Cameraphone sales up 200% – but are users sending more MMSs?

Camera phones now outsell digital cameras by almost 4 to 1, reaching just 68 million units globally in 2004. However, I’d be interested to see whether MMS traffic is increasing so that the networks are actually benefiting. I have a sneaky suspicion that more camera phones are being sold because almost all phones include a camera now rather than because users are sending more MMSs.

According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, 257 million camera phones were shipped worldwide, representing 38%of total handset sales, in 2004. This was up sharply from 84 million, or 16% of total, in 2003.
In my own personal experience, I use my phone as my main camera now, but I still send very few MMSs -maybe 1 or 2 a month. If I have a picture to send I tend to bluetooth it.