Kris Kumar
09-21-2004, 03:30 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3592607&thesection=technology&thesubsection=general&thesecondsubsection=' target='_blank'>http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3592607&thesection=technology&thesubsection=general&thesecondsubsection=</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The next big thing in mobile technology - picture messaging via mobile camera phones - has been a dramatic flop with fewer users sending images every month, according to a new report. Tomorrow's report by market analysts Continental Research claims the number of picture messages sent each month has almost halved within a year."</i><br /><br />The findings of the report contradict the popular belief. But then as more and more phones start supporting Bluetooth, removable storage cards or some sort of sync capability, it is expected that the camera phone users would prefer these over the pricey photo messaging plans. This report will definitely scare the US carriers and the mobile photo blogging sites. US carriers were late entrants in the camera phone segment, but now they are offering a wide array of camera phones, with some attractively (read <i>'additional $ per customer'</i>) priced photo messaging plans. As for me, I am not a big fan of the camera phones, so was happy <i>till</i> I read these lines - <i>"Some users are even becoming celebrity "stalkers" to cash in on their new hobby...Heat pays up to £200 a picture, with a free camera phone thrown in for good measure.."</i> 8O Have to end this news post now and head over to the store to buy a camera phone. ;-)<br /><br />Before I leave, I must point out that it is too early to write-off photo messaging. Carriers have only been exploiting the fun aspect of this service. It can be used in enterprise applications and also for enhancing personal productivity. Amazon has demonstrated how a camera phone can be used to take a snapshot of a product's bar code and it can be then sent to the Amazon service, which replies with the product information. I am sure there are more such applications just waiting to be discovered.