Tokyo Looks the Wrong Direction

The camera makers weren’t ready for smartphones (again). That’s right, the smart folk in Tokyo have once again not been ready for something that was extremely predictable in the phone market. What did they miss this time? The inevitable sales plateau for phones, particularly given the cost increases for the latest models as the smartphone makers try to cram several kitchen sinks into their camera slabs. Depending upon whose surveys you believe, smartphone unit volume is anywhere from flat (0% growth) to 7% growth over the last two years. Smartphones have reached the top of the growth sigmoid. Many makers now are seeing flat or even declining unit volumes. Moreover, when you couple that with another bit, you'll see where the camera makers weren’t ready to exploit this. Think about smartphones for a moment. They work incredibly well as a phone. Designs for the last five years using 4G or 5G communications are way more than adequate for virtually everything smartphones do except for two…