Reiter's Camera Phone Report

U.K. school bans cellular phones, iPods for security, "status" reasons

A secondary school in Sheffield, England, Meadowhead, is banning cellular phones and iPods because of security and "status" concerns, according to Sheffield Today.

Cellular phones are banned for a variety of reasons:  Students sending nasty SMS messages to other students, the threat of "happy slapping" (where a camera phone is used to record the reaction of someone who is slapped in the face) and "situations where mobiles with cameras have been used to record certain incidents," the article says.

The school also is banning iPods; I don't know whether "iPod" is used generically to mean banning all music players.  A headteacher, Cath James, says cellular phones and iPods are status symbols that can be lost, damaged or stolen and "we just don't want them here."

Who is out of control?

James says, "It seems as if the technology is moving beyond our means to control it."  She also says, "I accept that some people may accuse me of being a Luddite but I believe as adults we have to take a stand on what is acceptable and what is not. We want to be in control of what is happening."

Now that's an enlightened attitude:  If you can't understand or control technology, just ban it.

Perhaps Meadowhead School's next brilliant action will be to ask students for receipts for their clothing to make sure they aren't competing on "status" because of an expensive sweater or jogging shoe. 

Why stop there?

Or, better yet, just ban clothing because it, too, can be damaged and stolen. 

The school, according to the article, also bans students from wearing any jewelry.  Are wristwatches banned, too?  Watches indeed can be status symbols.

No problem -- students can just use sundials to determine the time.

I am reminded of a favorite quote of mine from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" where Puck exclaims:  "Lord, what fools these mortals be!"

San Francisco Chronicle reports on camera phone privacy, security issues

The San Francisco Chronicle today reports on privacy and security issues surrounding camera phones, as well as including a few statistics.  It's one of several articles about digital photography the newspaper is running in special section.

If you've been reading this weblog there's not much new information.  The lead notes, as a sign of the times, that Apple Computer banned photography at its April shareholders meeting and security personnel checked for camera phones.

The article quotes David Linsalata, an analyst at IDC, who says camera phones comprised 36 percent of handset shipments in the United States in 2004.  He forecasts that number will increase to 55 percent this year and 87 percent in 2009.

I'm also quoted in the article.

Image importance increasing or decreasing?

One of the articles about about effects of digital photography discusses whether it has increased or decreased the importance of photos.  Volker von Glasenapp, who runs a San Francisco store, Just Film, says digital has decreased the value of images.

He says, Taking pictures used to be an event of sorts.  Now they have camera phones -- they e-mail pictures, look at them once and trash them.  The image is not what it used to be.  The value of the image is no longer what it was."

However, John Grady, a sociology profressor at Wheaton College in Massachusetts, says people are spending more time selecting and enhancing photos with software that used to be only for professionals.

My take

I believe both opinions are right.  Images have become more throwaway items.  If you mess up one photo of your cat you can take 100 more and not worry about the cost of film. 

In addition, camera phones produce many more "good enough" (not good) images that people never would have kept when they were using film cameras -- just they way cellular phones have accustomed people to put up with poorer quality voice calls.

But with the introduction of online photo editing tools and easy-to-use editing software many people are spending much more time improving their photos -- that they couldn't do before.

"Converational imaging"

I also believe camera phones are making photos part of "conversations."  People are shooting images, showing them to friends and relatives as soon as they're taken and then deciding whether to keep the photos.

The photo becomes part of communications the way it has never been before.  Camera phones also enable others to become part of the conversation because other people around the world can see the photos almost in real-time on a handset, in e-mail or in an online album.

Snapfish launches camera phone contest with 1000 free prints

Online photo processing company Snapfish has launched a "So Glad I Had My Camera Phone" photo contest for the funniest or sweetest photo.

The winner receives 1,000 free prints.  People without camera phones may enter a digital camera photo to win an Honorable Mention award of 100 free prints. 

Photos should be sent to snapfishcontest@snapfish.com.  The contest ends June 1.

Electronic News reports on camera phones competing against dig

Electronic News reports on the booming market for camera phones and how they are eating into the low end of the digitial camera business. 

The article also discusses the challenges of developing a camera phone that can rival digital cameras in image quality and features.

Tony Henning, an analyst at Future Image and editor of the Mobile Imaging Report, says, camera phones "will take some of the market away.  It will start at the low end first and impact the single use camera market.

"Certainly by the end of the year more than half of camera phones will be able to produce acceptable 4x6 prints."  Tony notes that the camera phone is killing the single-use film camera business.

Revolution, but with challenges

Mel Conway, a product marketing manager at Analog Devices that provides components for camera phones, says the Piezo motor "will revolutionize the business by allowing extremely small auto focus and extremely small optical zoom."

There are, obviously, still significant challenges for camera phones.  Handset manufacturers need to keep the price and weight low and the size small while also adding capabilities to produce good photos.

As Tony says, "There are things about a stand alone camera that cannot be duplicated at the camera form factor, such as powerful flashes, big lenses, auto focus.  These things you cannot put into a phone and still call it a phone."

