Reiter's Camera Phone Report

Camera phone video shows U.K. teenager on railroad track as train passes over him

It’s not enough that kids are going around hitting and beating up other kids and adults in order to film their actions on camera phones — “happy slapping.”  Now British kids are risking death on railroad lines — and using camera phones to record their stupidity.

An article in the Telegraph reports:  “Video footage of a teenager lying face down on a railway track as a speeding train passes a few inches above him has been posted on the Internet.  The video, which appeared on the YouTube website, shows the boy picking himself up after the train has passed and waving his legs in the air to show that he has not been injured.”

I very quickly searched YouTube for that video, but couldn’t find it.  No loss.

The article says kids are increasingly risking their lives around railroads.  One of the riskiest activities is standing in front of a train as it’s speeding down the track and moving away at the least minute, the Telegraph says.

MIPC study reports 40+ percent of Japanese print camera phone photos

The Japanese — especially women — are printing more camera phone photos than you might imagine, according to a study conducted by the Mobile Imaging and Printing Consortium (MIPC).  However, printing and wanting to print doesn’t necessarily mean people understand how to adjust the resolution of their photos!

The MIPC was established to promote printing of photos using a variety of methods (such as Bluetooth, infrared, WiFi).  The organization’s survey says more than 40 percent of people surveyed said they had printed camera phone photos. 

More than 50 percent of working women and grandmothers said they had printed camera phone photos.

Digital camera versus camera phone

In addition, more than 50 percent of people surveyed said they used their camera phones several times a day.  Twenty percent of female high school students said they used their camera phones every day.

Forty two percent of the survey’s respondents said they use a digital camera “for important photos of special occasions and major events, and a camera phone for snapshots."  The MIPC release notes, “The results point to a difference in the ways digital cameras and camera phones are used depending on circumstances.”

This certainly isn’t a surprise.  But we’re also seeing — and will continue to see — people using their camera phones with increasing frequency instead of digital cameras as the quality of camera phone images improves.

Sad lack of knowledge

One interesting, but rather sad, aspect of the survey is that more than 60 percent of people surveyed said the most frequently used photo size was “standby display” (240 x 320) and VGA (640 x 480).  The majority of users take photos with the default resolution.

In other words, the respondents indicated either they didn’t know about changing the resolution or didn’t care.  I strongly suspect it’s the former.

The press release says that with increasing camera phone resolutions (especially in Japan where three megapixels to five megapixels aren’t unusual — unlike in the United Sates), “many users have expressed dissatisfaction over print-image quality when taking photos using the ‘standby display’ and ‘VGA’ size settings.”

More education needed

Well, duh!  Of course they don’t like the quality of photos at these two low resolutions.

I don’t know how camera phone education is in Japan.  But cellular operators in the U.S. generally have done a terrible job of educating consumers about how to best use their camera phones (among many other phone features).

The MIPC release says, “It is believed that a vital key to increasing the print rate of camera phone photos will be increasing user awareness of how to change photo-size settings to enable higher image resolution compared with default settings, and how to adjust other camera settings.”

For years I have been complaining about the operators’ lack of customer education.  And I will continue to do so.  The operators don’t seem to understand is the more customers understand how to use their phones for different applications, the more those applications will be used.  Another duh.

Sri Lankan newspaper discusses camera phone pros/cons, silly Nokia statement

An article about the pros and cons camera phones in the Sri Lankan newspaper Daily Mirror caught my eye because of a comment attributed to Nokia and wrong information about Saudi Arabia.

The article doesn’t say anything that’s new.  It’s based in part on comments by a Sri Lankan police officer who says camera phones can be used for bad things (violating privacy) and good things (taking photos of criminals).

But the item about Nokia struck me:  “When contacted by the Daily Mirror, a Singaporean-based official of the leading mobile phone manufacturer Nokia said how the mobile device is used and for what purposes lies in the hands of the customer and cannot be controlled by the manufacturer.”

Sorry, we just build the bombs.  We have no responsibility for their use after they leave our factory!

Doing a better job

Okay, okay, I’m being facetious.  But either the Nokia official said much more but the newspaper only used that bit of information or that was indeed the jist of the interview.  Regardless, it’s a cover-your-ass statement that’s pretty ridiculous….assuming that is indeed what he said.

Nokia has done more to publicize the value of camera phones — and multimedia phones in general — than any handset manufacturer.  It’s too bad the Nokia official didn’t do a better job (I’m assuming he didn’t) of discussing the issues so the reporter wouldn’t have printed that silly statement.

