Mediocrity Rules! Why the iPhone’s Crummy Camera Is Flickr’s Favorite.
by Peter Kafka
Posted on August 18, 2009 at 3:28 PM PT
Flickr is one of the Web’s most popular photo-sharing sites. Flickr users’ camera of choice? The iPhone.
At least it was yesterday, when the LA Times checked in on Flickr’s stats; at the time, Apple (AAPL)’s handset had passed the Canon (CAJ) EOS Digital Rebel XTi as the most popular camera on Yahoo’s (YHOO) photo site. The stats are updated daily, though, and as of this afternoon, the Canon had pulled back in front by a few hundred users.
But the precise numbers don’t matter. The takeaway here is that people who like taking and sharing photos are happy to use an inferior camera–even the newest iPhone sports just three megapixels and lacks rudimentary features like zoom and flash–if it’s easy to use. And most important, if it’s already on the phone they’re carrying around.
I’m not the first to point this out, but I’ll reiterate: There are important/worrisome lessons here for other gadget makers.
Cisco’s (CSCO)’s Flip camera line, for instance, is great, and I used my Mino HD twice today for interviews. But if I was carrying around an iPhone 3GS or any other handset with video-recording capabilities, I’m not sure that I would have packed the Flip. And I’d probably end up filming a lot more interviews if my camera was always with me.
Same goes for Amazon’s (AMZN) Kindle, or any other would-be e-book reader: I appreciate that they’re designed specifically for reading and boast low-power screens that are easy on the eyes, hold up well in variable light, etc. But I read a newsstand’s worth of copy every day on my rudimentary BlackBerrry 8830, which isn’t designed for that at all; plenty of iPhone fans say they’re happy reading full-length novels on their gadgets.
That doesn’t mean that people who are passionate about cameras or novels or whatever won’t prefer specialized devices. But that leaves a very big chunk of the market–those of us who find that good enough is plenty good–for the iPhone or any other all-in-one tool.
[Image credit: Erik Pitti]
Comments
Amazon’s Kindle app for the iPhone works really well. Eventually, Amazon will make money on digital titles, so I wonder if it matters to them in the long run.
Posted by Jonathan Marcus at August 18th, 2009 at 6:00 pmWe own:
Canon 300D
Canon Powershot A570
iPhone.
My wife always has her iPhone with her. And, sending photos to me is trivial.
I sometimes take the Powershot out with me.
The 300D is used about once every 2 months.
Good enough is good enough.
Posted by Dave Barnes at August 18th, 2009 at 8:16 pmPeter, I think you’re absolutely correct in that there is something to learn here. When Facebook launched the Developer Platform Mark Zuckerberg spoke about the Facebook photo platform, and how even though it is much less feature-rich than Flickr, it has a much larger user base. Simplicity (and ease of sharing) seem to win in this space. Here’s the link to the Zuckerberg video – fascinating overview of the social graph: http://developers.facebook.com/videos.php
Posted by Jim Kovarik at August 19th, 2009 at 5:37 amJonathan, that makes sense to me. But I hear from people who know the company’s thinking that it appears wedded to its own device.
Posted by Peter Kafka at August 19th, 2009 at 7:40 am