July 12, 2023
AI Image Curation 2.0 – when AI-based auto-tagging is so yesterday
Yes, AI lets you auto-tag and find the beloved cat, partner or food item featured in all your images, but we’re rapidly moving beyond these early machine learning implementations.
How about AI-powered apps that automatically find the best photos in the clutter of your camera roll? Or do the same for video scenes? Or (…)
June 21, 2023
My grab from the latest photo & video industry news
With news from Synthesia, PiktID, Google Photos, Meta, Google Shopping, Mylio, vAIsual, Printbox, Vimeo, Canva, and Stability AI (…)
June 8, 2023
WWDC: Apple’s second mover challenge
Remember we all thought Microsoft had the second mover advantage?
In the PC era Microsoft excelled in mimicking the features of innovative companies such as Apple and various others, learned from these innovators’ imperfections, and fed their me-now-too products to their gigantic consumer and corporate user base, while keeping their cash registers ringing.
It took a while but with the emergence of smartphones and cloud computing, and the WinPC platform having become less of a bottomless cash cow, Microsoft reinvigorated under Satya Nadella’s leadership with a focus on staying at the forefront of technology innovation.
Most recently this meant: generative AI.
And then there’s Apple. (…)
May 24, 2023
Our Visual 1st Spotlight takeaways:
The latest AI tech announcements – what do they mean for the photo & video industry?
Generative AI supports numerous use cases throughout the photo & video workflow, while creating both opportunities and disruptions along the way: from the obvious one – image creation – to image enhancement, editing, sharing, and fueling ecommerce and printing.
In other words: the significance of generative AI far exceeds that of “just” generating images from scratch. (…)
May 15, 2023
Imaging takeaways from Google I/O
To start: yes, most of Google I/O’s announcements are fueled by AI. (Not convinced? If you haven’t already watched it, check out this fun 14 sec. summary of Sundar Pichai's keynote).
And in case it escaped you: Google is very much in catchup mode, as the company that repositioned itself 7 years ago as AI-first had to see other players seize the limelight when announcing one innovative generative AI announcement after another this spring. Most notably coming from the Microsoft Bing – Open AI combo, which threatens Google’s core cash cow: advertising-supported Search. (…)
May 2, 2023
Speaker update for ”The Latest AI Tech Announcements” Visual 1st Spotlight
My partner Alexis Gerard and I are thrilled to announce that Boris Eldagsen, winner of the Sony World Photography Award in the Creative Open category will join our May 17 The Latest AI Tech Announcements: What do they mean for the photo & video industry? Spotlight in a special fireside chat session. (…)
With news from OnceUpon, Dscoop, Runway, Poparazzi, Instagram, Mediaclip, BeReal, Microsoft, Stability AI.
April 19, 2023
My grab from the latest photo & video industry news
With AI news from Sony World Photography Awards, TIPA, Kodak Alaris, Adobe, Picanova, Bria, ON1, Midjourney, EyeEm, Amazon, BeReal (…)
April 4, 2023
18 AI Tech Announcements that matter
With AI news from Goldman Sachs, Elon Musk, Adobe, Microsoft, Runway, OpenAI, Google, Midjourney, Picsart, Nvidia, and Stability AI (…)
March 22, 2023
Takeaways from our Photo Print App Innovation Spotlight
Last week, my partner Alexis Gerard and I had the pleasure of having 8 innovative photo print apps being demoed and discussed by their respective stakeholders in front of a virtual audience of 91 attendees. (…)
March 8, 2023
Pricing photo & video apps, cameras and print products
What if the race to the bottom becomes the race to the top?
Remember the days when we all complained that you that couldn’t make money from selling photo apps when most photo apps were either free or the average price of the paid apps was $2.71 for a perpetual license? (…)
February 27, 2023
This week's Photo & video industry news
Including news from US Copyright Office, Canon, Sony, University of Chicago, Apple, BeReal, Snap, Meta, and Microsoft.
February 15, 2023
Why this Photo Print App Innovation Spotlight?
With major transformations occurring throughout the photo print product value chain – in manufacturing, channels, and consumer behavior – it’s more important than ever to think outside the box as to how to best serve today’s – and tomorrow’s – photo print product buyers.
