What a stupid wasteful idea.
For the price of producing this, they may as well have given people a nice basic mobile phone instead.
If they were half smart they should have opted for giving people a choice of a set of metric combination spanners or Allen keys or socket drivers instead.

Relax people. For a Swedish company this is way over-the-top tongue-in-cheek. I think is quite clever and will likely be a great marketing success.

Guess what? They did it to get attention, get us to smile and show they are different. It worked! It is the kind of thinking that got cracker jack to put cheap worthless prizes in boxes of candy popcorn. Let's face it. Even adults like disposable trinkets.

Half the stuff I get from Ikea comes with Allen Keys, and a decent set of "spanners" costs a lot and takes up a decent amount of room (thanks, I don't need another set). On the other hand, I would be happy to take this digital camera, shoot some furniture photos (especially after I put in the hard work getting everything to line up) and then hand the camera off to a friend's six year old. Also, if it's cheaper than a Fugifilm camera, then it's probably also cheaper than a quality tool set too. It seems like a great promotion to me, especially if they manage to get some cardboard box art in the mix.

It is a really smart idea. The actual production costs of this camera are pennies. Hundreds of times cheaper than things like phones, spanners, or allen wrenches. This is actually part of the guts of what used to go into old cell phones, and they have a lot of left over inventory. In fact they probably make a profit giving them away because of the tax benefits. Nor are they that bad. The image is usable, while there is nothing to worry about with the camera if you lose it. Ideal for a trip to the museum or something. But instead of throwing them away, do something creative, like putting one on a kite, toy helicopter, balloon, etc., where you don't even need or want the cardboard sheath.

Relax people? Twas only me.
Give people a really crappy low res almost disposable cardboard digital camera - instead of something actually useful.
What's the next bright move oh IKEA troll? Free Chewing Gum retreads for worn shoes?

It reminds me of the old joke patent drawings for the "low-cost graphical output device" which consisted of a piece of paper and a pencil, and the "remote communication input device" which was a mailbox.

Two years, in lieu of a Christmas Bonus, Ikea gave its employees a cheap bicycle. eBay was flooded with them.
Could this Cardboard Camera be "Xmas Bonus" 2012 ?
I'm sure the employees are very excited by the prospect.

I want one!

wOw love this image maker...itZ a KiSS item....!!!