According to an IDC survey, 30 percent of cameraphone users say they plan to buy a standalone digital camera after their introduction to digital photography on their phone.
Mobile Pipeline: Cameraphones Create Standalone Digicam Sales, Survey Finds
Anyone who has taken photos using a cameraphone knows that most cameraphone’s do not take photos anywhere near the quality of even a low-end standalone digital camera with a similar resolution (say 1 megapixel or less).
And, some industry analysts and pundits have been telling us that cameraphones will cannibalize digtal camera sales.
Even though I’m a huge cameraphone fan, I’ve never subscribed to that opinion.
And, as a person (perhaps one of the few remaining?) who prefer best of breed standalone devices (phone, PDA, camera, MP3 player, etc.), the camera part of my cameraphone will continue to be used for only those photographic events where I don’t have my Canon SD200 (or whatever digital camera I am using at the time).
Was your cameraphone your first digital camera (probably not true for 99+% of the O’Reilly Network crowd :-)?
First cameraphone, 3rd digital camera
I got my first digital camera, a Sony FD-81, in late 1998. I upgraded to a Kodak DX-6490 in late 2003. I picked up a Motorola v551 cameraphone in June, 2005 since I'm developing a cameraphone website. I also really wanted a phone that would sync with my Mac via bluetooth, which led me away from Verizon to Cingular.
It's not difficult to tell which photos come from the Kodak and Motorola :-)
hear hear
I've used the camera in my phone exactly twice.
Those 2 experiments convinced me it was a waste of time.
But then I no longer use my digital camera either (at least no more than once or twice a month on average) because it can't get close to my real cameras ((semi)pro SLRs with pro quality lenses and film) in quality and ease of use.