InfoTrends Takes Imaging Industry Pulse At PMA

By Greg Scoblete On Feb 11 2008 - 8:00am

The digital transformation continues to roil the imaging industry as cameras become networked, social-networking sites proliferate and print volumes sag.

Such was the assessment provided by analysts at InfoTrends during the research firm's annual industry briefing.

On the output side, digital print volumes are expected to grow before reaching a in 2011, said David Haueter, photo printing trends associate director. Though photo books have enjoyed 43 percent year-over-year growth, they won't make up for lost print revenues, he added.

Photo Web sites have also undergone a shift thanks to the emergence and popularity of photo-sharing and community sites, said Alan Bullock, Internet imaging trends associate director. "The industry pioneers are no longer at the top."

To regain their preeminence, the established online print sites will need to mimic their social-networking peers by including more community-oriented features, he said.

Generating online revenue from prints will also get tougher thanks to increasing competition from retail, Bullock noted. "Retail printing will have the share growth in printing with close to 60 percent of prints made at retail by 2012," he said.

Roughly half of all prints made from retail will begin as orders placed online, he added.

The digital camera market will likely see an 8 percent growth in units, predicted Ed Lee, consumer imaging group director. Intelligent digital cameras that are increasingly capable of performing sophisticated editing and image repair will transform the imaging software market as well, he said.