[turnersauce]

I'm not really sure if the author is correct about what's happening. That all depends on exactly how much of Panasonic's revenue comes from selling professional quality SLR cameras versus its cheaper point-and-shoot models. Anyway, I don't think that sales of the former are in any kind of jeopardy because of cell phone cameras.

[potatolicious]

Even point and shoots aren't really threatened by cell phone cameras - they cover two completely separate contexts. In fact, there are few use cases where the cell phone has really stolen the show from point and shoots.

Don't get me wrong, imaging capabilities on cell phones are important and useful - but IMHO they've largely carved out brand new use cases for themselves rather than stealing from other camera products.

I think Panasonic's positioning isn't too bad. They're saying "we're not your crappy, blurry cell phone camera. If you want memories that last, buy our stuff" - which seems like a wise enough stance to differentiate themselves. After all, the really cheap point and shoots do resemble cell phone cameras in terms of quality - being above that certainly helps.

[bartl]

But a slogan that boils down to "That is not a real camera, look, it has a ringtone" is pure unadultered nonsense. Whether a camera has or doesn't have a ringtone is no quality to decide whether something is, or is not, a camera!