

The Death Of Point-and-Shoot Cameras - techblock
http://www.thetechblock.com/articles/2012/pointandshoot-camera-dying/

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nathanb
"I’m sure I’ll catch a lot of flak for that prediction, but it wouldn’t be the
first time. People called me crazy when I predicted the end of console gaming,
too."

The author makes that statement as though this example vindicates him, while
the death of console gaming is far from a foregone conclusion (the only way
one could present a credible argument for the death of console gaming is by
arguing that modern consoles are actually PCs, an argument which is at best a
technical red herring).

The observation that "hey, phone cameras are pretty nice these days" isn't
novel or bold, and it's not a Holmsean tour-de-force to extrapolate the
declining point-and-shoot market. This is sort of like writing an article in
2003 saying "if you're a camera manufacturer who relies on 35mm film cameras
to stay afloat, you should be worried as hell".

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huggyface
Not only is the observation that P&S cameras are going to decline obvious, the
author posted this after various P&S manufacturers reported on said decline.
This is like predicting the Superbowl champion on Monday.

In other news, alarm clocks, MP3 players, GPS units, and voice dictation
devices are all going to decline at the hands of smartphones. News at 11.

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ajkessler
Which manufacturers rely on point and shoots to stay afloat?

You're point is valid, though not exactly contrarian. The decline of point and
shoots became pretty obvious when the iphone 3g was released. I'm sure this is
why every manufacturer has been diversifying their lineups away from point and
shoots over the last 5 years. Sony released a full SLR lineup, including
lenses. Olympus has been producing very high quality mirrorless bodies (not
exactly point and shoots) for a few years now. Even Fujifilm has followed
suit. Nikon and Canon, who probably generate a lot of revenue from p&s sales,
have been widely diversified for decades.

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gerggerg
This has been known for some time now. What would make your blog post more
interesting is if you cut down on the conjecture and put some real research in
it. For example, heres flickr's report on camera usage:
<http://www.flickr.com/cameras/>

\--edit-- heres another list: <http://bighugelabs.com/topcameras.php>

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flomincucci
Tell this to my mom. She doesn't even know how to send or read SMS, but she
still wants to take pictures at my birthday. I think we still have one or two
generations that need the point-and-shoot

