Why don't digital photo frames work?'

I’ve walked passed Jessops in New Oxford Street a couple of times this week. It has a window display packed with digital photo frames.

Here’s a product that really should fly off the shelves but just doesn’t seem to work. We’re all creating loads and loads of digital content using cameras, mobile phones and video cameras, yet these devices to display the stuff seem slow to shift.

Our home computer kicks into a Picasa screen saver that rotates through images after five minutes. We sometimes use the TV to display feeds from Flickr and Photobox (a client of our consumer firm Custard PR) and I use my iTouch for carrying personal images around. But we’ve never been tempted to buy a digital photo frame.

Likewise I don’t know that anyone that has one in their living room to display images, although I know plenty of folk that have bought one and have relegated it to a bottom draw.

Walking past Jessops has made me question why. Here’s some possible answers.

Power: these devices gobble batteries or power cables are unsightly. You’re limited to sticking it near a socket and there’s never enough
Integration: getting photos into a digital photo frame isn’t a trivial exercise. Wi-fi connectivity to a web app such as Flickr would be a good solution
Style: designs are like cheap TVs, not living room chic. Real photo frames are much more decorative
Price: they are expensive and don’t represent value
Context: albums are for sharing photos, frames are for displaying photos that have special memories. The digital photo frame demands a change of mindset

Is this a market that is destined never to fly, or does it need a manufacturer such as Apple or Philips to solve some of the issues above and develop a really classy design? Or has anyone solved this issue already?

Also posted on www.rainierpr.co.uk