Dan, you quote Gilder as follows
Gilder suitable reply..."No, cameras will become far better and ultimately far cheaper
and thus the market for cameras will expand. Foveon, with National, can become
the Intel of the camera business, supplying the "microprocessors" that capture the
highest margins, but Kodak, Canon, et al can become the Compaqs and Dells.
This all sounds good, but what does "far better and cheaper" mean? If you have followed the digital camera market at all, you should know that prices for mega-pixel cameras that approach film quality for standard sized prints are now less than $500 and falling fast. Once film quality is reached, the only thing left is price and other features.
Also, integrated CMOS sensors which help to lower costs, as opposed to separate CCD sensors, are not unique to anybody. Low end digital cameras that are actually shipping already use them and there is no reason to think that they will not move into higher end cameras very soon.
Anthony |
