Shipments of digital cameras doubled in Western Europe in 2002 as spending hit USD3.4 billion on 8 million units

Shipments of digital cameras doubled in Western Europe in 2002 as spending hit USD3.4 billion on 8 million units, according to new IDC figures. According to the report, "Western European Digital Camera Market, 2003-2007," this year's digital camera shipments are also set to head skyward, with figures due to level out at 20 million units by 2007. Research company IDC attributed the growth in digital camera sales in recent years to the influx of new products to the market, noting that the improved quality of picture resolution in many cameras helped drive sales in 2002. "Most vendors effectively deserted the 1 megapixel segment in 2002, as the 2 megapixel became the sweetspot," said Paul Withington senior research analyst for IDC's European peripherals research group. IDC said that in 2003, the market will be driven by the 3 megapixel segment, with cameras in this range allowing users to take 10cm x 15cm photographs that are of the same quality as those taken on analogue cameras. The report also says that the knock on effect of the market growth is higher sales of inkjet printers and home PCs, since digital camera owners are increasingly looking to turn home offices into digital home photo production studios. In addition to resolution quality, IDC emphasised the importance of the PictBridge industry standard introduced earlier this year. PictBridge followed agreements between big industry players -- Canon, Fujifilm, Hewlett-Packard, Olympus, Seiko Epson and Sony -- and will allow direct printing from any camera to any printer without the need for a PC. This is likely to impact on the positive effect digital camera sales are having on the sale of home PCs in the longer term, the research firm said.