Rather than turning this rethinking into a conceptual exercise, our March 15 Spotlight will host up to 8 photo print app developers who’ll live-demo their innovative phone, web or PC apps, and discuss their apps’ merits vis-à-vis the photo print product value chain trends. (…)
February 1, 2023
Four takeaways from our Jan. 19 Visual 1st Generative AI Spotlight
1. Generative AI for visuals creation: we’re not even at 1.0 yet
New technologies and newly addressed use cases are still emerging; we haven’t even passed the peak of Gartner’s Hype Cycle yet (…)
January 17, 2023
Visualizing author Marcel Proust's words: Fine Art Photography vs. Generative AI
By Alexis Gerard, photographer and co-host Visual 1st
In July of 2022 my partner Annabelle Matter and I traveled to the French region of Normandy to shoot on location a project we’d been researching for months: Translating into photographs a dozen paragraphs from a text by French author Marcel Proust (of “Remembrance of Things Past” fame) renowned for his ability to convey vivid visual and emotional impressions to his readers through highly detailed and insightful descriptions. (…)
January 11, 2023
Today’s layoffs: Time to panic, or to just ask the tough questions?
It’s been layoff time in the tech industry – and that makes us all, including in the photo & video tech industry, a tad anxious when hearing of one layoff announcement after another. (…)
January 4, 2023
Artificial Intelligence et Photography
The contribution below is from our industry friend, Paul Melcher, visual tech expert, industry consultant and founder/editor of Kaptur Magazine.
Paul's thought-provoking answers were part of a recent article by Gilles Courtinat in A L'oeil, a leading French photography website. Below is the English version of Paul's answers (…)
December 21, 2022
My take on this year’s acquisitions in the photo or video industry
Here's my take on the 2022 acquisitions in our photo or video industry.
Companies tend to exit when the future looks rosy – or when it looks bleak;
… when there’s an abundance of cheap capital – or when there is a shortage and promising but cashflow-negative startups are considering options for an early exit. (…)
December 7, 2022
From technology showcases to real-world apps:
The first wave of photo & video generative AI apps has just landed
Our Jan. 19 Visual 1st Spotlight event will feature demos and discussions by leading developers of generative AI photo & video apps. (…)
November 9, 2022
My grab from the latest photo & video industry news
With news from PhotoRoom, Amaze, Claid, Picsart, Capsule, Nvidia, Popsa, Xiaomi, Leica, Descript, Perfect Corp., Piczo (…)
October 26, 2022
What have Getty, Shutterstock and Adobe learned from digital camera manufacturers?
Now I got your attention with this headline, you might already suspect the answer: these vendors have learned what not to do. Or, to put it differently, they’ve decided to partner with the disrupters rather than to ignore them or to haphazardly fight them when it is too late.
Who’s the big scary disrupter? For those who attended Visual 1st, it might not come as a surprise: it’s generative AI – the image creation technology that keeps making headlines on almost a daily basis with new technology and partnership announcements. (…)
October 19, 2022
The disruptive power of Generative AI
Our takeaways from Javier Ideami's Visual 1st Fireside Chat session
First, before we dive into our takeaways, here's a description of Javier's background:
Javier Ideami is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist, creative director, engineer and entrepreneur, working at the intersection of technology and art. (…)
September 27, 2022
Seven reasons you can't miss Visual 1st, just 7 days from now
1. You’ll meet with senior-level decision makers at potential partner companies, who have the power to help grow your business: cutting edge photo & video app developers, AI technology innovators, software companies, cloud service providers, photo print industry leaders, trade press, and investors. These executives are coming to Visual 1st from 15 different countries. (…)
September 22, 2022
Announcing the complete Visual 1st 2022 program and speaker lineup
You’ve received bits and pieces about our Visual 1st program and speakers. As it’s just 12 days to go until kickoff, I’d like to share with you our complete program and presenter lineup.
In a nutshell, Visual 1st will feature this year: (…)
September 20, 2022
Who you will meet at Visual 1st – and how to get the most out of your attendance
Visual 1st starts in just 2 weeks. (…)
September 15, 2022
A look into the Visual 1st Conference;
by Bryan Esler, managing director Photofocus
After a virtual version of the Visual 1st Conference last year, co-chair Hans Hartman and the team are back at it, creating a in-person experience for those looking to hear from innovative thought leadership on a variety of topics in the photo and video space.
