It is pretty crazy to think that it was only 10 years ago that technology pioneer Philippe Kahn decided to wire his digital camera to his mobile phone so that he could send pictures of his newborn daughter to friends. It’s also pretty crazy to think that he managed to make it work… But that’s kinda beside the point.
Following Kahn’s early efforts, Samsung released the first phone with integrated camera in 2000. Now it’s claimed that over 40% of US households own a cameraphone, and high-end phones from Nokia (such as the N93 shown here), Samsung and Sony are snapping at the heels of digital cameras.
We can’t help think that 10 years from now there may be no such thing as the digital camera outside of the top-end SLR market, especially as lens quality continues to improve in mobile phones.
Same thing was claimed about laptops and desktops. Never happened. Why? Because at least in part because of miniturization issues. Laptops tend to be much more expensive and less capable than equally priced desktops.
For instance, you should do some research on details behind a camera lens. Its physically impossible to fit any kind of decent lens in such a small device as a cell phone, let alone one that can optically zoom.
I doubt that that issue will be solved in 10 years.