Framingham, Mass. — A successful dads and grads holiday boosted digital camera shipments in the second quarter of the year, according to research firm IDC.
In its new report, IDC noted that vendors upped their shipments by 17 percent to 6.3 million units vs. the second quarter in 2005. The firm also noted movement in the war for camera share. Canon remained in the lead for the second consecutive quarter with 22 percent of the market, while Sony grew 2 percent to hold onto second place with 16 percent of the market. Kodak, which shipped the most digital cameras in 2005, fell 23 percent to account for 15 percent of the market.
The numbers look roughly the same for the first half of the war. Canon remains atop the market with 21 percent of all camera shipments, followed by Sony (16 percent) and Kodak (15 percent). IDC noted that thanks to strong d-SLR sales, Nikon gained 5 percentage points to grab 12 percent of the market, while Samsung doubled its share, from 2 percent, to 4 percent.
IDC did note that the market’s growth was slowing. In the first half, shipments grew 10 percent to 11 million units, half the growth rate experienced in the same time period last year. The research firm concluded that its “8 percent forecasted growth rate for the rapidly-maturing 2006 U.S. market is on track.”
