Digital Cameras
Tom,
I said...
There still are some kinks to be worked out. As someone
stated recently on this thread, the value chain is still
short one important link, image viewing.
You replied...
I beg to differ. There may be "new" opportunities for viewing which will help fuel the market, such as web posting, e-mail, or as yet undeveloped combinations of high resolution viewers and memory which one might use in place of an album, but all else failing we have inkjet printing...
I agree. There will be many who purchase digital cameras in the next one or two months because they wan't to
e-mail photos without having to shoot a roll of film, get it developed, scan it in and then fine tune it for delivery. Nonetheless, it will be a year or two before good alternatives to standard film developing are widely available for the purpose of making hard copies.
Internet use alone is probably enough to trigger an impulse purchase.
What is the ideal solution for printing images? I personally believe there will be many viable options, each with its own unique level of convenience, quality and cost structure. I am sure most already know that SanDisk has created a JV with the goal of deploying inexpensive photo kiosks using a standard silver halide process. This will be combined with an on-line photo site presumably for image archiving and for downloading prints directly to the kiosk, thus allowing self-service for family members or friends.
siliconinvestor.com
Finally, here is a recent link related to EK. This week I think that many realized that the EK business model is in great trouble. The transition to digital has been a painful one for EK. The Internet has been incredibly disruptive.
The technological advances in digital photography have also contributed.
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