A burgeoning population of self-service print Kiosks and retail fulfillment services aim to provide digital camera users the same near-instant print gratification they expect from film cameras -before they fall into the non-printing habit of early digital camera adopters. But the outcome is hardly assured. - Are these offerings compelling enough in terms of price, quality and convenience? - Is the industry moving fast enough to deploy and generate awareness? - Can users who have grown accustomed to self-printing or no-printing- be reclaimed by the photofinishing industry? If so how? - What are users' motivations for printing, and can they be sustained? This report benchmarks these issues through vendor interviews regarding the status of their current rollout, their resulting observations, and their intentions going forward; and a user survey measuring awareness of service-based printing solutions, perceptions of their value proposition, and current and future behaviors.

The study, entitled "Integrated Electronic Personal Photo Sharing – The Future of Consumer Photography" is 51 pages, with 23 tables and figures.

Future Image recently introduced the Mobile Megapixel Monitor (MMM) as a component of its Mobile Imaging Report (MIR) continuous information service. The MMM is an online database accessible to MIR subscribers, which provides up to the minute reference information on the imaging capabilities of all camera-phones with megapixel or greater resolution currently for sale in North America, or announced for sale in the near term. To illustrate how the MMM can be used by market researchers, product planners and marketing and sales executives, this report presents the findings from a review and analysis of the database, which at publication date includes 17 models from 10 carriers. Database fields include Manufacturer, Model, Carrier, Price, Availability, Style, Dimensions, Sensor Type, Maximum Resolution, Optical Zoom Factor, Digital Zoom Factor, Flash, Video Capture Capabilities, Main Display, Sub-display, Camera Features, Removable Media, Connectivity Options, and Special Features. The report also includes a complete database listing, record-by-record and fully illustrated.

While sales growth of camera-phones in North America remains explosive, the market is currently driven by Push marketing strategies, namely subsidized sales of camera-phones by carriers. Lively discussions at the recent Mobile Imaging Summit North America (October 28 & 29, 2004) focused on what's necessary to switch the growth engine to customer Pull in order to grow the Mobile Imaging 'pie' for all concerned. Generating downstream revenues from images captured with the camera-phones is central to generating profits in areas beyond components and devices, and ultimately to the health of the entire ecosystem. This report summarizes discussions at the Summit and provides the recommendations of Future Image analysts concerning actions needed to generate regular use by the general public of the camera functions in their phones: evolving the devices to optimize them for image capture without compromising their communications capabilities; achieving image quality that meets consumer expectations within the specific constraints of camera-phones; and overcoming current bottlenecks to easy transfer of image data among devices in the imaging value chain.

Digital camera sales continue to grow at a healthy pace, but profit margins are squeezed, retail space and mindshare are increasingly scarce for all but the biggest names, and overall volumes will increasingly be affected by competition from camera-phones. The key vendors are in an all-out battle to dominate higher-end system cameras which are not replaceable by camera-phones and benefit from follow-on sales such as additional lenses. This report includes: * A survey of camera enthusiasts examining their motivations, preferences and willingness to pay. * An roundtable with executives from the top camera vendors discussing technology, design, and marketing. * An overview of the cameras including reviews of key models, and charts contrasting cost; sensor resolution and sensitivity; and optics.

On October 28 and 29, 2004, 140 senior executives – CEOs, Vice Presidents, and Directors – from the photography, information processing, content and telecommunications companies leading the camera-phone revolution, came together at the exclusive Monterey Plaza Hotel and Spa for a day and a half of high-level brainstorming and networking hosted by Future Image and the International Imaging Industry Association. This report provides a comprehensive briefing on the opinions expressed and subsequent discussions. It includes a white paper summary, plus as the entire proceedings of the conference on video, in a five DVD set playable on a PC, Macintosh and/or a consumer DVD player.

Many issues need to be resolved to encourage the adoption of mobile imaging in general and picture messaging in particular. Some have to do with the cellular networks, some have to do with mobile devices, and some have to do with the service providers - they need to simplify and reduce picture-messaging charges and they need to let us exchange pictures with anybody we want to, in particular with any other mobile phone, a capability generally referred to as Interoperability.

The purpose of this 36-page study, including 119 figures, charts, and tables, was to determine if currently available camera-phones are capable of delivering acceptable consumer prints and to assess how the images produced measure up to those produced by the most popular standalone consumer cameras. Prints from images obtained by camera-phones with resolutions of 640 x 480 (two models), one megapixel, and two megapixels were compared to those from a single use (OTUC) film camera, a single use (OTUC) digital camera, and digital point-and-shoot cameras of one-, two- and three-megapixel resolution.

As purchases of digital cameras by early adopter and early majority consumers begin to slow, successful strategies to address the late majority audience become critical to continued sales success. This report compares and contrasts the approaches of five companies who have taken the early lead, each with different business goals and tactics: HP, Kodak, Pure Digital, Sound Vision and Sprint. The report includes: - A roundtable discussion in which senior executives of all five companies discuss the motivations and strengths of their respective strategies - In-depth profiles of Kodaks camera dock based strategy; Sprints camera-phone initiative; Sound Visions TV-centric simplified camera and its marketing; and the platform and strategy behind Pure Digitals single-use digital camera. - A comprehensive reference of digital camera-related announcements from January 2003 to January 2004 - Opinion and analysis from Future Image Inc.

Camera-phones are on the verge of delivering the snapshot capabilities that people currently expect from single-use film cameras and entry-level digital cameras. The recent release of two-megapixel camera-phones by all three Japanese wireless carriers raises the question: Why buy a digital camera?

This report forecasts that worldwide sales of camera-phones will exceed those of digital cameras this year, and that megapixel quality camera-phones will be on the market within months, with two and three megapixel units close behind. It further states that the challenges to mass-market adoption of camera-phones in the U.S. - both business and technical - will be met within the next 12 months, noting that carriers such as Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T have already been paving the way with television and print ads featuring picture messaging. Cell phone cameras include both camera-phones (cell phones with built-in cameras, the principal focus of the report) and camera attachments to cell phones (also covered).