• Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Monday, September 20, 2010 10:47 AM

The rise of camera-equipped smartphones has put a damper on sales of digital still cameras -- the market was down 7.5% in 2009 -- but that isn't stopping Samsung Electronics from bringing its sizable muscle to the category, Bruce Einhorn reports.

"When it comes to serious occasions, people pick up a camera," says SangJin Park, president of Samsung's digital imaging unit.

But it appears there's an additional reason for entering the fray: Beating Apple by playing its game. The thinking goes like this: Because Apple doesn't make cameras, there's an opening for Samsung. "Just as the popularity of the iPhone helped build excitement about the iPad, Park says Samsung will use digital cameras to build brand awareness for the company's TVs, smartphones, and other products," Einhorn writes.

Phew. This is the sort of stuff they don't teach you in business school. Did we mention that the cameras look "cool," want to give "the feeling of being carved by human hands" and can tilt on a tabletop, eliminating the need for a tripod when taking self-portraits?

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