I'm writing a newsletter article on digital photography. I want to
highlight the growth of digital and how printing at RETAIL is the best
option for consumers. I'd like some facts/quotes/stats with sources. I
need info on: growth, camera sales for last three years, # shots
taken, where consumers are printing (home, retail, or online), what
the future looks like, benefits of digital, etc... 

I don't mind cut & paste, but please try to use BULLET format (easier
for me to work with). If you can, please provide your personal
thoughts on the subject after researching.

Mark

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Request for Question Clarification by ephraim-ga on 27 Jul 2003 18:09 PDT

Mark,

You've mentioned two very different types of stats that you're looking
for:

1) The growth of digital photography and camera sales.
2) How printing at retail is the best option for consumers.

I'm a little unclear about how all the statistics you request apply
directly to retail printing of photographs. Could you be a little more
specific about what you're looking for?

Also, when you say "printing at retail," are you referring to printing
in a photo shop or convenience store as opposed to using a laser
printer at home?

/ephraim

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Clarification of Question by mark800-ga on 29 Jul 2003 01:05 PDT

Yes, "printing at retail," means printing in a photo shop or
convenience store as opposed to using a laser printer at home.

I'd like the stats, quotes, etc on digital to show the growth of
digital photography. Then I'd like info on how many digital shots are
estimated to be taken now and how only a small percentage are actually
being printed (due to lack of  quality of home printers, expense of
ink, time issues, etc.) I want to be able to point to "printing at
retail" as a solution to getting these images printed. (note - it's
not the only solution or might not even be the best one, but my
audience wants it to be!)

Let me know if you need more info. Thanks.

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Request for Question Clarification by ephraim-ga on 30 Jul 2003 08:18 PDT

Mark,

I've found a page listing statistics on much of what you're looking
for. Be aware that the stats are for Europe. I cannot find anything
similar for the United States, though I'll keep looking. The stats are
probably still very relevant to what you're trying to say, though they
may not match your locality. (I'm assuming that you're working from
the USA, though if you're not, please let me know and I'll try to
localize my search a bit more.)

Some of your questions are also difficult to find real statistics for.
I have personally taken about 4000 digital photographs over the past 6
months, but have printed almost none of them as of this date. I think
that as people get more used to digital cameras they will use them in
different ways from film cameras. (Just to be clear...I would *like*
to print *some* of them, I just haven't had a chance to really sit
down and make a decision yet...a cheap retail solution would help.) If
you think it would be helpful, I would be more than happy to address
my own personal circumstances as well.

/ephraim

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Clarification of Question by mark800-ga on 02 Aug 2003 08:30 PDT

Ephraim

Your personal experiences with digital are interesting and probably
very typical. Your situation is exactly what a "printing at retail"
solution could address. I agree that digital images are used in
different ways now - websites, email, etc. However, I agree that
people would print more if they had an easy solution.

Anyway, the Europe-based info will not work. Try Photo Marketing
Association (PMA) website or other US based organizations. Again, I
just want to know the:
- growth of digital 
- sales of digital cameras
- estimmated digital shots taken
- where consumers are printing (if they even are)- home, store, online
services
- future of digital photography

Mark

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Request for Question Clarification by bobbie7-ga on 02 Aug 2003 09:00 PDT

Dear Mark,

In previous research I gave a customer an overview of the consumer
Consumer Digital Photography market. Would my answer to the following
question be a sufficient answer to your question?
"Q: Consumer Digital Photography " 
Google Answers 
http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=217005

Thanks

Bobbie7

Dear Mark,



·	The rapid growth of the digital camera category establishes it as
one of the fastest growing categories in consumer electronics. Citing
a variety of sources, Gary DiCamillo, CEO of Polaroid said about 1.4
million digital still cameras were shipped in North America during
1998. US digital camera sales reached 6.9 million units in 2001,
compared to 4.5 million units in 2000 and according to the Photo
Marketing Association (PMA), digital camera sales will likely grow at
a fairly strong rate, rising to 35 million units in 2004. The total
number of digital images created annually is expected to go from about
14 billion in 2000 to 47 billion in 2004.

·	Each year, digital camera prices are reduced by half the price for
twice the quality. Even so, sales of digital cameras continue to rise
because "many people find digital is a better way to stay in touch
with family and friends, with e-mail and online photos" says
InfoTrends Research Group analyst Michelle Slaughter.

·	Demand has been driven by the appeal of eliminating the cost and
hassle of film and processing, the immediacy of digital photos, and
the ease of sharing images electronically, via e-mail or Web posting.
Digital cameras are fast becoming mainstream products, and trends
suggest film will soon be relegated to a niche role, with profound
implications.

·	A new study from InfoTrends Research Group projects that worldwide
revenue from low-end (sub-$1,000) digital camera sales will reach
$11.8 billion in 2007. Global unit shipments of these digital cameras
is forecast to reach 24 million units in 2002, representing 28 percent
of total worldwide camera sales (not including single-use cameras).
Unit volume is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 16
percent, resulting in 51million units sold in 2007.

