IKEA seems to expand its products range with a shift to electronic gadgets. After the introduction of Uppleva home entertainment system, the company presents the Knappa Cardboard Digital Camera.

Photo: Knappa Cardboard Digital Camera, from www.gizmag.com

The camera will not be sold in IKEA stores but customers will be able to get it for free. The move is a part of the new PS Furniture Collection, according to Gizmag.

“Limited numbers of the 4.13 x 2.56-inch (105 × 65 mm) camera will be given away in IKEA stores to promote the new PS 2012 furniture collection—with the aim being that shoppers will use it to share images of the furniture range in their own homes (though hopefully not still in hundreds of parts)”, says IKEA.

The recyclable camera designed by Jesper Kouthoofd is made out of one piece of folded cardboard which is fastened by two plastic screws. There is a circuit board that holds all the electronics, camera sensor and integrated USB connector. On/off button is combined with the shutter button on the front.

Images produced by the 2.3 megapixel camera are extremely lo-fi, like those taken by a 2004 camera-phone. It has a human-supported ‘zoom function’—users can just extend their arms, and ‘advanced image stabilization’ means resting the camera on a chair. The camera’s memory allows taking 40 photos. Then, users have to  plug the camera into a USB port and transfer the images to their computer.