I had the chance to sit down with Hans, and ask him a few questions about this year’s conference, held Oct. 4-5, 2022 in San Francisco. (…)
September 13, 2022
Our choice of panel topics and speakers for Visual 1st – and why we picked them
With just 3 weeks to go until our 10th annual edition of Visual 1st, Oct. 4-5, I’d like to address a question we’re often asked: how do you select the topics and speakers for your conference? (…)
September 7, 2022
Image generative AI – gimmick or paradigm change?
Image generative AI (text-to-image or, broader, “any prompt to any visual media type”) has suddenly become the tech innovation story de jour in the last 6 weeks, culminating 2 weeks ago when word broke that an AI-generated artwork, Théâtre D'opéra Spatial, took first place in the digital category at the Colorado State Fair.
Emotions have run high, not only in the creative and tech communities, but also in the mass media, which have extensively covered this this prize and subsequent commotion. (…)
August 31, 2022
My grab from the latest photo & video industry news
With news from The Geniverse, OpenSea, Triller, Snap Inc., BeReal, Lightricks, Amaze, Picsart and Visual 1st (…)
August 24, 2022
My grab from the latest photo & video industry news
With news from Pew Research, TikTok, Pixelmator, Edge Imaging, ON1, Taopix, Snap, Kandao, Instagram and Visual 1st. (…)
August 10, 2022
12 slots left: Present your photo or video product at Visual 1st!
Check out the presenter lineup so far. With industry news from Locket, RevenueCat, Pinterest, ExtremeTech, Let's Enhance, Insta360 and Capsule. (…)
July 27, 2022
Instagram and Facebook – as we knew them – are dead
Om Malik. Instagram is dead. This was the conclusion last week of writer, photographer and investor, Om Malik. Much to his regrets – as he was a big fan of what was initially a mobile social network based on visual storytelling – Instagram has died. (…)
July 13, 2022
It's Visual 1st 2022 kickoff time!
What will Visual 1st be all about this year? While Alexis and I are in the midst of recruiting presenters and determining additional topics, there are already four panel discussions we're extremely excited about to announce at this time. (…)
June 29, 2022
26 sustainability initiatives shared at last week’s Visual 1st Photo Print Sustainability Spotlight
Last week, close to 70 North American and European photo print industry executives joined our Visual 1st Sustainability Spotlight to hear from 11 industry peers how they’ve developed sustainability practices aimed at reducing waste, pollution and carbon footprint. (…)
June 8, 2022
Smartphones will kill off the DSLR within 3 years – or won’t they?
Smartphones will kill off the DSLR within three years, according to Sony.
That got your attention? It certainly got mine, as the TechRadar article quotes Terushi Shimizunot, President and CEO of Sony Semiconductor Solutions (SSS), not just pronouncing that smartphones will trump that of their SLR rivals by 2024, but also that the phone’s still image quality is expected to exceed that of ILCs [interchangeable lens camera, i.e. including DSLR as well as mirrorless cameras] sometime during 2024. (…)
May 26, 2022
The rapid rise and fall of the NewProfilePic app
What happens when your top-downloaded photo app is in the crosshairs of British tabloids and an army of online conspiracy theorists? (…)
May 11, 2022
What do the world's top dowloaded apps have in common?
Why not – let's do a quiz!
Below are SensorTower’s estimated Q1 worldwide app downloads for iPhone, iPad and Google Play.
Two questions:
1. What do 3 of the first 5 most downloaded apps have in common?
2. How many all-time downloads had TikTok accumulated by the end of Q1 this year?
OK, these were just the warmup questions, as I would really like to encourage you to ponder this third one: (…)
April 27, 2022
Announcing: In-person Visual 1st + Photo Print Sustainability Spotlight
The Visual 1st conference will be held Oct. 4-5 in San Francisco; The Visual 1st Photo Print Sustainability Spotlight will be held June 22 as a 1.5-hour streamed event.
