the market for a camera phone today are going to buy one like this because of its size, the eye-catching color screen, and polyphonic ring tone capability.
What does Samsung need to do to the E715 in order to get people to buy a device like this as a phone / digital camera convergence device? Add an optical zoom and increase the resolution to 1152 x 864 or better. I think once they do that, they will have even more buyers than they already have.
Kudos to Datacomm Research for connecting the digital camera – mobile phone convergence trend with mobile carrier subsidies to predict what’s likely to happen down the road. Not that many analyses have done this so far.