point-and-shoot #2

このpoint-and-shootは以前、ゼミにいた写真部の学生が記事をアップしています。

http://d.hatena.ne.jp/A30/20101209/1291898419

記事は要するに、スマートフォンのカメラ機能が本家であるはずのカメラ市場を席巻してきたという内容です。point-and-shoot、つまり、オートフォーカスがさらに進化し、「ねらっただけでばっちり撮れる」という時代がスマートフォンにも標準装備になってきたのですね。いいのか悪いのか...（GP）

Smartphones crushing point-and-shoot camera market

Global shipments of digital cameras among Japanese firms fell 42% in September year from sales a year ago
AFP
TOKYO —

The soaring popularity of smartphones is crushing demand for point-and-shoot cameras, threatening the once-vibrant sector as firms scramble to hit back with web-friendly features and boost quality, analysts say.

A sharp drop in sales of digital compact cameras marks them as the latest casualty of smartphones as videogame consoles and portable music players also struggle against the all-in-one features offered by the likes of Apple’s iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy.

Just as digital cameras all but destroyed the market for photographic film, the rapid shift to picture-taking smartphones has torn into a camera sector dominated by Japanese firms including Canon, Olympus, Sony and Nikon.

“We may be seeing the beginning of the collapse of the compact camera market,” said Nobuo Kurahashi, analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities.

Figures from Japan’s Camera and Imaging Products Association echo the analyst’s grim prediction.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/business/view/smartphones-crushing-point-and-shoot-camera-market