Cell phones boost digital photography's image.

Digital cameras are to foster an image from an unexpected source: cell phone cameras.

Interest in digital cameras is directly related to the growth in sales of mobile phones, which also include pictures, a new survey shows the technology market, an analyst at IDC.

The Survey of mobile imaging, released this week shows that more than a quarter of the users of camera phones tend to buy a digital camera, because their experience with the camera phone made them less intimidated by photography digitally.

The results contradict earlier speculation among market analysts and industry as camera phones would eventually replace digital cameras. Emerged from the first camera phone in the fall of 2000, the image quality improves, approaches by some digital cameras.

Camera phone users like to take pictures anywhere, anytime and send it immediately by e-mail.

However, users of a digital camera to "remember" images, such as family portraits and holiday snaps prefer to discover IDC.

These images are the images of memory, except for camera phone users are most likely and can print at home, according to the survey. Therefore, fewer phone camera images are printed on an average of one every three months now for a year last month.

IDC seems appropriate, some studies cited earlier this year by the Eastman Kodak Co. of typical camera phone. The company found that more than 70 percent of camera phone users rarely move images in a computer for archiving or print later.

Camera phones outsell digital cameras 12:56, but they are not the source of most digital images. Is taken by more than 7.5 billion images with camera phones this year, against about 40 billion from digital cameras, IDC.

The survey analyzed the responses of 150 people across the country, mostly 25 - to 44 years, it has been weighted to reflect the nation as a whole.