One mistake:  The Daily Mirror says some governments have banned camera phones in specific public places, such as gyms and swimming pools (true), but to avoid any problems Saudi Arabia has totally banned camera phones.  Wrong!  Saudi Arabia had banned camera phones but lifted the ban almost two years ago, as I wrote.

Kansas City Star columnist rants against camera phones

Marli Murphy, a contributing columnist for the Kansas City Star, ranks against camera phones in her column today.

Basically, she says they're unnecessary and most of the photos taken are useless.  "In my experience, the camera feature serves only as another way for cell phone users to be obnoxious.

"Not only are we forced to hear a stranger at the next dinner table describing his hemorrhoid condition, we must now also fear the cell-o-holic will take a picture of us shoveling spaghetti into our mouth — and with a few clicks, send it to 100 contacts.

"Yes, I know some folks beam cell phone pictures of their children to faraway relatives or take crucial shots at a crime scene.  But Google 'cell phone pictures' and you’ll see that most of America uses the camera function to goof off."

Houston schools set different policies for student cellular phone use

The Houston school board is letting each of the city’s 305 schools set its own policy on students using cellular phones — including camera phones — and the result it a mishmash of different regulations, according to an article in the Houston Chronicle.

In some schools cellular phones —  but not camera phones — are allowed but can’t be used during school hours.  In other schools all cellular phones are banned.  In some schools cellular phones may be used during non-school hours and during lunch.

So it goes.

Personally speaking

Certainly cellular phones — and camera phones — can be disruptive.  Personally, I think cellular phones — and camera phones — should be allowed in schools but students shouldn’t use them during school hours (emergencies notwithstanding).

But I can see where students — and, indeed, parents — could get confused and angry by the different regulations. 

If I were a parent who wanted my child to carry a cellular phone (and I certainly would), but my child was in a school that didn’t permit that — even though other schools would — I’d certainly be angry….angry enough to tell my kid to carry a phone anyway, and be willing to take the school to court if the phone was confiscated.

But I’m just that kind of guy!

Cambodia might ban camera phones because of wives fear of morality issues

From an article in MoCo.News I followed a few links to read that the wives of seven senior government officials in Cambodia want the government to ban camera phones, according to an article in the People’s Daily Online (that reports an article in The Cambodian Daily).

The wives sent a petition to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to ban cellular phones that can take photos and videos because they could be used to send improper photos and destroy the country’s culture, the People’s Daily Online says.  Hun Sen’s wife signed the petition along with the wives of Cabinet Minister Sok An, former National Assembly president Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Supreme Curt President Dith Monty, according to The Cambodia Daily.

The People’s Daily Online reports the petition warned, “We are all very concerned that bad people will use modern communication and information technology in the wrong direction and it will make a serious negative effect on morality and social welfare.”

“The petition asked the government to ‘seriously punish’ anyone found to be using the phones to attract men into sexual relations by sending them explicit pictures,” the People’s Daily Online says.

Banning possible

Not every Cambodian official thinks banning is a good idea.  The Bangkok Post, referring to The Cambodian Daily article, says Cambodia’s information minister Khieu Kanharith was against the ban.  He said, “Then we should also ban using a car because they can also use that to transport a girl.”

But in a radio address, Hun Sen said, “The Philippines and Vietnam are against debauchery through the Internet.  Singapore is also against it.  So yesterday I called (Minister for Telecommunications) So Khun and told him please do not allow these phones," according to the Bangkok Post. 

Hun Sen told So Khun to “wait another ten years until we strengthen social morality, otherwise even Buddhist monks might fall down….This is a very modern technology.”  Hun Sen said he wants Cambodians to use phones only for voice calls and text messaging, not for accessing the Internet

The People’s Daily Online reports So Khun said he hadn’t received the petition, but would ban the phones if the Prime Minister ordered it.  The Cambodian cellular operator MobiTel, is slated to offer 3G phones — with video capabilities — next month, the article says.

More than just morality?

MoCo.News has an interesting perspective on whether a ban would be just for morality issues.  “The other issue is political activism — mobiles have already been used in a number of places to organise rallies and to spread grass roots political campaigns, and cameraphones have been used to report on numerous incidents of state violence and/or oppression.

“The complaints in the petition are not restricted to 3G, previous generation handsets can also do that…the petition demands banning mobile phones with pictures.”

In-Stat report says camera phone use will decline over five years

“The Big Trends for Cell Phones, 2006 – 2011,” by the research firm of In-Stat, says, according to a snippet in its press release, that the use of camera phones will decline.

