Although digital photo frames are in many ways still thought of as a geek accessory or as a gift to bestow on a less technically inclined loved one, the market continues to show strong growth. According to Taiwan's Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center (IEK), demand is expected to grow from about 12 million units in 2007 to 20 million this year. Looking to drive growth further, players in the industry are now trying to leverage Internet services to make digital photo frames easier to manage while perhaps even redefining how the devices are used.

While most digital photo frames still store photos in a memory card or on an embedded flash drive, some makers have started to offer built-in wireless connectivity, so a PC or the Internet (through a connection to a wireless router) can also be used as the storage medium.

Access to the Internet is going to be a key development for the digital photo frame market, as online storage, sharing and finishing of digital photos has become increasingly popular in general. Websites such as Flickr (Yahoo) and Photobucket (News Corp.) are among the Top-50 most visited websites on the Internet, while other startups such as Shutterfly (recently had its IPO) and Snapfish (purchased by Hewlett-Packard) have also capitalized on the potential of the online digital photo market.

Recognizing that photo sharing is one of the main demand drivers of the online digital photo market, digital photo frame vendors such as Ceiva, Ality and Momento have come out with wireless frames that utilize push technology (mostly through RSS) so photos hosted on the Internet can be sent to the frame. The use of push technology is a clever way to expand the digital frame market, as photos can be sent to other people's frames as well (as long as permission is given) so friends and family can share photos with each other.

Taking RSS push technology one step further, Taiwan-based UGA Digital is leveraging the Web 2.0 potential of digital photo websites. Sites such as Flickr provide an API that allows for third-party development of applications using their content, so UGA Digital has developed a platform that allows photos from multiple photo sharing sites or from multiple users to be aggregated and pushed to a single digital photo frame.

UGA Digital argues that while RSS is convenient, it is limiting. Like broadcasting, RSS is a one-way communication, there is no interaction. UGA Digital general manager Nick Fothergill likened RSS to a newspaper or magazine subscription ¨C you can control how many subscriptions you have and how often they come, but you have no control over the content.

Basing push technology on the various APIs used by photo sharing websites, on the other hand, is like having a direct line to all the news stories and reporters at various media outlets and tailoring the overall product to your own specific needs.

While the company does not offer frames themselves, it has established partnerships with a few photo frame OEM suppliers, as well as some Taiwan-based IC design houses. Fothergill explained that the company's partners have the option of leasing both its communication and management system, as well as its front-end service, which includes a website that helps users manage multiple photo hosting sites and frames.

UGA Digital currently supports content from the Yahoo API (Flickr) Google API (Picasa), Facebook and Picnik, and the company plans to continue adding more support, with some announcements planned for the near future, Fothergill stated, adding that the company will also support RSS in the future.

Another company looking to tap into push technology with digital photo frames is US-based Frame Media, with the company arguing that content accessed on such devices should not be limited to digital photos.

Frame Media has developed its RSS-based Frame Channel service to push any type of RSS feed to a digital photo frame. RSS content can include a user's digital photos hosted on the Internet, but can also include sports scores, weather forecasts and news updates, as well as any other type of RSS service supported by the company, according to Frame Media VP Jon Finegold.

The company has already announced 20 content partners with support of over 400 RSS channels, with partners/channels including the Associated Press, National Geographic, NASA and the Doonesbury comic strip. All content is free for the consumer. The company's business plan is to monetize content through advertising, though users are able to opt out of advertising with a subscription service. Advertising is also not used when a user's personal photos are viewed on the frame.

In addition to not charging its hardware partners a royalty for using its platform, Frame Media has developed a business model whereby advertising revenues are shared among hardware vendors, content suppliers and Frame Media. Hardware partners currently include Samsung Electronics, Digital Spectrum, Momento and PhotoVu and the company indicated it will be adding D-Link as a partner in the first quarter.

Frame Media is also developing smart digital photo frames, where channels can be controlled through touch screens or buttons. Pushed video is also planned for the future.

However, while the digital photo frame market is growing, the market for receiving pushed content on a digital photo frame is still very small. Finegold estimates that last year only about 10% of all digital photo frames shipped supported wireless, though he expects the ratio to climb to 25-35% this year. Frame Channel's current customer base totals less than 10,000, though the company expects the number to increase dramatically this year with the D-link launch.

Neither Frame Media nor UGA Digital make or market digital photo frames. Both companies compare themselves to cable TV providers. They do not produce the content or control the hardware used by the client, but they look to facilitate the delivery of the content to the user. However, while UGA Digital licenses IP to hardware and silicon providers to bring in revenues, Frame Media targets advertisers