According to a study by Futuresource Consulting, the number of people taking photos has increased eightfold over the last ten years. Speaking in absolute numbers, more than four billion people are supposed to be shooting photos today and taking 1.2 trillion pictures per year. The question that arises to me due to these tremendously high figures is: How can you still explain why the demand of common photographic equipment is constantly decreasing?
According to Arun Gill, market analyst at Futuresource Consulting, this trend is mainly caused by smartphones. They supposedly promote changes in photographic habits and set increasing standards in terms of user convenience. Touchscreen operation, apps and permanent internet connectivity make taking photos and sharing them with others very easy. Since ordinary cameras don’t have such features, they aren’t an option as a potential upgrade for most smartphone photographers. Interestingly, features like facial recognition are supposedly becoming more and more important for smartphone photographers as well. I must confess that I find this quite surprising because I don’t know anyone using facial recognition. Do you use or do you know anybody using this feature?
Foto[GEN]ERELL 