Early Platinum Sponsors Visual 1st: Zenfolio, Viesus, Sensaria, Picanova. Early Gold Sponsors: ip.labs, Printbox, EyeQ, ADS, Mediaclip. (…)
April 20, 2022
6 potentially game-changing imaging technology innovations
Is it me, or do we really see way more imaging technology announcements popping up each week that have game-changing potential? In any case, here are 6 announcements from just the last couple of weeks that each could completely change how we view, capture or edit visuals.
And yes, these technology announcements are “way out there” – some more than others. So don’t throw away yet your 2D camera, your 360 camera, your 3D modeling software, your light source, your AR glasses or your expensive lidar sensor. (…)
April 6, 2022
Our takeaways from "The Metaverse – what’s in it for me; what’s in it from me?" Visual 1st Spotlight.
The Metaverse: What is it?
As a first order of business our expert panel described their visions for the metaverse, starting with Justin Melillo, whose broad definition was then further fleshed out by the other panelists:
Justin Melillo (Mona): the metaverse is a persistent and interconnected world of virtual environments that serve as a gateway to various online experiences and also underpins the physical world. For us, the metaverse is an open one, i.e. it is decentralized and owned by the actual users participating in it rather than a single vendor. (…)
March 23, 2022
My grab from the latest photo & video industry news
With news from CEWE, D-ID, Qualcomm, Flickr, Snap, Twelve Labs, Skylum, PAI, Sony, and PicsArt (…)
March 5, 2022
The Russia - Ukraine war: thoughts and actions from our photo & video industry friends
The Russia – Ukraine war is also affecting many in our photo & video industry – whether their teams, customers, business partners, or loved ones reside in Ukraine in increasingly fearsome circumstances, or they’ve felt they needed to take action to help Ukrainians in need.
Here is a roundup of what we’ve heard so far. (…)
March 2, 2022
My grab from the latest photo & video industry news
With news from: TikTok, Popsa, Journi, Bria, Shutterfly, Halide, Meta, Sensor Tower, Reels, Lightricks and axle ai (…)
February 16, 2022
My grab from the latest photo & video industry news
With news from Cloudinary, Picsart, Samsung, EyeQ, YouTube, Popsa, Kapwing, Veed, Milk Video and The National Institute for Dementia Education (…)
February 10, 2022
News update: Eric Cheng of Meta to speak at our Visual 1st Metaverse event
My partner Alexis Gerard and I are extremely pleased to announce Eric Cheng as our fireside chat presenter at our “The metaverse – what’s in it for me; what’s in it from me?” Visual 1st Spotlight Series event on March 15. Following the 1-on-1 fireside chat, Eric will also participate in our panel discussion, along with Alexis Khouri, Sr. Director of Business Development and Strategy, 3D & Immersive at Adobe, Justin Melillo, Co-founder & CEO at Mona, and Kirby Winfield, Founding General Partner at Ascend.vc. Eric is Immersive Media Lead at Meta Reality Labs, and is an award-winning photographer, technologist, producer, and author. Previously, Eric was Director of Aerial Imaging at DJI and Director of Photography at Lytro. (…)
February 2, 2022
Announcing “The metaverse – what’s in it for me; what’s in it from me?” Visual 1st Spotlight Series event
While there are many opinions about what exactly the metaverse currently is and how it will evolve, there’s little doubt that it will touch our lives and businesses in many profound ways. We also know that it’s going to be visual to the core. This will bring about opportunities and challenges for any company active in the larger photo & video ecosystem on the scale of those triggered by the introduction of the Internet and the smartphone ecosystem.
We’re pleased to announce the first 3 speakers: (…)
January 19, 2022
The 7 reasons behind 41 recent acquisitions in the photo & video industry
The question often comes up at our Visual 1st conference and in our strategic client workshops: What criteria to apply when selecting potential targets for strategic acquisition? And, from the standpoint of startups seeking an exit, how to select suitable potential acquirers?
Examining recent trends can provide helpful insights on these vital issues, so I’m happy to share a brushstroke analysis of 41 recent acquisitions in the photo & video space aimed at discerning the most compelling rationale behind each of these acquisitions. (…)
January 6, 2022
2021 – A review of visual tech
Within its half-open, half-closed status, 2021 will be remembered as a transition year: A melting pot between ending lockdowns, rising vaccines and masks mandates, new variants, ending and restarting restrictions. But if anything, it did nothing to slow down the pace of online innovation—quite the opposite. If visual tech experienced a landmark year, 2021 could be it.
