IDC has just released Worldwide 2008-2012 Digital Camera Forecast (IDC #212152). Below are some highlights:

• The 2007 digital camera market continued to defy textbook market trends as worldwide shipments of digital still cameras, including compact digital cameras and dSLRs reached 131 million units in 2007, a growth of 24 percent over 2006 unit shipments of 106 million units. Growth continued to be driven by sustained volumes in the U.S. and Western Europe, with repeat buyers in these regions upgrading to cameras with stronger feature sets. Furthermore, Asia Pacific and Rest of World are becoming increasingly stronger in terms of revenue and shipment share as these two regions become the growth engines for the global market.

• IDC predicts that the global digital camera market will continue to emulate the mobile phone market model of consistent churn and an increase in the feature-to-price ratio, resulting in a net increase in global shipment growth over the forecast period despite economic uncertainty. Digital cameras will continue to be "priced right" as other CE categories face a more volatile situation.

• Unit shipments will grow an average of 3 percent from 146 million in 2008 to over 160 million in 2012. IDC expects that compact cameras will continue to commodify and further become fashionable technology accessories. dSLR shipments will continue to grow and comprise a stronger share of the global product mix as consumers continue to embrace photography as a hobby, driven by lower-priced dSLRs. dSLR shipments will grow an average of 14 percent to 17 million units in 2012.

• Overall global market value will grow less than 1 percent from $42 billion in 2008, peak in 2012 and decline back to $42 billion in 2012. this will be due to the continually declining market ASP, from $285 in 2008 to $259 in 2012.