A recent InfoTrends/CAP Ventures study shows that almost 20% of Internet users in the United States own a camera phone at the end of 2004. A year earlier, only 3% owned one. Also, 27% of consumers who don't own a camera phone are "highly interested" in purchasing one for their next cellular phone. The study also shows that the cameras are getting used: two out of three camera phone owners use the camera function on a regular basis.
The single greatest improvement that users are looking for is in the area of image quality. Jill Aldort, an InfoTrends/CAP Ventures consultant, says "The introduction of several new megapixel handsets in 2005 will set off the next big wave of buying. And higher resolutions will drive more printing from camera phones, which is good news for printing vendors. Camera phone print volume will continue to increase as manufacturers introduce higher resolution and better quality optics, as well as options like Bluetooth and removable memory to make image transfer easier" Right now, over 40% of camera phone owners have printed images from the handset.
