Will disposable digital cameras click?

NEW YORK: A start-up company hopes inexpensive disposable digital cameras can become as popular as single-use film cameras, but experts say the technology still lacks some critical features found on pricier models.

The cameras, developed by privately-held Pure Digital Technologies, started selling this week through retailer Ritz Camera Centers. But while the device may offer a taste of digital picture taking, it does not offer some of the best features of digital cameras.

Sales of digital cameras, which record snapshots on a memory chip, this year are expected to outsell traditional cameras. Most digital cameras, from brands such as Sony Corp.6758.T , Canon Inc. 7751.T and Eastman Kodak Co., sell for near $300.

This week, a one-time-use camera debuted through the Ritz chain of stores. At $11, the device's price is comparable to film one-time use cameras, a fast-growing segment whose shipment are expected to top 214 million units in 2003, according to the Photo Marketing Association.

But the main thing missing on the lightweight device, is the preview screen that allows the person taking a pictures to decide if it is a keeper.

"I would call this a semi-digital product," said Alexis Gerard, President of research firm Future Image. "The screen really is a defining part of the digital camera experience."

Without the screen, experts say, the device is only marginally more valuable than typical point-and-shoot, single-use film camera, which in essence are rolls of film encased in plastic and equipped with a lens and flash.

Also it cannot connect to a computer so that images may be downloaded, and to develop prints, the camera must be returned to the retail shop. Processing can cost another $11.

"It's cheap, you get the benefits of digital and you can get your prints just like you are used to," said IDC imaging analyst Chris Chute. "The person who wants to buy their own digital camera probably won't buy this (but) it could be a way to open the market beyond just the affluent and the suburban."

FUTURE MODELS TO GAIN ADVANCED FEATURES

Sold under the brand Dakota Digital, the disposable camera holds about 25 pictures, and lets the photographer delete the last picture taken if they missed their shot.

Jonathan Kaplan, president of San Francisco-based Pure Digital, said the company can eventually put features such as zoom lens and a preview screen into a low-cost model.

"The Ritz camera does have the ability to delete unwanted shots, automatic winding...and a self-timer. Our future (single use) products ... you will see before Christmas have things like a preview screen" and zoom, Kaplan said.

Pure Digital's licenses the technology to retailers, offering them a system that includes on-site computers, a network that supports e-mail sharing of pictures, and a CD that customer can take home. The cameras are manufactured by Flextronics International Ltd.

Cheap digital devices present a paradox for leading film markers Kodak and Fuji Photo Film Co Ltd. 4901.T who could be harmed by slack sales of film even as they are helped by increased processing of images. Fuji and Kodak are the leading providers of photo developing systems to retailers.

Pure Digital's Kaplan argues that his technology supports its retail partners, who have been consumers' regular place to drop off film and pick up prints. In addition to Ritz, Pure Digital's systems are also being tested by Walgreen Co.'s WAG.N stores and will sell this year at the Walt Disney World theme park in Florida.

"Every digital camera sold is a thorn in both Fuji and Kodak's side," he said. "Every one we sell guarantees Kodak and Fuji an opportunity to get 25 prints to develop. We are trying to help them in the most important piece of their business."

"So I'm not sure that Kodak or Fuji are so quick to put us out of business or prevent us from doing what we are trying to do," he added.

Kodak, which has been successful with its "Plus Digital" line of one-time use film cameras that automatically return a disc with digital images along with prints, said it has no immediate plans to market a disposable digital camera. A Fuji spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

"This is potentially a device that provides images for printing. So anyone who has a piece of the food chain is going to benefit from this taking off," said Future Images' Gerard.

© Reuters