Palo Alto (CA) – Hewlett-Packard (HP) said that it will stop building digital cameras and is looking for a “partner” to develop and sell digital cameras under the HP brand.
HP is looking to leave the digital camera business and the mainstream snapshot camera segment it is competing in and shift its focus to its “Print 2.0” strategy. The company said that it is currently “working to identify an original equipment manufacturer partner that would be licensed to design, source and distribute digital cameras under the HP brand.”
HP will continue selling its own cameras through the holiday season and intends to have the partnership arrangement in place in the first half of 2008. The company hopes that the strategy shift will enable the company to dedicate more resources to home photo printing technologies, online photo services as well as the company’s retail photo-finishing business.
Depending on the research firm, it is estimated that somewhere between 80 and 100 million digital cameras were shipped in 2006, translating to a 22% year-over-year shipment growth.
However, most of today’s (percentage) shipment growth comes from digital SLR cameras, which gained more than 75% to about 3.5 million units between 2005 and 2006. And while the shipment volume of cameras keeps growing, the sales volume does not, according to the Camera and Imaging Products Association (CIPA): The organization said that the 2006 volume was about $12.1 billion, up about 10% from 2005, but flat when compared to 2004.
HP is looking to leave the digital camera business and the mainstream snapshot camera segment it is competing in and shift its focus to its “Print 2.0” strategy. The company said that it is currently “working to identify an original equipment manufacturer partner that would be licensed to design, source and distribute digital cameras under the HP brand.”
HP will continue selling its own cameras through the holiday season and intends to have the partnership arrangement in place in the first half of 2008. The company hopes that the strategy shift will enable the company to dedicate more resources to home photo printing technologies, online photo services as well as the company’s retail photo-finishing business.
Depending on the research firm, it is estimated that somewhere between 80 and 100 million digital cameras were shipped in 2006, translating to a 22% year-over-year shipment growth.
However, most of today’s (percentage) shipment growth comes from digital SLR cameras, which gained more than 75% to about 3.5 million units between 2005 and 2006. And while the shipment volume of cameras keeps growing, the sales volume does not, according to the Camera and Imaging Products Association (CIPA): The organization said that the 2006 volume was about $12.1 billion, up about 10% from 2005, but flat when compared to 2004.