A Gartner Survey Shows that 12.7 million US Households are expected to have a digital camera by the end of 2000. "Ninety-eight percent of digital camera sales in 2000 will be to consumers buying their first digital camera, indicating the market is wide open to new vendors that have a better product and bigger advertising budget,'' said Andrew Johnson, vice president of Dataquest's e-Digital Imaging Devices and Services U.S. program. "New buyers most likely do not have enough personal, hands-on experiences with a particular digital camera model to have developed a strong preference. Word of mouth and third-party recommendations will weigh heavily in their purchase decision.''