Reuters reports on citizen journalists using moblogs

Reuters reports (posted by CNET News) about moblogs and citizen journalists.  Nothing new in the article, if you've been following the trend.

The article says, "The recent tsunami in South Asia gave evidence of moblogs' power and widespread use.  Shortly after it struck, dispatches began appearing on blogs, often beating mainstream media to the unfolding story. 

"One such blog was Waveofdestruction.org, created by Australian Geoffrey Huntley and made up of video and photos taken at the scene."

Google's reaction

Biz Stone, blogger senior specialist at Google, says in the article, "Families, friends, and co-workers will form there own social spheres through mobile blogging and so too will citizen journalists.

"There is more hype around the idea of real-time breaking-news bloggers than there is around a family that shares on-the-scene wedding and baby photos, but they are all the same from our perspective of enabling self-expression and sharing."

Sony Ericsson sponsors camera phone contest for funny, stupid, embarrassing images

From a CNET News weblog to an article in Softpedia I see that Sony Ericsson in the U.K. is sponsoring a camera phone content for "funny, stupid or cringingly embarrassing pics of yourself or your mates," according to the Shame Academy Web site where the photos should be sent (see below).

Contest participants will win Sony K300i camera phones.  Two winners will be selected every week until early June.  The rules state, "one to the sender of the week's most popular photo as decided by the public, and one to a voter, picked at random, who rates the week’s most popular photo.

"Each picture shown on the site can be rated on a scale of 1 to 10.  The site then averages out the overall rating for each picture and the highest scoring shot at the end of each week will win."

Participants need to use an SMS to send their entries to 07731-966-111 or submit them online at the Shame Academy Web site.

Negative marketing

I typically applaud efforts to market camera phones.  Sony Ericsson has spent a lot of money marketing camera phones.

I realize kids (and many adults) like to view these types of embarrassing photos.  I don't want to make a big deal out of the promotion (I'm a pretty liberal guy), but the contest does nothing to improve the "image" of camera phones. 

There are all too many people already who think of camera phones as harmful.  Perhaps the next camera phone campaign will ask for photos of kids smoking cigarettes!

GfK says camera phones will comprise almost 100% of Hong Kong sales in 4Q05

The research group GfK reports that 95 percent of cellular phones sold in Hong Kong in the first quarter of the year were camera phones.

Stanley Kee, the head of mobile communications in Asia for GfK, forecasts that 97 percent of cellular sales will be camera phones in the second quarter in Hong Kong, 98 percent in the third quarter and almost 100 percent in the fourth quarter.

JupiterResearch: 44% of online users will watch free cellular videos, 19% will pay

JupiterResearch says 44 percent of online consumers surveyed say they will watch videos over cellular if it's free, but only 19 percent will pay for them, according to the company's press release.

JupiterResearch's report, "Video on Cell Phones: It's Real in 2005, but a Paying Consumer Audience Isn't," also says four percent of people surveyed consider watching videos as a priority feature when purchasing a handet.  (That's not surprising, considering the U.S. market is still in the early stages.)

The press release says, "Wireless carriers in the U.S. have launched mobile video applications demonstrating both the progress and the potential of the technology.  The JupiterResearch report also finds the lack of network coverage, high prices for both handsets and service, and limited access to real time content, however, will dampen consumer interest in the near term."

Dallas police encourage camera phone photos of potential criminal acts

The Dallas police are encouraging consumers to take photos of criminal acts they witness, if taking the photo doesn't put the consumer in danger, according to an article on NBC 5 Dallas.

The call for camera phone photos was made after police saw a camera phone photo of an automobile used by a man who allegedly killed another man in a Dallas parking lot.

The article's lead says, "Dallas police say a quick-thinking witness is helping them track down a killer.  Police are always reminding us to call 911 in an emergency, and now they're saying if you have a camera phone and you witness a crime, snap a picture."

Tracking a suspect

The woman took a photo of a Grand Marquis that was used by the suspect.  She also took a photo of an automobile whose occupants spoke to the suspect.

Sr. Cpl. Jamie Kimbrough says in the article, "We don't ever want anyone to put themselves in harm's way, but if you're at a location you're able to take a picture to help us further our investigation, it's very much appreciated."

I'm in favor of using camera phones this way, but I've also written and been quoted in print that I believe people will be killed taking camera phone photos, whether it's of a killer, police brutality, government abuses or other actions where the person being photographed doesn't want his/her photo taken.

As I've written many times, when hundreds of millions are able to document with still photos and videos everything that occurs around them and qucikly transmit  those images...things change.

Camera phone photo shows Australian school bus driver using SMS while driving

A Sydney, Australia school bus driver who was photographed by two school children using his cellular phone for SMS while driving the bus is under investigation, according ABC News in Australia.

The camera phone photo shows the driver holding his cellular phone in one hand while grasping the steering wheel in the other hand.  The Transport Minister of New South Wales said in the article that closed-circuit TV film footage also would be examined.

I certainly understand the gravity of the situation, although as someone who has smashed into tree limbs and had close calls with cars as I've walked  (not driving) while staring down at information on my cellular phone, I can understand the allure of wireless messaging.