·	With the growth of the digital camera category comes a need for an
easy way to view and share pictures. The camera's LCD screen is fine
for determining if the picture should be retaken but leaves much
desired as a photo-viewing screen. Downloading pictures to a personal
computer is one option, but many consumers still avoid using the
personal computer as an entertainment product because the current
applications are difficult to use. Furthermore, computers are usually
tucked away in a cramped home office and their relatively small
screens make it difficult for groups of people to see a photo album or
slide show.

·	Printing at home requires a greater installed base of supporting
technologies, such as high-quality and affordable printers and
low-cost broadband Internet services. The current solutions for
creating home digital photo albums are PC dependent. They are slow and
require the user to go through many tedious steps to download photos
into the PC, import the images into image editing software, edit the
photos, add captions and create a simple slide show on your computer.

·	Printing at home may be a hassle, but the advent of a new TV-based
photo appliance might change all that. Visioneer, a leader in
intelligent imaging solutions, has announced the Visioneer PhotoPort
TV 100, a new TV-based digital photo appliance that allows users to
easily, view, edit, share and personalize photo albums on their TV
using pictures taken with a digital camera. The PhotoPort TV 100
product consists of an intelligent card viewer, wireless keyboard,
remote control, power adapter and video cable for only $99.99. All the
user needs is a memory card with digital images on it, and a TV.

·	The Visioneer PhotoPort TV 100 brings the benefits of instant
photography to digital camera users by allowing them to view, edit and
share digital photos without the use of a personal computer. By simply
connecting the memory card viewer to the video-in connector on a TV,
and inserting a SmartMedia or CompactFlash memory card containing
photos, the consumer uses a wireless keyboard or remote control to
create personalized photo albums with pictures.

·	As for online printing, the time taken for photos to reach a
consumer can be unworthy of the cost. This is particularly true for
consumers who live far away from the nearest online service. Consumers
who opt for online printing can be delayed by high-network-traffic,
which would add to the cost of printing online.

·	An advantage of taking photos digitally: photographers can now see
their work immediately after taking the picture, and if they or a
client don't like the result, they can re-shoot, or do color
corrections on-screen. This is especially useful for photographers who
take many different shots to be used as samples for their clients to
select and buy. Other advantages include no development or film costs,
compact size - and being the trendy tech gadget of the moment.

·	The photo industry is currently presenting a widespread availability
of retail digital photofinishing services. The most important trend in
digital photography during 2002 is prints from digicams. Now that
digicams are out there in large numbers, the photo industry has
realized it needs to give consumers quick, inexpensive, convenient
ways to get photo-quality prints from their digital cameras, just like
from their 35mm and APS cameras. So we're seeing photo kiosks with
slots for digicam memory cards, like Kodak's Digital Picture Maker and
Polaroid's Instant Digital Prints kiosk (made by Gretag) as well as
small countertop units that are front ends to digital minilabs, like
Fuji's Aladdin/Frontier combination, or front ends to other kinds of
printers, like Fuji's Printpix printer. A different type of countertop
unit (like Kodak's Picture Maker Order Station) transfers the
consumer's digi-photos from the memory card to a Transfer CD that's
put into a film bag which is treated like any other order.

·	We're not only seeing these products, we're also seeing major photo
companies putting money into ad campaigns to tell consumers, "You  can
go to your friendly photo store and get great prints made from your
digital camera- just like with your 'film' camera-and at about the
same price you're used to paying."




References:
·	http://medfmt.8k.com/mf/photostats.html
·	http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techreviews/products/2003-02-27-digital-film_x.htm
·	http://www.imaging-resource.com/NEWSARCH/arc6-1999.html
·	http://www.cob.vt.edu/mgmt/Carlson/MGT3604/ISTrends.htm
·	http://www.millikin.edu/webmaster/lunch_learn/digital_camera1.html
·	http://www.peterdiekmeyer.com/030303.html
·	http://www.photoreporter.com/2002/11-18/
·	http://www.photoreporter.com/2001/06-04/features/report.html
·	http://www.imaging-resource.com/NEWS/1025064398.html

Excellent. This answer is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for
the quick response.

Hi ! 

We use our digital camera in a quite different way to our film camera.
The digital stores directly on floppy disc - it has a memory stick
option, but who would bother? It allows us to take a large number of
photographs at various quality levels (ad small bad video clips - OK
for "look at this ineteresting street performer" and "this is my dog
scratching himself".

When travelling it is ideal since we do not need to worry about
development costs of the bad snapshots along with the good. We can
simply delete the photos where the bus came along at the wrong moment.
For work, it enables us to photograph locations for reference only
without wasting money on development.

Only the really good photos are printed - and that's often after
cropping and some manipulation on computer first (eliminating
powerlines for example).