Monday January 31, 2011 – Stewart Wolpin
Quick quiz: What product offers 1080p video recording and high-megapixel digital still snapping for less than $200?
If you guessed a pocket camcorder such as the Kodak Sport or a Sony Bloggie or a JVC Picsio, you'd be right. But so do several new digital cameras. And so do several Android smartphones (and I suspect in the annual iPhone update, iPhone 5 or 4G – or both – in June).
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown, in this case pocketcams, which assumed the total overall sales crown from standard camcorders last year.
Compared to pocketcams, digital cameras with 1080p video recording offer superior still picture taking capabilites (obvious), better lenses (really obvious) and better optical image stabilization (not so obvious but really important to staunch the nausea induced when viewing unstabilized handheld footage is shown on a big screen.
High-megapixel/1080p smart phones' advantages over pocketcams also are really obvious – a user can instantly send photos and footage to friends or post to social networking sites, or will be able to send HD video footage once 4G networks become more prevalent. Oh, and smartphones make phone calls (as long as they're not on AT&T, he said sarcastically), too, and surf the Web, perform many app functions – they even open beer bottles.
I see a king quivering.
A camcorder war on two fronts
With threats to pocketcams' crown coming from two vastly better-equipped directions, the new camcorder king's reign may be short. Consumers might be enamored with Flip and its ilk for another year or so, but soon consumers will realize their digital camera and/or smartphones do everything a Flip can do, and much much more.
At CES, I queried a couple of pocketcam makers about this double threat, expecting some grandiose marketing pronouncements designed to boost both expectations and their own confidence in the future – and got mostly shoulder shrugs. They're aware of the double-whammy facing them and seem resigned to their fate.
That's not entirely accurate, actually. A couple of pocketcam makers are resorting to niche categories with new products, such as waterproof pocket cams – no waterproof digital camera at any price includes 1080p video recording and what'd be the point of a submersible cellphone?
And then there is 3D. Several pocketcam makers have or will sell sub-$300 3D pocketcams this year. (On a side note, I got a lot of double-talk hems and haws when I tried to discern the difference between $300 3D camcorders and $1,500-$2,000 3D models from Panasonic, Sony and JVC – that's one bizarre price differential. But I digress).
But fewer than 2 million suckers…er, I mean, consumers (slight error – I'm been reading a lot of Roger Ebert's 3D criticism of late) have bought 3D HDTVs. That's a really tiny constituency at which to aim a product.
No, pocketcam makers are going to have to come up with something/anything radical if they want to continue to rule the camcorder kingdom.
Stewart is Digital Tech Consulting's Senior Analyst.
