It is fun to have a job where you’re part of a team that is always anticipating what consumers are looking for in their next digital camera. This process has become even more critical, according to the Consumer Electronic Association’s (CEA) Market Research report; ownership of DSC has reached a point where 62% of households already own a DSC. If the industry does not come up with exciting “reasons to buy” clearly the market will stagnate, resulting in declining sales and profits.
The good news is that there are millions of people who actively use their digital still cameras on a daily basis. We are not dealing with products that are occasionally used and in the meantime sitting in the closet or in the dusty box in the basement. If someone is actively using a product I believe it is a lot easier to convince them to upgrade and buy a new one. So how do we decide what technology we should apply to new products?
Someone once said the only new technologies that succeed are those that help someone do something they are doing now even better. I think we have all been inundated with new technology that tried to get us to do something we really did not care to do in the first place.
Keep the Flame Burning
When applying this logic to the camera industry, the one thing that everyone wants to do better is record and share memories. It is in our nature to want to record special moments even if we may not fully appreciate it until years later. At Casio, we believe that technology can help us expand the way we can record and share those memories. We want to make it as easy to share a video image, as it is to share a still image. We have all experienced the chore of having to carry a separate camera to record video, only to end up with hours of video that was difficult and boring to share. It didn’t mean the moment wasn’t special but rather it was tedious to cut out all the video it took to get to that memorable moment.
New technology in video is now allowing us to move to the “ultimate” digital camera that can record both high quality still and video images. In fact when will we stop calling cameras “Digital Still Cameras”?
Over the Holidays last year my son was switching between taking still and video images and he recorded a video of my 3-year-old grandson talking on the phone to one of my friends who was pretending to be Santa Claus – within seconds we knew we had recorded a very special moment. It was not a moment that would take hours to view in front of the TV; it was a short clip that became very precious to our family. We have many great still images of my grandson but none that can convey his personality at this age better than the video image we recorded. So, we’ve captured the moment, how do we share it?
Make Sharing Easier
Technology is converging not only in products themselves but in how people can better utilize the products they own. YouTube is a perfect example of how technology can help make it easy to share those special video moments. To me, this was the missing link in the process of sharing memories. Many who are familiar with YouTube do not realize you can share videos publicly and privately. Our Best Shot YouTube Capture Mode is designed to make this a seamless process.
Aside from sharing memories and special events, a lot more can be done with the YouTube mode. I created a monster when I started sending video messages to my grandson over in Tokyo. Now, every time I talk to my grandson he asks for more videos.
Every year my wife has good intentions to send out the traditional holiday letter to friends and family. Like many, she gets very busy and never quite finds the time to get to it. I am still negotiating, but this year I have proposed that she send out a video message which is much easier to do and more personal. We are excited because using the YouTube capture mode found on Casio’s cameras, one holiday video can be seamlessly uploaded and privately shared on YouTube’s site for all our friends and family. There are so many reasons to send out those special video messages. YouTube, among other video sharing sites provides the opportunity for consumers to share their memories, which expands the use and market for digital cameras.
As an industry, if we continue to discover new and creative ways to apply digital technology that make cameras easier and more fun to use – we can all prosper. yy