The winners
Synthetic media (…)
December 15, 2021
The 8 photo & video ecosystem trends that stood out in 2021
Below are 8 trends in the photo & video ecosystems that stood out for me in 2021, many of which were derived from news or analyses provided in this year's Visual 1st Perspectives pieces or discussed at this year's Visual 1st conference. (…)
November 16, 2021
The new visual content ecosystem. Why there is no better time for selling DIY visual creation shovels.
On one side, an economy exponentially craving for content. On the other, a static, unprepared landscape ripe for disruption. The stage is set for a redistribution of value in a vibrant and volatile environment: Witness the formation of a new visual content ecosystem. (…)
October 27, 2021
Congratulations to this year’s Visual 1st Awards winners! + Visual 1st and DIY Video Summit announcements
This year's Visual 1st Awards winners:
Best of Show - zerolens
Best Technology - autoRetouch
Best Business Potential – Bloom AI
Special Recognition - vAIsual
Check out our judges’ considerations for choosing these winners. (...)
October 18, 2021
Here's your last chance to join these companies at Visual 1st & the DIY Video Summit
If you haven't already purchased your ticket: Here's your last chance to join these companies at Visual 1st & the DIY Video Summit. (…) Join a broad representation of imaging entrepreneurs and senior Fortune 500 executives from 18 different countries attending, including (…)
October 14, 2021
How we’re empowering attendee participation at our virtual Visual 1st conference and DIY Video Summit next week
Remember the in-person industry conferences when folks who shared a common interest in certain industry topics organically found each other during lunch or the reception, and ended up in deep and insightful conversations?
Or were spurred to do so by the organizers who’d reserved certain tables for discussing a particular Birds of a Feather topic?
While we can’t do things in person at this year’s virtual Visual 1st and DIY Video Summit, our ShareMeChat streaming provider this year enables attendees to virtually mingle and discuss selected topics in its interactive breakout rooms. (…)
October 12, 2021
Who are next week's *39* Visual 1st and DIY Video Summit Show & Tell presenters?
Seven days before Visual 1st and nine days before our inaugural DIY Video Summit, we're pleased to announce our lineup of 39 innovative developers who will show their products on the virtual stage at Visual 1st and the DIY Video Summit. (…)
October 7, 2021
Six reasons you can’t miss Visual 1st & the DIY Video Summit
1. You’ll join a high-powered & global audience of senior-level decision makers and potential partners who have the power to help grow your business: cutting edge photo & video app developers, mobile vendors, camera manufacturers, AI innovators, software companies, trade press, and investors.
A whopping 76% of our Visual 1st attendees are founders, or director level or above. 67% work at mid to large sized companies, 33% at startups. (…)
September 30, 2021
Building – and profiting from – an expanding photo & video ecosystem
In the days of film cameras and silver-halide photo printing, there was a well-defined ecosystem with the likes of Kodak, Fujifilm and Agfa dominating the pack.
In the days of digital cameras, that photo ecosystem broadened, with new industry leaders, such as Adobe and Apple, inventing desktop-based photo editing, coupled with a new breed of digital photo printing enablers, such as Epson and HP.
In today’s smartphone-, social network-, and cloud-dominated world that ecosystem has morphed again and become larger and more diverse than ever (…)
September 27, 2021
Trending: photo & video app developers turning to the *business* market with DIY solutions
Visuals (from cave drawings to photos, videos and phodeos) are our primary (and primal) communication and memory preservation medium. They’re crucial for selling products or services, and to communicate effectively within organizations.
Historically, businesses have relied on photo or video professionals (photographers, videographers, photo editors, video editors, in-house creative departments, outside agencies, and more recently Social Influencers and Gig photo or video pros) to produce the bulk of their visuals.
