Two of technology's most popular devices, the digital camera and the mobile phone, will soon be joined at the hip, allowing users to send digital images wirelessly.
The wireless digital imaging service will be in customer trials through the end of the year and will be commercially available in early 2001.
Pricing has not been determined.
The new service is based on FlashPoint's Photivity platform. It consists of the Digita OS residing in cameras, the gateway that enables the transfer of the picture as well as photo hosting on the Internet.
According to FlashPoint officials, a half million cameras use the Digita OS and that number is expected to increase to a million after Christmas. Digita is the intelligence behind cameras allowing users to attach the pictures in emails as well as record audio with pictures.
Market share may be the only thing holding this wireless digital imaging service back initially, according to IDC analyst Ron Glaz.
"To use this service you have to have an Internet-enabled Sprint phone and a digital camera with the Digita OS, which is about 20 percent of the market," Glaz said. "And the size of the market using both is even smaller."
Digital camera sales for 2000 are expected to grow 100 percent, hitting 6 million units this year while mobile phones are selling in the ten of millions per week.
Camera manufacturers supporting Digita include Epson America, Hewlett-Packard, Eastman Kodak, Minolta, and Pentax Technologies. Kodak's DC290 will support Photivity out of the gate.
Glaz added that he was sure there was an opportunity for wireless image sharing because wireless technology is such a popular market and so many companies are evaluating new opportunities.
InfoTrends Research Group analyst Michelle Lampmann agreed, adding "Business users are used to the idea of communicating immediately, and this will fit into that scenario very well."
i would like to know more about new mobile phone managing shops as it would be useful for my research for college