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Learning to share instantly | May 7, 2004
By Mara Gulens
Here are some remarkable stats: worldwide about 80 million camera phones have been sold since the launch of the first unit in Japan three years ago. That makes them even hotter than DVD players, commonly called the fastest-growing consumer tech device ever, according to widely reported numbers from IDC. IDC said 57 million camera phones will be sold worldwide in 2004, compared to 44 million digital cameras. And according to In-Stat/MDR, only 30 million DVD players were sold in the first three years they were available.
The popularity of camera phones is due, in large part, to the immediacy they deliver, according to Max Valiquette, president and youth insight broker of Youthography, a Toronto-based full-service youth marketing consultancy. “The single biggest point of difference (compared to other devices) is that you can send the photo to someone right away.”
The immediacy and sharing potential of digital cameras is slow-to-a-crawl by comparison. No wonder François Deschênes, product manager for Microcell Solutions (Fido), said in the future “pretty much all of our portfolio is going to be…camera-enabled. Everybody will have access to that functionality.”
All four major Canadian cellular providers now offer camera phones, either through integrated cameras or as attachments. With service contracts, camera phones can be had for as little as $50, although models with full-scale PDA capabilities can cost up to $1,000. “It’s a fairly amazing device,” Valiquette said. “It facilitates communication and individuality, two things that are so important to young people.” Back in September an IDC study, entitled Moving Pictures 2003: Worldwide Camera Phone Survey, Forecast and Analysis, 2003 – 2007, predicted 57 million camera phones would be shipped worldwide by the end of the year. Most of those went to the U.S., Europe, Japan and Asia Pacific, and only one million to “the rest of the world” — which includes Canada. Currently 43 per cent of the population, or 13 million Canadians, are wireless subscribers. Lawrence Surtees, director of Telecom Research for IDC Canada, said given Canada’s “paltry [camera phone] numbers the year before,” that means there could be about 100,000 camera phones now in the country.
MARKET-WIDE IMPACT
IDC predicts the number of camera phones shipped worldwide will reach 298 million by the end of 2007. Canadian carriers are expecting the worldwide camera phone phenomenon, still “in its infancy,” according to IDC, to play out big in this country, too.
“This will definitely help the bottom line,” Deschênes said. “Communication helps other communication.” Meaning, for example, that if you receive a picture from a friend’s camera phone, you might return the call to say “You’re lucky to be on the beach.”
“It’s going to help the whole industry,” Deschênes said.
“Camera phones will help get us to the next level of growth,” said Kelly Dixon, vice-president of consumer marketing for Bell Mobility. Although the carrier only entered the camera phone space recently, it is finding people are taking an increasing number of pictures each month. “We do expect it to be a significant part of the growth over next year,” she said.
Camera phones are not much bigger than regular cellphones and don’t really compromise on a phone’s portability or functionality.
That they do compromise on the image quality, which is relatively shoddy compared to modern digital cameras, is currently not an issue for consumers. “[Users] are still at the point where they’re just very thrilled that there’s a camera in their phone,” Valiquette said. Camera phones also come one step closer to solving that early 21st century conundrum of what to do with so many gadgets. “A digital camera is an extra thing to carry, but a camera phone isn’t, because everybody’s got their phone with them all the time anyway,” said Mark Langton, a spokesperson for Telus Mobility.
Langton insists camera phones are for “anybody who needs to say something with a picture as part of their business,” from real estate, to home inspection, to design and retail. But Valiquette is not so sure. “It would be tough to get the business world to put down their BlackBerries long enough to consider anything else at this point,” he said.
CAN I SEND THIS TO YOU?
Another issue that needs to be worked out is inter-carrier operability. Currently Canadians can send photos to any e-mail address anywhere in the world, but sending directly to any phone is not possible.
“You want to know that no matter what camera phone you bought, and no matter who your cellular service provider is, you can send a picture to somebody else,” Valiquette said.
A similar situation occurred with text messaging using the short messaging service (SMS) protocol a few years back. SMS was originally limited to phones operated by the same carrier. This was widened to include any phone in Canada and then to any mobile phone in North America, a move the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association said led to a tripling of text message volume. Presumably, the advent of interoperability to camera phone photos will lead to a similar jump in usage. Another factor is the coming use of the Multimedia Message Service (MMS) protocol, which allows for the transmission of graphics, video clips, sound files and short text messages. Although some people “refer to MMS as SMS on steroids,” said Marc Choma, the director of communications at the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, MMS is a much more complicated system involving more than just pictures, with no set date for its implementation, although sources suggest the end of the year.
“People are really buying them [camera phones] now for the fact that you can take a photo and you always have a camera with you,” Choma said.
Which is what Surtees thinks about when he considers events that might inhibit camera phone forecasts, such as law enforcement and corporate bans, not to mention already existing by-laws limiting cellphone usage.
“Businesses are increasingly turning to wireless and they want people to be in touch,” Surtees said. “But a camera suddenly becomes a different matter and spooks them. What — are you going to put a camera in my meeting? An employee could point and shoot a file—no thanks.”
