Digital Home Thoughts: Canon Quits Making Analog Camcorders - Is Anyone Surprised?

"Japanese camera and office equipment giant Canon Inc said on Wednesday it would pull out of the analog camcorder business this year and focus on the growing market for digital video cameras instead. Canon said it planned to pull the plug this summer on the production of two models released in the United States and Europe in January last year. That will make those two models the final analog video cameras produced by the firm. "The advantages that digital technology offers consumers make it the hands-down choice," Canon spokesman Richard Berger said."

No surprises here, and for one simple reason: even though the majority of people don't connect their DV cameras to their computers, the advantages of digital over analog (both real and perceived) have made analog video cameras obsolete.