Darkroom debate: Do tablets really need dual-facing cameras?

By Gurpreet Kaur, Tablet market analyst

Famed photographer W. Eugene Smith ostensibly said that "the world just does not fit conveniently into the format of a 35mm camera," and I thought the same of a particular tablet camera angle. Up until a few months ago, I wondered if tablets even need dual-facing cameras. Almost all tier-one companies, with a few exceptions, incorporated high resolution front and back-facing cameras in their tablet products. Despite its obvious success, the first generation Apple tablet was widely criticized for lacking a camera. 

I understand that a front facing camera is nearly essential.  We have friends and family out of town (even out of country for me!) and would love to video chat with them, so a front facing camera makes sense to me. On the other hand, many analysts, including myself, believed that no one is ever going to lift their 10-inch tablet to take pictures, especially when we have smartphones (with better cameras) or a point-and-shoot with enhanced capabilities handy to elicit a gleeful "cheese." 

However, today I see the issue through a new lens and am now a proponent for including a back-facing camera in a tablet. Although, I do not think I will ever lift my tablet to take high resolution images at a party, I do see other instances for a back-facing camera. One reason is to keep up with the rise in QR Code-based advertising. An increasingly large number of ads in newspapers, magazines, and even in-store brochures now include QR codes. If I have my tablet handy while sipping Sunday morning coffee and browsing the newspaper, I am more inclined to scan the code and view the promotion, than I would be to go find my smartphone and browse additional information on a smaller screen. 

In addition, I feel that a back-facing camera would be convenient for anyone who is an avid blogger, excluding the subset of professionals, who require high resolution images. If I was blogging about fresh tomatoes from my garden or a wonderful bright sunny day in San Diego, I would definitely see value in a back-facing camera. Yes, I can take those pictures with my smartphone or a compact camera, but a back-facing camera helps me avoid going through the steps required to upload pictures from phone to a cloud, then download images onto my tablet, before finally adding them to my blog. 

Although tablet prices are already falling, the $14* cost to vendors in equipping their tablets with cameras is necessary to keep up with customer demand. The frequency of everyday blogging and online marketing, such as QR Codes, will only get stronger. Move over words, a picture may now be worth a thousand dollars when plotting the future form and function of the tablet.  

*iSuppli: The 5-megapixel camera on the back and the 2-megapixel device on the front carry a collective cost of $14, or 3.9 percent of the BOM.

Gurpreet Kaur is a tablet market analyst for Gap Intelligence, a San Diego-based independent technology research firm with emphasis in helping product manufacturers and retailers understand current market trends in order to respond to customer demands.