Ladies and Gentlemen,
I welcome you to the 8th Annual Smart Photography Awards which have now become an important event in the annual calender of the imaging industry. As usual, these awards were decided with integrity, transparency and vision and the “Camera of the Year” award has been voted upon by an eminent jury, each member of which will be introduced to you as the event progresses.
2012 proved to be quite a forge able year for the imaging industry. The attack from Smartphones featuring decent cameras finally worked and the digital compact camera market took a knock. This knock saw sales at the bottom end of the market virtually collapsing and the balance sheet of several imaging companies took a big knock.
The global digital camera market in 2010 was estimated at between 140 to 145 million units. Sales in 2011 were flat but emerging markets proved to be a savior. 2012 saw no such luck and the global digital camera market would be happy to see a sales gure of 110 million. A fter nearly 5 years of hectic growth, the Indian market took a breather. Compact camera sales were nearly flat and ILCCs not pushed adequately. Fortunately, D-SLRs continued to prosper. We estimate the SLR market in 2012 to approximate 2.3 lakh pieces. Considerable opportunities still exist in the photo finishing field as well as in organised retail and we expect both these sectors to grow rapidly.
What does 2013 hold for us? We at SP are optimists. We believe growth will be back. However, camera makers at the lower end will need to be more innovative and include Wi-Fi connectivity and operating systems like Android in their offerings. The mirrorless market is waiting to be tapped by enterprising companies.
H. S. Billimoria
