Report: Digital camera sales to rise

Digital camera sales are expected to grow 30 percent this year in the United States, lifted by improved options for making prints, according to a report released Monday by research firm Gartner Dataquest. Sales of point-and-shoot digital cameras--a category that excludes PC cameras and professional models--are on track to reach 8.3 million units this year, compared with 6.4 million in 2001. About 17 percent of U.S. households will have a digital camera by the end of the year, according to the report, with penetration exceeding 50 percent by 2006. Gartner analyst Andrew Johnson said in a statement that one of the main barriers to mass adoption of digital cameras has been limited options for making prints with image quality comparable to film. Consumers typically have to order prints from an online photo service and wait for them to arrive in the mail or make their own prints, both more complicated and time consuming than having film developed. Johnson said CPXe, an open standard announced Monday for sharing digital images, should provide more accessible printing options, although many digital photos will still never make it beyond a PC. --David Becker, Special to ZDNet News