One in Ten Homes Has A Digital Picture Frame Now

Tech writer Mark Harris, on TechRadar.com, has an interesting article about how one in ten homes now has a digital picture frame in it!

Brits are snapping up digital photo frames faster than ever, according to high tech analysts Futuresource Consulting.

More than 1.8 million units were sold in the UK during 2008, at an average retail price of around £90, and frames are now present in an estimated ten per cent of UK homes.

“Fuelled by a glut of low-cost 7-inch widescreen offerings from a number of brands and retailers sales grew 60 per cent in 2008 from 2007,” says Simon Bryant, Principal Consultant, Futuresource Consulting.

“The market continues to be heavily reliant on gifting and first-time impulse buyers who are lured by broad distribution and very low prices. Between Christmas 2007 and 2008, like-for-like prices fell roughly 20 per cent for the most popular 7-inch widescreen frames.”

While top tier brands like Sony, Samsung, Kodak, Philips, and Toshiba increased their combined share of sales between 2007 and 2008 (from 42 to 54 per cent), no-name and own-brand frames continue to sell well.

Futuresource expects convergence products that incorporate photo frame functionality, such as connected TVs, netbooks and the iPod Touch, to gradually erode sales of dedicated frame. (Item:  I do not agree!  These things have different purposes!)

Bryant say, “Even by the end of this year – when we’re going to see the market grow to around 2m to 2.2m units – we’ll see crossover products that will beg the question ‘is it a photo frame or an alarm clock radio, a personal multimedia player or a portable TV?’”

Kodak has just licensed its OLED technology to LG for use in photo frames, and Wi-Fi, video-capable and even internet radio streaming frames expected to take market share throughout 2009.

PC World Creativity: Virtual Wireless Digital Picture Frame Perfection!

Danny Allen at PC World.com has created the Perfect Wireless Digital Picture Frame!

(This image was created by Bryan Christie Design, and what a good job!)

Mr. Allen took the best parts of several wireless/digital picture frames available today, and put them together to create his idea of the perfect wireless photo frame, and after reading his article I can only quote the Beach Boys and say, “Wouldn’t it be nice. . . .!”

He’s quilted together some Kodak OLED, some SmartParts SP8PRT,  some Polaroid Pogo, a few Motorola femtocells, a little VoIP, a little bit of this, a little bit of that. . . .and the result was simply, WOW!

You can read Danny Allen’s creative article on the February 5, 2009 page of PC World.com.

Kodak Introduces The New OLED Wireless Digital Picture Frame

The brand-new ultra-thin 7.6-inch diagonal Kodak OLED Wireless Picture Frame debuted yesterday and took the digital world by storm.

Unlike most wireless/digital picture frames, the new Kodak OLED screen is not an LED; it has an ambient light sensor that adjusts the picture brightness based on the light in the room.

OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode), a Kodak invention, makes your digital pictures look more colorful, more dynamic, and gives them greater depth and saturation than other kinds of displays.  The 180 degree viewing angle lets you see a bright clear picture from any angle and any spot in the room, and with a resolution of 800 x 460 and a white to black ratio of greater than 30,000:1, those pictures are going to be exceptional!

This new Kodak OLED frame will be on display at the Kodak booth (Hall 5.2) during Photokina, the world’s largest photo and imaging trade fair, running September 23-28 in Cologne, Germany.

Pete Jameson, general manager, Digital Devices Group, Eastman Kodak Company, says that “Kodak is a worldwide market and technology leader in digital picture frames, and OLED technology was created by Kodak, making uniquely positioned to bring the benefits of OLED to consumers.  We’re tremendously proud to introduce this exciting new picture frame.  In addition to spectacular image quality, the new frame’s Wi-Fi connectivity delivers a richer experience to the consumer, enabling them to connect to their favorite social sites and view their personalized content online.”

The built-in WiFi in the new Kodak OLED lets the frame access picture, videos, and music files stored on your computer, wherever in your house it might be.  You can also upload images and videos from your digital camera’s memory cards or USB drives.  The frame has 2 full GB of internal memory, also, and comes with Kodak software for editing and moving content from your PC to the frame.

The Kodak OLED’s wireless capabilities allow access to all kinds of exciting internet content, including the Kodak gallery and Kodak partners Flickr and FrameChannel.

The Kodak OLED wireless digital picture frame will retail for $999.00 and will be available at kodak.com this November 2008, with additional online and retail distribution to be announced later in the year.

In other words, it’s the PERFECT CHRISTMAS GIFT for 2008!