The mainstream popularity of authentic user-generated content, the importance of timeliness, segmentation (creating customized versions for different audiences or purposes), scale, and cost efficiencies are changing the equation: Businesses are going DIY – do it yourself – for many of their photo and video needs, leaving only the highest-end visual projects to imaging professionals. (…)
September 23, 2021
Hear from these stellar Keynote and Fireside Chat speakers at Visual 1st and the DIY Video Summit
Lionel Mohri, VP of Brand Experiences & Storytelling, Intuit
Oren Boiman, SVP for Small Businesses and Head of Video Creation, Vimeo
Eli Lubitch, President, Beamr
Hans Hartman, President, Suite 48 Analytics
Colin Culross, Founder & CEO, Emortal
Don MacAskill, CEO & Chief Geek, SmugMug & Flickr
Ben Arnold, Executive Director & Consumer Technology Industry Analyst, The NPD Group (…)
September 21, 2021
Two perspectives today based on industry announcements in the last few days:
Adobe – where werest thou? (spoiler alert: think Lightricks and Canva)
When smartphone cameras innovate in a mature market (spoiler alert: think Apple and Xiaomi) (…)
September 14, 2021
Dear photo & video industry colleague
My partner Alexis Gerard and I are pleased to invite you to join a high-level gathering of your industry peers at Visual 1st (Oct. 19-20), and at our inaugural DIY Video Summit (Oct. 21) – just 4 weeks from now!
We recommend signing up right away to take full advantage of this year’s innovative pre-conference networking opportunities!
Why attend Visual 1st and the DIY Video Summit?
We can’t recall a time when the photo and video industry has seen such exciting and paradigm-shifting opportunities. Consider, for instance: (…)
September 9, 2021
This week's photo & video tech industry news
We are pleased to announce our partnership with Dscoop, which includes co-marketing activities and providing industry insights to Dscoop's members.
Why are Dscoop and Visual 1st partnering? Check out my brand new article, Boosting photo print products sales: it ends – but doesn’t start – with best-of-breed photo print product apps, which does not only cover my analysis of the trending photo printing monetization opportunities, but also the perspectives on this partnership from Dscoop and Visual 1st fans: (…)
August 25, 2021
My grab of the pre-holidays photo & video tech season announcements
We’re a few weeks before the storm: the annual tech product pre-holiday announcement season that will be upon us.
In the meantime, here is my grab of this week’s photo or video technology news that stands out: (…)
August 12, 2021
8 trends among the top-ranking photo & video apps
A deep dive into SensorTower’s US app store data for H1 this year
The US photo & video app market is alive and well. It not only boomed during the COVID heydays last year with many consumers spending more time at home, but it has also shown continued growth of monthly users and revenues the first half of this year, according to a new report by SensorTower, which graciously allowed me to share the data presented in this article. (…)
July 28, 2021
Announcing speakers to date for Visual 1st and Visual 1st DIY Video Summit
My partner Alexis and I are thrilled to announce our initial lineup of fireside chat speakers, panelists, Show & Tell demo presenters and judges for our 9th annual Visual 1st conference on Oct. 19-20 and our inaugural DIY Video Summit on Oct. 21. (…)
July 14, 2021
OMG – Instagram turns into a video app
The photo world has been up in arms since Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri announced what even casual Instagram users already knew: Instagram is no longer a photo sharing app – it’s in essence an entertainment and branding platform, focusing on Creators (“to help them make a living”), video, shopping and messaging. (…)
June 30, 2021
Visual 1st and Visual 1st DIY Video Summit news
1. Welcome first sponsors!
2. Tickets on sale now
3. Meet & Greet venue
4. Call for Show & Tell presenters
And a few more things: Profoto, PastBook, Capsulre, Shutterfly, Softbank, EyeQ, Perfect Corp., Facebook, Shopify. (…)
June 10, 2021
What blew me away at WWDC?
Frankly, I am a bit underwhelmed by the scope of the WWDC announcements, in particular those that are relevant to the photo and video industry. It’s pretty obvious that Apple has spent a lot of energy on porting specific iOS features to MacOS and v.v., but this might have very well come at the expense of more exciting innovation relevant to our industry.
