Lyra Research forecasts that the installed base of camera phones in the Asia-Pacific region will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.9 percent from 2005 to 2010, topping 600 million camera phones in 2010. While camera phone adoption in Japan and Korea has been firmly established, China and India represent two emerging markets poised for explosive growth.

Large areas of these two countries are skipping right over wireline telephone systems and going straight to mobile infrastructure. Despite the fact that fewer handset models designed for these markets have camera functionality, the portion of low-cost handsets with basic cameras is sufficiently high that, over the next decade, Lyra expects hundreds of millions of people in these emerging markets will not only have their first telephone experience via a mobile phone, but also their first camera experience.

"As the installed base of camera phones grows rapidly in emerging countries like China and India over the next five years, hundreds of millions of people who have never used a camera will take their first pictures with a camera phone," commented Steve Hoffenberg, Lyra's director of consumer imaging research.

Lyra Research says that in these markets, the accepted definition of a camera will not only include image capture functionality, but also display capabilities for instantaneous image sharing, and a wireless communications platform as well. "This fresh-start adoption pattern, with no history or bias towards film or digital cameras, has profound implications for how differently the consumer imaging markets will develop in these regions, compared to the precedents in developed countries," said Hoffenberg.

About the market research report

The Lyra Research 42-page report, "Pictures at Hand: 2006 Worldwide Camera Phone Market Report" (october 4, 2006), presents a worldwide view of camera phone and image capture and print forecasts, market trends, and analysis of the future for camera phones worldwide. This report explores camera phone shipments and installed base by region: Asia Pacific; Europe, Middle East, and Africa; Latin America; and North America. It also looks at the number of images captured and printed and the overall market impact of camera phones.

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