The camera has been evolving in many aspects since its invention, some of which are explained here…
The origin of the webcam can be traced back to the 1970s and early 1980s. The first video-enabled camera was introduced by 3M in 1980. The earliest commercial webcams were the “webcam” boxes found in early 1990s computers. The first webcam was available for computer owners in 1991, and webcam sales exploded in 1993. In 1995 Panasonic, Sony and JVC released camcorders. In 1996 Digital Video Concepts introduced the first webcams with integrated microphones. A few years later, Microsoft and Logitech introduced the first PC webcams. In the mid-late 1990s consumer PC webcams were only made by JVC, Logitech and VTech.
By the late 1990s, the webcam market had evolved into the two main categories of consumer webcams and industrial webcams. Consumer webcams, including the webcam market, had a slow but steady growth. There were no huge price drops and the technology progressed slowly. Consumer webcams, most of them digital video cameras, are still the dominant form of webcams available today. Industrial webcams, including medical webcams, had been in existence for a long time, and there were a lot of new cameras that entered the market each year. The technology had gotten very advanced and the camera prices had fallen rapidly. The introduction of Digital Video Concepts, Logitech, Kodak and others into this market resulted in the market becoming very competitive and brought the technology level to a new level.
In the year 2000, the Internet has become the world’s dominant communication platform, and the first video-enabled communication product was built based on the Internet, the webcam. The webcam has become a household commodity and became available on a wide range of devices. Webcams are now a $3 billion market and are likely to expand. The market for webcams has grown very quickly and webcams are becoming a major household commodity. In the early 2000s, some of the leading manufacturers that had been making webcams for industrial applications had started to target the consumer market. Philips and Canon are among the leaders in this market, and now they are producing consumer webcams. Canon, Philips and Casio are among the leading industrial camera manufacturers in the world today.
The technology advances have reached an inflection point and we are now entering a new era for webcams. Webcams have become an inseparable part of daily life. People are now beginning to realize that they don’t need a computer or a phone to stay connected to each other and to the Internet. This has resulted in the rapid growth of the webcam market.
Companies like Digital Video Concepts, Logitech, Kodak and Panasonic, have been the first to adapt to this change, and they are the leaders in webcams today. You can find all of these and a lot more other brands in Redington.