Still, here are the announcements I felt stood out: (…)
May 26, 2021
Industry giants and academics tackle the harmful parts of imaging AI
A few weeks ago I described the broad adoption of AI among imaging companies in my Where Gartner’s Hype Cycle goes wrong: today’s surge in real-life AI imaging solutions piece, while noting that besides broad adoption of AI the imaging industry is also stuck in what Gartner calls the Trough of Disillusionment – specifically the realization that AI-based imaging solutions can also cause harm by tricking and misinforming people (deepfakes) or by displaying racial or gender biases.
The good news: awareness of these negative effects is mounting and major AI imaging players and academic researchers are developing solutions to eliminate – or at least reduce – the most negative aspects. (…)
May 12, 2021
My take on this week’s imaging industry news
Including news on CEWE, Facebook, EyeQ, Snap, ByteDance, and YouTube Shorts.
April 29, 2021
Where Gartner’s Hype Cycle goes wrong:
today’s surge in real-life AI imaging solutions
We are probably all familiar with Gartner’s Hype Cycle, which describes the typical adoption path of new technologies.
Like any abstract representation of a complex reality, things are a bit messier in real life – take the adoption of AI technologies in our photo & video ecosystem. (…)
April 14, 2021
Offering DIY photo and video apps – or services? Separate apps or integrated platform?
4 takeaways from Canva’s spectacular DIY visual communication platform growth
I’m intrigued by how consumers and businesses decide when to do things themselves vs. when to hire outside help. What spurs my interest in particular are the opportunities for either innovative DIY tools (such as for video creation) or agile gig outsourcing services to more effectively cater to the (latent) demands among consumers and businesses. (…)
March 31, 2021
New study: Do-It-Yourself video creation apps are driving a surge in user-generated videos
Study reveals how a new generation of apps are empowering average businesspeople and consumers to produce sophisticated videos.
Do-It-Yourself (DIY) video creation apps – apps used by non-video professionals – are a powerful driver behind the current surge in sharing and viewing of user-generated videos, according to our new study.
Under the hood, AI-based innovations are enabling this new generation of apps to overcome the traditional dilemma of creative power versus ease of use. (…)
March 17, 2021
Will the lockdown of the photo industry ever end? Camera makers without vision
The figures on the camera market in 2020, published by the Japanese industry association CIPA on the occasion of the digital CP+ tradeshow/conference, show a terrible picture of our industry: Only 8.9 million cameras were shipped last year, 59 percent less than the year before.
In view of the Corona pandemic and the related canceled events, vacations and trips, this is no surprise, but it is still bad.
Even worse: Those who had hoped that, as the last remaining photo fair with global awareness, the digital edition of the Japanese CP+ imaging show and conference would provide new ideas to the industry, were bitterly disappointed. (…)
March 3, 2021
Photo & video app news
With news from Dispo, memmo, FiLMiC, Kaleido, Canva, Samsung (…)
February 10, 2021
Apple’s upcoming app tracking changes: from opting out to opting in.
If you have a photo or video app that generates revenues through advertising, or if you advertise your products through Facebook or Google, the battle around the proposed changes for IDFA (Apple ID for Advertisers) is one to closely watch. (…)
January 27, 2021
Tackling bit-rot is long overdue. Help is on the way to preserve our digital visual memories.
What if, at some point in the future I – or my (grand)children – can’t open my JPEG photos or my MP4 videos any longer? Or if these files are stored on an ancient device running an antiquated OS?
It’s an issue we all worry about – before we shrug our shoulders and move on, as it’s hopeless anyway. Sort of how some – but fortunately not all – of us respond to the devastating reports of climate change.
But when Vint Cerf, one of the co-creators and founding fathers of the internet and currently VP & Chief Internet Evangelist at Google, thinks differently, we need to pay attention. (…)
January 13, 2021
Crisis, what crisis? Moonpig to go IPO and become the next unicorn
Moonpig, the UK-based online personalized greeting cards and gift retailer, is planning to go public at a valuation that is expected to surpass £1B ($1.4B), according to British news outlets.
Moonpig started as a personalized photo greeting cards company 20 years ago. It since also added gifts, such as flowers, champagne and chocolates to its product lineup. (…)
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Access all 2021 articles through a single 86-page report.
The report enables you to search through any term (acquisition, AR, API, subscription, photobook, etc.) across all 2021 Perspectives pieces; plus lets you browse through the compiled index of 180 companies.
