Lucius, although one may consider the compact flash units for digital cameras as a consumer, and even a retail item, I think it is misleading to assume that if jobs get scarce or oil prices keep on increasing, consumers will reduce their purchases of these consumer items. Digital photography for the consumer is really more like a substitute for conventional photography, and at a price that keeps looking more and more attractive, compared with conventional developing and printing costs, not to mention film itself.
A better model for this technology, which is becoming ubiquitous not just in photography but in cell phones, palm type computers, and MP3 type players, is that for Scotch Tape, a new product released during the heart of the depression in the 1930's. It had no trouble replacing what was known as "mending tape," produced by a staid old company called Denison Manufacturing, which never recovered from the loss of business to 3M. |
