PMA Survey Shows 58% of US Homes Own a Camera Phone

Based on a study recently released by the Photography Marketing Association, camera phones are rising in popularity.  The 2009 PMA U.S. Camera/Camcorder Digital Imaging Survey discovered that 58 percent of U.S. households own at least one phone with a built-in digital camera.  This doubles the previous measurement three years ago of consumers that owned a camera phone.  

According to the camera finder on Flickr's website, the most popular camera phone by a large margin is Apple's iPhone and it's also the 2nd most popular camera being used by Flickr members.  Camera phones trailing the iPhone include the Nokia N95, Blackberry Storm, Blackberry Curve and the Nokia E71.  The popularity is measured by the number of pictures being uploaded to Flickr on a weekly basis.

Another analysis firm, Gartner, found that sales of mobile phones have dropped by 6% over 2009's second quarter compared to last year's numbers.  Alternatively, sales of smart phones (which typically include a camera) have risen by 27%.  The director of research at Gartner, Carolina Milanesi, indicates that the rise in smart phone sales was due to consumers moving up to a feature-rich range of devices, specifically touchscreen capable phones.  The popularity of touchscreen devices, such as Apple's iPhone, has been a motivating factor in upgrading to a smart phone.