INTRODUCTION
Since the publication in 2001 of the BCC Research report Digital Photography: New Opportunities for Old and New Companies, digital photography has become dominant in the photography market. Few people could have foreseen the impact that digital photography would have on related markets. Even fewer would have predicted the rise of the microstock photography market and the proliferation and growth in Internet photo sharing sites. While the impact on the photo processing market could have been predicted, most were surprised by how rapidly digital photography displaced film. When digital cameras were introduced, the idea of customizing merchandise with personal photographs was in its infancy. A few firms offered customized products to customers who mailed in photographs. The market at that time was constrained by cumbersome and lengthy processes.
A few companies were offering print-on-demand books, but they were focused on text and writers. The ability to build a business around color printing of personal photographs had only occurred to a few entrepreneurs. The average consumer had never heard of a photo book.
Software for editing and manipulating photographs was available, but it was so difficult to learn that only a select group of designers and photographers used it. Red-eye in photographs would be touched up manually with some sort of brush or pen. Cropping of photographs was a manual process done by experts and photo processors.
People did not carry cameras around with them on a regular basis. They would get them out when there was a major event or vacation. The rest of the time most cameras languished in a closet.
How different things are today! This report will take a close look at what has happened in over 15 market segments that are closely tied to digital photography.
STUDY GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The digital photography market could be narrowly defined as the products which enable digital photography. This report will not take a narrow view of the digital photography market. The objective of the report is to identify the major market segments that are closely related to digital photography and understand how digital photography has impacted those markets. We intend to identify the trends and technologies that are driving these markets. We will look closely at a number of emerging market applications that are related to or that make use of digital photography. We will examine the business models of companies in some of these emerging segments in an attempt to learn how these businesses will evolve.
REASONS FOR DOING THE STUDY
Since the publication of BCC Research’s previous report on the digital photography market, a great deal has changed. The digital still camera has rapidly come to dominate the market. The dominance of digital photography has dramatically affected a number of related markets. For some of these market segments, no major research service has developed credible market sizes as the markets are still developing and many of the key players in the markets are privately held firms that do not disclose revenues or other metrics. BCC will provide models for sizing some of these markets, and we will look at how digital photography has changed some existing markets.
SCOPE OF REPORT
The Digital Photography Market Report will include market sizing and information on major market segments for both products and applications: Products covered include digital cameras, interchangeable lenses, photo-quality printers, image sensors, camera cell phones, and digital storage. Applications include stock photography (including microstock), professional photography and photographers, image editing and management software, photo sharing sites, photo processing, and photo book publishing. In addition, the report will cover a number of commercial applications in the digital imaging market, including the surveillance and security market, the medical visualization market, the industrial market for machine vision, dental applications, and the traffic and law enforcement market. The dental market and traffic and law enforcement markets will be discussed briefly, but market sizing is not provided.
The report will include a discussion of the digital photo storage market. However, it will not provide market sizes for any of the storage market segments except digital memory cards. Although the video camcorder and scanner markets are related to the digital photography market, this report will not cover those markets.
INTENDED AUDIENCE
This study covers the products and applications associated with the digital photography market. This market is extremely broad and diverse. As a result, this report examines numerous industries, which have their own structures, trends, technologies, products, and applications. It also discusses industry structure and provides a patent analysis related to digital cameras.
Product segments covered include the following:
- Digital still cameras
- Interchangeable lenses
- Photo processing equipment
- Image sensors
- Camera cell phones
- Storage products
- Photo printers
Applications included are the following:
- Professional photography
- Photo processing
- Photo books
- Stock and microstock photography
- Image editing, manipulation, and workflow software
- Photo sharing websites
- Commercial applications
Commercial applications included are the following:
- Security and surveillance
- Machine vision
- Medical visualization
- Traffic and law enforcement
- Automotive
- Dental
This report may be useful to executives and mid-level managers in any of the industries discussed as well as industries which are tangentially involved with the ones covered in the report.
METHODOLOGY AND INFORMATION SOURCES
Data in this report came from telephone interviews with leaders in the industries involved in the report. Production data on digital still cameras and interchangeable lenses came from the Camera and Imaging Products Association’s shipment data published on its website, www.cipa.org/english. Other production data came from balance sheets of numerous companies, conversations with industry leaders, and secondary research. In a number of cases, the author developed industry models in order to estimate the market. Forecasts are based on a number of factors, including technology developments, economic conditions, commercial realities, and product/technology life cycles.
ANALYST CREDENTIALS
Judy Horton has been a senior analyst for about 15 years, initially at AT&T and then as the director of research at AT&T Ventures. Since leaving AT&T Ventures, she has continued to work as an independent research analyst, researching numerous markets in the technology sector. She has researched many segments of the high-tech sector, including telecommunications, optical networking, business software, computer operating systems, the Internet economy and technologies, and many more.
