Here’s a clue how popular smartphones have become as cameras: Apple’s iPhone 4 is quickly approaching the No. 1 spot to become the most-used camera on Flickr.
Nikon’s D90 DSLR camera is still Flickr king, but the iPhone isn’t far behind. The chart below (which includes only the cameras with the biggest shares) suggests the iPhone should surpass the D90 pretty soon. TechCrunch’s MG Siegler was first to make this observation.
That’s not to say general-purpose devices are killing the camera market. Worldwide still-camera sales increased 10 percent to 141 million units last year, according to research from IDC. Canon remains the world’s largest camera maker, and Sony is in a close second.
One thing contributing to the growth of handheld cameras is the advent of mirror-less cameras with bigger sensors and better, sometimes interchangeable, lenses — aka EVIL cameras. These cameras are still a relatively small part of the camera market, though.
The explanation is probably even simpler: Most dedicated cameras still have quality superior to most smartphone cameras, and people want their photos to look good. Plus, these cameras have things that a smartphone doesn’t, like a zoom lens and more-complex controls to change the appearance of photos.
The Flickr data more directly suggests that people aren’t carrying around cameras as much as they do their iPhones — which shouldn’t be a surprise, because which device would you rather keep in your pocket everywhere you go?
The smartphone’s impact on the video world is a bit more interesting. The iPhone has driven massive growth in mobile uploads on YouTube. When the iPhone 3GS released in 2009, YouTube saw mobile uploads jump exponentially each day.Incidentally, Cisco just killed the Flip camcorder division last week. A few argue that Cisco made this decision solely because it no longer wanted to focus on consumer products. However, that’s a bit difficult to believe when you consider that smartphones shoot video that’s just as good, if not better, than a Flip. Plus, they have an internet connection to send videos straight to the web.
In the case of the Flip, Cisco didn’t adapt to the changing, increasingly interconnected world where people want to share videos and photos as fast as they create them. That left an opening that smartphone vendors are happy to fill.
However, camera vendors are making the right moves by focusing on quality images and a wider range of features to keep still cameras alive and well.
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