According to a recent camera phone study
completed in Japan by MIPC (The Mobile Imaging and Printing Consortium)
over 40% of respondents answered that they have printed out photos
taken on their camera phones. Among working women and grandmothers
print rates were particularly high, with more than 50% in each group
printing photos taken with a camera phone.
More than 50% of respondents reported that they make use of their
camera phone function "several times per week". Among female high
school students, the number who used the camera function of their
mobile phones "every day" was particularly high (20.0%).
Almost 40% of respondents indicated that, "There are photos I took
with my camera phone that I would like to print out," with a
particularly high response rate among "female homemakers/part-time
workers with children" and "women with grandchildren."
With regard to attitudes on using a digital camera as opposed to a
camera phone, 42% of respondents answered that they "use a digital
camera for important photos of special occasions and major events, and
a camera phone for snapshots." The results point to a difference in the
ways digital cameras and camera phones are used depending on
circumstances.
The survey indicates that print needs for photographs taken with
camera phones are significant, with nearly 40% of respondents
answering, "There are photos I took with my camera phone that I would
like to print out."
It is believed that a vital key to increasing the print rate of
camera- phone photos will be increasing user awareness of how to change
photo-size settings to enable higher image resolution compared with
default settings, and how to adjust other camera settings.
More than 60% of respondents said the most frequently used photo
sizes were the "Standby Display" (240 x 320) and "VGA" (640 x 480)
settings, with a majority of users taking photos at the default
photo-size settings offered by their camera phones. As the camera
functions of camera phones become increasingly advanced (many now
greater than 3 megapixels) many users have expressed dissatisfaction
over print-image quality when taking photos using the "Standby Display"
and "VGA" size settings.
MIPC: Mission, Goals and Objectives
Launched in February 2004, the Mobile Imaging and Printing
Consortium (MIPC) is a dynamic non-profit industry association that
fosters collaboration across the hardware, software and wireless
technologies involved in mobile imaging and printing. MIPC is producing
standards-based solutions and printing guidelines that will provide
consumers with simple, seamless, and intuitive methods for printing
pictures taken with camera phones.
MIPC Members represent the most prestigious and powerful companies
in the mobile imaging and printing space. Those represented companies
include: Aplix Corporation, Brother Industries Ltd., Canon Inc.,
Cerience Corporation, Eastman Kodak Company, Fujifilm Corporation,
Hewlett-Packard Company, Konica Minolta Holdings, Inc., Lexmark
International, Inc., MCCI Corporation, Micron Technology, Motorola
Inc., NEC Corporation, Nokia, Olivetti, Olympus Corporation, Ricoh
Company, Ltd., Samsung Electronics Company, Ltd., Seiko Epson
Corporation.
According to a report by InfoTrends, global camera phone users are
expected to print 37.2 billion of the total images taken in 2008, when
it is estimated that 85% of all mobile phones sold will feature an
embedded camera. (InfoTrends, 2004 Worldwide Camera Phone and Photo
Messaging Forecast, March 2004)
For details on this study visit: http://www.mobileprinting.org/news/
For additional information visit: http://www.mobileprinting.org