Okay, so I'm a few weeks late posting this......Time magazine in the November 17 issue called camera phones one of the coolest inventions of 2003. The article in Time says, "Take two popular gadgets. Merge them into a single point-and-click device. Then watch the world go nuts over it."
The writer, Anita Hamilton, offers a brief roundup of uses -- good and bad -- for camera phones. "Sometimes the true measure of a technology's impact is not how quickly it spreads but how long it takes for the backlash to set in. No sooner had cell phones with built-in digital cameras caught on in the U.S. this year than they started getting banned -- primarily in health clubs and corporate headquarters.
"Abroad, concerns about misuse of the gadgets got so bad that Saudi Arabia outlawed them altogether....
"But with an estimated 80 million camera phones sold this year -- 6 million in the U.S. alone -- the cat may already be out of the camera bag. Like it or not, these hot new gadgets are here to stay."
What the best invention of 2003?
The "Invention of the Year," according to Time, is Apple's iTunes Music Store.
Setting whether camera phones are the coolest invention of the year aside, I hope and pray that Ms. Hamilton's wrong in claiming that the cat's out of the bad when she somewhat cavalierly describes concerns over misuse.
Consumers will have problems enough dealing with individual lawsuits that will inevitably draw media attention, and soon.
Businesses have much more at stake. Camera phones introduce security risks. I've posted an article about security policies and camera phones at http://hhi.corecom.com/cameraphonesecurity.html
and invite you to read it.
Posted by: Dave Piscitello | Friday, December 05, 2003 at 05:07 PM