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August 5, 2005 - Digital camera sales continued to rise in the first half of 2005, but according to a new report released today by the research firm IDC, growth of sales is slowing and nowhere near that of past years.
According to the report, in the first half of 2005, 9.7 million digital cameras were sold in the United States, 20 percent more than the same period a year ago. But while the overall number of units sold in the first half of 2004 was smaller, sales grew in that period by over 50 percent.
“The growth slowdown in the market is indicative of the general maturity IDC has forecasted for the digital camera market,” wrote IDC senior analyst Christopher Chute in a summary of the report. According to Chute, the industry is on track to meet IDC’s sales forecast of 27 million units in 2005, 16 percent growth for the year.
Kodak led the industry in sales for the first half of 2005, with 2.15 million units, a 22.1 percent market share, but Canon was close behind with sales of 2 million units, a market share of 20.6 percent. Sony followed in third, controlling 18.3 percent of the market on sales of 1.78 million units. The top three manufacturers were separated by a margin of ten percent from the rest of the manufacturers Chute noted in the report.
While Kodak currently leads the market, Canon could potentially overtake it in 2005, as its sales have grown at a larger rate than Kodak’s. Canon led the market in sales growth, with a 68.7 percent rise in the first half of 2005 over the same period a year ago, compared to 46.3 percent growth for Kodak.
