Wireless/Digital Frame Shipments To Reach 5.6 Million!

Over on Twice, reporter Greg Scoblete tells us that, according to digital imaging solutions program director, IDC, Ron Glaz, “6 percent of digital-camera-owning households own a digital frame. Unit shipments in the United States will reach 5.6 million this year, up from 1.6 million in 2006.”

“Digital frames will penetrate the market quickly,” Glaz said. By 2008, IDC expects 9.3 million digital frames to ship, ballooning to 23 million in the United States and 42.3 million worldwide by 2011.

“Twelve percent of digital frames shipped worldwide this year will include built-in wireless connectivity, up from 4 percent last year, Glaz noted.”

I find these statistics very easy to believe, because you all know by now that a wireless digital picture frame is NUMBER ONE on my list of “Please, Santa, Please” requests.

Besides which, tonight I bought a Kodak Easy-Share S510 digital photo frame for my sweet mother-in-law’s Christmas gift. It’s not wireless, but neither is she, and I’ve been experimenting with it for hours. I’m not sure I can part with it, actually.

I know it’s hard to believe that something as cool as a digital picture frame could also be so absolutely EASY to use. I’m telling you truthfully, the Kodak Easy-Share is a cinch!

I’m filling a thumb drive with pictures right now - just sliding them over from the desktop file where I keep my digital pics. After while I’ll take the memory card out of my little camera and use that, too. When my husband gets home tonight, I can guarantee that he’ll be looking this digital frame over VERY carefully. He’s a sucker for electronic gadgets, as who isn’t. Then we’ll repack the frame in its box, wrap it for Christmas, and take it over to her house on Christmas Eve. When she opens it, it will be ready to plug in and give her a show! I’m even scanning really old snapshots and putting them in my thumb drive. I want her whole life in there. And yes, it’s easy to get old non-digital photos in your digital frame if you have a scanner. We’re talking some old black-and-white Brownie Starmite pictures, folks. And they look great as part of the digital frame slideshow. I even scanned a few tintypes and they look great, too.

Whatta you want to bet that my husband will secretly unwrap and play with the frame whenever I’m not home. I know I’d be surprised if he didn’t.

Now, if only this frame were wireless, I’d be in hog heaven. As it is, it’s pretty darn awesome.

P.S.  WalMart has the Kodak Easy-Share S510 for five dollars less than the online price.

U.S. Market Leading The Way in Digital Photo Frame Sales

According to the IDC, the forecast for wireless/digital photo frame sales is looking really good.

“Low prices, solid products, and surging customer interest reignited the digital photo frame market in 2006, ” said Tom Mainelli, senior research analyst with IDC’s Monitors and Projectors research team.  “We expect stellar growth well into the future if the industry can manage looming supply issues.”

IDC also quotes Ron Glaz, program direction, Digital Imaging Solutions and Services at IDC:  “As the desire to view digital images on soft displays rather than hardcopies grows, digital frames will realize significant shipment increases in all regions around the world.  To be successful in the future, digital frames will need to seamlessly fit into the evolving digital home content ecosystem and support wireless access to personal digital content for display.”

Worldwide shipments of digital frames reached 2.8 million units in 2006, with an average selling price of $168.00.  IDC predicts that sales will grow to 42.3 million units by 2011, with U.S. shipments representing over half of the market.

As with most electronics, prices are falling and quality is growing.

The wireless/digital frames are getting bigger, too.  In the beginning, the smaller frames (5 - 7 inch_ were the most prevalent, but the larger frames have surpassed them and will continue to do so throughout 2011.

According to the IDC, digital frame prices will be a major purchase influencer as overall worldwide prices decline an average of 16.5% from 2006 to 2011.

I can easily believe and understand these statistics just from following the posts on this blog.  Speaking as a consumer myself, I would want a smaller wireless/digital frame for my desktop and for the back of the piano, but I would DEFINITELY want the largest wireless/digital frame I could afford for a certain spot on the living room wall: a spot I’ve had earmarked for a HUGE wireless frame ever since I first heard of the concept.

I’m hoping Santa heard my wish.

I’ve got thousands of digital pictures on my computer’s hard drive, and I haven’t seen most of them in years.  With a wireless/digital photo frame, I could see all of them, slideshowing across the frame, on a regular basis.

I can’t wait to get mine.