No surprise here...
Let's look at the two areas cited as the reason for this -
Compact cameras. That whole industry is dying. It is becoming more and more difficult to stay relevant given the onslaught of ever improving cell phone cameras. For compact cameras to hold on, there's going to have to be some serious innovation and tech put into them. I don't see that happening. Because if they couldda-they-wouldda. Besides, the main killer of the compact camera is the inability to easily share. Cell phones will dominate and win because they are a 100% full time internet connected social media portable computer. Compact cameras will never be.
Printers. A lot of people are downright sick of printers, especially inkjets. Most printers are practically disposable these days, low quality machines. The cost of the printer pales in comparison to the ink cartridges. And that's where the disgust comes in. The prices of ink are just outrageously high for what you get. Low output printing, high materials cost. It is just a lose-lose scenario. Manufacturers don't make it easy either, they all use proprietary ink cartridges and even go to great extents and efforts to block the use of cheaper, 3rd party ink suppliers.
This is why in recent years, there's been a bit of a comeback of the laser printer. For people who just want documents, the laser is better. But more expensive, so it has to be folks who really can justify the printer costs. Not the same for inkjets. They are horrible value for document printing. And where they really shine, in photo-printing, they are a terrible value there too. Only with the highest end inkjets, and best paper in ideal circumstances can you get close to professional print. Note, close - not the same. You might get all the resolution and color, but not durability and other qualities.
But really, that isn't even the killer. It's the cost. By the time you get an inkjet printer, the cartridges and paper - what is your 8x10 print cost? What people don't factor in is all the calibration steps and other ink and paper waste that takes place. So your yield is never 100% of your materials. Not even close.
After cost, is convenience. A printer is another counter-space sucking dust collector. All for what? To create physical prints. Useless for most folks as now the medium has become digital. Most photos are stored, kept, shared, viewed, admired on the internet. Particularly on social media sites. It has come to the point where if you want something to hang on the wall - you're going to get a professional portrait done anyway - and you will get it professionally printed as part of the package. For those that want wallets and small prints - who can challenge the speed, ease and pricing of any one of a hundred stores where you can just feed photos to via your cell phone and get prints in minutes?
The trend in consumer electronics is speed, ease, convenience. They don't want printers and cabling and nonsense. They don't even want desktop computers much anymore. Look at the huge rise of laptops and other smaller devices. All wireless. Smaller, wireless, convenient, fast - sharing and connected. That is the trend. Anything that doesn't fall into that is in danger of becoming extinct.
It's not even useful for kids pictures. These days you can get a Groupon deal, go to the mall, and for literally less than $15 USD, get a portrait session done and gets a set of prints. We're talking two 8x10, four 5x7, 16 wallets and usually more.
Less than $15. Photo session with studio lights, props, prints all done. How can this be beat?
Who wants to deal with some compact camera, then take memory card and go to PC or printer, setup printers, inks and paper and all that nonsense just to get a few pictures.
There is a place for the photo-printer. Pros and serious enthusiasts can make it work economically as they can create proofs and experiment in shop, before spending huge money on very large, expensive high end prints for commercial sales. But this is a sort of cost of doing business thing. It is a step in a greater process, NOT the end result.
That said, and this ties into the average consumer - the quality isn't there. Pro prints are visually better, even to non-experts.
So there you have it, the photo printing for the masses is a dying industry and has been. Photo-printing is, just like cameras with DSLR's, moving toward being for enthusiasts and pros. Document printing is going to laser. And even that too is dying out as the world moves to paperless and there's more cloud computing.
Companies that are into these businesses already know this. They're in it because there's still demand for it. Few things go obsolete over night. It is a process, some longer, some shorter. Canon, Sony, Nikon and others still make money off of these compact point and shoots. BUT - that will and is dwindling down.
Canon is making moves, granted, slowly - toward adjusting for that. Notice the more specialized DSLR's. More innovation in high end glass. There will always be a market for higher end and pro gear. What kind of innovation is there for Powershots? Not a whole lot. And that goes for Sony too. What is so special about their RX? Short of some incredible technological leap in sensor performance, which isn't happening, these type of cameras are maxed out on innovation. Besides, that same technological leap for sensors would apply to cell phones, bumping their quality up too and making them even more appealing. Figure this - a 20% increase in image quality for a DSLR is significant, but for 95% of uses - not noticeable. That's because the images are already very very good and beyond the quality most can take advantage of on the web. However, 20% boost in IQ for a cell phone is huge. That is very noticeable, as their output is more in line with the web and with small sensors, they need it more. You go from mediocre to good. Whereas in a DSLR, you go from great to slightly greater.
Sure, they can still improve AF, video and add bells and whistles. That's fine, but does not fundamentally change the fact that most people get decent enough results with an iPhone and can instantly share. Until a pocket camera can go on the internet, from anywhere, and login to and instantly share photos - they are destined for extinction. Anyone envision a fully featured Android powered pocket camera that also connects to cell phone carriers? By the time you do that, you might as well add voice and you're back to a cell phone with a larger sensor.
This is all just my $0.02
