Facts
On the consumer level the demand for digital online prints is dominated by the rapid growth of digital camera sales. According to numerous surveys digital camera buyers are not interested in going to the local store to have their memory cards printed, even though the current trend of self service kiosk and retail printing is healthy with very high growth rates.
One of the major printing methods will be online printing once some of the actual challenges to the consumer are corrected. The current online photo applications offer slow speeds, interruption in uploads and poor customer interface. Technology and high speed internet are changing the satisfaction levels drastically. We expect major changes in consumer photo printing habits with easier to use and more reliable applications.
Digital Camera Sales
Overall demand for digital cameras rose by 36 percent on a unit basis in June 2004 versus the same month the year before. Quality cameras are have finally arrived at reasonable prices and consumers are gradually changed their mix of digital camera purchases by favoring models with higher resolutions. More than 80 percent of the units sold were cameras of 3 million plus pixels. |
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Digital Printing VolumeOverall, the volume of prints made from digital-still camera images increased by 79 percent for the year ended in June 2004. Growth rates are expected to remain high as new digital camera households seek easy and affordable ways to store, share and print their photos. |
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The rapid growth in the volume of prints made by retailers or on kiosks has resulted in the shift of digital printing share away from home printers and towards other printing options. For the year ended in June 2004, 57.3 percent of digital prints were made on home printers, down from 77.0 percent in the year earlier period. Retailers as well as online photo providers continued gaining share as their percent increased from 8.7 to 14.9. Kiosks' share more than quadrupled. |
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