Has it lost ground as fast in the "developing countries" though? ... where the absolute reliance on computers
Trevor responded to this, but I will add my affirmation of what he said. Film cameras aren't that common in many of these countries. The same power necessary to run computers wasn't there to run film processors. My observation was that photography was much more specialized, a profession primarily, except in larger and well-off cities in the "developing countries."
All of this is rapidly changing. Power has been arriving simultaneously with digital technology. Sales of home computers in China are staggering, from both anecdotal (I have friends who travel there regularly) and statistics. For the new middle class, it's not that different than a refrigerator - just something you get. One friend visits her friends and relatives and says more of them have high speed internet than her friends and relatives here.
But even where there are few home computers, digital cameras are booming. There's a simple reason for this - the same processors that can now be installed to print film also print from digital. Getting prints from digital is no different than getting prints from film now. The home computer argument is irrelevant to most people. (Despite having run many inkjet prints at home, I now print digital images that are "happy snaps" at the lab.)
I was in Vietnam last December. Vietnam is poorer than China. Yet even in rural villages in the poor North, with water buffalo in the streets and people carrying thirty chickens on the back of a motor scooter, the labs had "Digital" signs out front. Cell phones were common, but most homes have never had a wire line for telephone. People without running water had cell phones. (Because of the usage costs, most seem to be used with text messaging rather than voice.)
As Trevor said, technology implementation is nonlinear in "developing countries."
Jeff Spirer
Photos: http://www.spirer.com
One People: http://www.onepeople.com/
Surfaces and Marks: http://www.withoutgrass.com