Web imaging
Bell Mobility http://www.bellmobility.ca
CWTA http://www.cwta.ca
IDC Canada http://www.idc.ca
Fido http://www.fido.ca
Telus Mobility http://www.telusmobility.com
Youthography http://www.youthography.com
Here are some remarkable stats: worldwide about 80 million camera phones have been sold since the launch of the first unit in Japan three years ago. That makes them even hotter than DVD players, commonly called the fastest-growing consumer tech device ever, according to widely reported numbers from IDC. IDC said 57 million camera phones will be sold worldwide in 2004, compared to 44 million digital cameras. And according to In-Stat/MDR, only 30 million DVD players were sold in the first three years they were available.
The popularity of camera phones is due, in large part, to the immediacy they deliver, according to Max Valiquette, president and youth insight broker of Youthography, a Toronto-based full-service youth marketing consultancy. “The single biggest point of difference (compared to other devices) is that you can send the photo to someone right away.”
The immediacy and sharing potential of digital cameras is slow-to-a-crawl by comparison. No wonder François Deschênes, product manager for Microcell Solutions (Fido), said in the future “pretty much all of our portfolio is going to be…camera-enabled. Everybody will have access to that functionality.”
All four major Canadian cellular providers now offer camera phones, either through integrated cameras or as attachments. With service contracts, camera phones can be had for as little as $50, although models with full-scale PDA capabilities can cost up to $1,000. “It’s a fairly amazing device,” Valiquette said. “It facilitates communication and individuality, two things that are so important to young people.” Back in September an IDC study, entitled Moving Pictures 2003: Worldwide Camera Phone Survey, Forecast and Analysis, 2003 – 2007, predicted 57 million camera phones would be shipped worldwide by the end of the year. Most of those went to the U.S., Europe, Japan and Asia Pacific, and only one million to “the rest of the world” — which includes Canada. Currently 43 per cent of the population, or 13 million Canadians, are wireless subscribers. Lawrence Surtees, director of Telecom Research for IDC Canada, said given Canada’s “paltry [camera phone] numbers the year before,” that means there could be about 100,000 camera phones now in the country.
MARKET-WIDE IMPACT
IDC predicts the number of camera phones shipped worldwide will reach 298 million by the end of 2007. Canadian carriers are expecting the worldwide camera phone phenomenon, still “in its infancy,” according to IDC, to play out big in this country, too.
“This will definitely help the bottom line,” Deschênes said. “Communication helps other communication.” Meaning, for example, that if you receive a picture from a friend’s camera phone, you might return the call to say “You’re lucky to be on the beach.”
“It’s going to help the whole industry,” Deschênes said.
“Camera phones will help get us to the next level of growth,” said Kelly Dixon, vice-president of consumer marketing for Bell Mobility. Although the carrier only entered the camera phone space recently, it is finding people are taking an increasing number of pictures each month. “We do expect it to be a significant part of the growth over next year,” she said.
Camera phones are not much bigger than regular cellphones and don’t really compromise on a phone’s portability or functionality.
That they do compromise on the image quality, which is relatively shoddy compared to modern digital cameras, is currently not an issue for consumers. “[Users] are still at the point where they’re just very thrilled that there’s a camera in their phone,” Valiquette said. Camera phones also come one step closer to solving that early 21st century conundrum of what to do with so many gadgets. “A digital camera is an extra thing to carry, but a camera phone isn’t, because everybody’s got their phone with them all the time anyway,” said Mark Langton, a spokesperson for Telus Mobility.
Langton insists camera phones are for “anybody who needs to say something with a picture as part of their business,” from real estate, to home inspection, to design and retail. But Valiquette is not so sure. “It would be tough to get the business world to put down their BlackBerries long enough to consider anything else at this point,” he said.
CAN I SEND THIS TO YOU?
Another issue that needs to be worked out is inter-carrier operability. Currently Canadians can send photos to any e-mail address anywhere in the world, but sending directly to any phone is not possible.
“You want to know that no matter what camera phone you bought, and no matter who your cellular service provider is, you can send a picture to somebody else,” Valiquette said.
A similar situation occurred with text messaging using the short messaging service (SMS) protocol a few years back. SMS was originally limited to phones operated by the same carrier. This was widened to include any phone in Canada and then to any mobile phone in North America, a move the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association said led to a tripling of text message volume. Presumably, the advent of interoperability to camera phone photos will lead to a similar jump in usage. Another factor is the coming use of the Multimedia Message Service (MMS) protocol, which allows for the transmission of graphics, video clips, sound files and short text messages. Although some people “refer to MMS as SMS on steroids,” said Marc Choma, the director of communications at the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, MMS is a much more complicated system involving more than just pictures, with no set date for its implementation, although sources suggest the end of the year.
“People are really buying them [camera phones] now for the fact that you can take a photo and you always have a camera with you,” Choma said.
Which is what Surtees thinks about when he considers events that might inhibit camera phone forecasts, such as law enforcement and corporate bans, not to mention already existing by-laws limiting cellphone usage.
“Businesses are increasingly turning to wireless and they want people to be in touch,” Surtees said. “But a camera suddenly becomes a different matter and spooks them. What — are you going to put a camera in my meeting? An employee could point and shoot a file—no thanks.”
Web imaging
Bell Mobility http://www.bellmobility.ca
CWTA http://www.cwta.ca
IDC Canada http://www.idc.ca
Fido http://www.fido.ca
Telus Mobility http://www.telusmobility.com
Youthography http://www.youthography.com