The press release says, “According to the In-Stat survey, very few US users, less than 5%, do not use at least one of the technological innovations introduced over this period.

“Consumers seem ready to embrace other new features, including location-based services and Bluetooth connectivity, but only a narrow segment have interest in multimedia features and camera phone use will see a decline.”

Screwy

I haven’t read the report and it’s certainly unfair to characterize In-Stat’s position without reading the conclusions.  I’ve sent an e-mail to the firm’s principal analyst, Bill Hughes, for the report to obtain a clarification.

If In-Stat really believes the use of camera phones will decrease during the five years, it seems completely illogical.  As more people — both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of existing users — have camera phones (also with video recording) that offer increasingly better imaging, it makes no sense to assume usage will decrease.

In fact, the quote — people willing to embrace location services and Bluetooth — but not multimedia — seems crazy.  Cellular subscribers are and will embrace wireless imaging, music and games in much greater numbers than, say, location-based services.

As for Bluetooth, it still can be a huge pain to use, and Americans are much less likely to use it than the more experiences Europeans and Asians.

Update: In-Stat responds

Bill Hughes of In-Stat was nice enough to respond to me e-mail about his view that camera use will decline.  He’s given me permission to include his remarks.  Bill says:

“In many surveys I have run, the average user is frustrated by several issues.  The difficulties include difficulty in getting the pictures off the phone, the camera makes the phone more complicated, and there are many places that business users cannot take the phone.

Most significantly, the resolution on their phone is lower than the stand-alone digital camera that most camera phone owners already have.  What users want is a high resolution camera in their phones that has the ability to bypass the wireless network.

By the way, they want it subsidized so that it only costs a little more than a phone without a camera.  This business model does not work in any way that I can see.It may be insane, but I see users giving up on the camera for other features they do use. There is more on my position in the report "Multi-Megapixel Camera and Camcorder Phones-The End of the Beginning."

My response

My response, in a nutshell, is:  Products improve and usage will increase.

Today’s “standard” cellular camera in the United States is VGA; by 2011 (or earlier), the standard camera phone in the U.S. will be three megapixels with a corresponding improvement in overall optics (lens, software, flash, shutter, etc.) so the camera phone image will be excellent.

Also, screen quality will improve so users will get a much clearer picture (so to speak) of the quality of their images and this will spark printing photos.  Ease of use already is improving and will further improve, making it easier to post, share and print photos and videos.

The price of camera components will decrease so the cost of a good-quality camera phone will be significantly less than it is today.  Handset vendors aren’t manufacturing in a vacuum; advances in digital cameras and camcorders also positively affect hardware and software for camera phones.

Also, as consumers increasingly listen to music, take photos and videos, the storage options and transfer options will improve.  We’ll see more use of memory card slots, hard disk drives and data cables.

The television industry — broadcasters and program companies — are entering the cellular business with new programs for cellular TV.  This, too, is “wireless imaging” (as far as I’m concerned) and will help spark the use of phones for still photo and video use.

The explosion in posting/sharing digital camera photos and videos on the Web will increase and this phenomenon will correspondingly spark the posting/sharing of camera phone photos and videos.  Cellular operators are well aware of MySpace, YouTube and many other similar sites, and the operators want to cash in on the imaging revolution (yes, it is a revolution).

Bottom line:  All my years of experience in the wireless industry and looking at the global technology business as well as my logic and common sense tells me camera phone use will increase dramatically more than it has so far. 

Overall growth

In-Stat’s report doesn’t just discuss camera phones.  The report says, overall, cellular phone growth will continue to increase but slower than previously.  The market for handsets was $110 billion in 2005 and is forecast to be more than $136 billion this year.

In 2011, the forecast is for more than $250 billion.  The growth isn’t written in stone.  In-Stat says, “it depends upon phone manufacturers continuing to add features that consumers value and that the rest of the industry can support.

“The greatest challenge is to just add the features different customers want without adding unneeded cost or complexity from unneeded or unwanted features.”

No toleration

In-Stat notes, “The goal for wireless phone manufacturers is to make customers forget they ever tolerated a phone without the new innovations.”

That makes sense.  “You can’t take photos or videos or listen to music on your phone?  How can you stand it?!”

Could social networks, weblogs, moblogs, vlogs be banned at schools, libraries?

A rather disturbing article on CNET News says a proposed Federal law would ban libraries and schools from allowing “social network” Web sites — including the possibility of Blogger, America Online and Yahoo instant messaging — to be accessed by minors using on the organizations’ computers.

CNET reports the Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican “and fellow Republicans, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert, on Wednesday endorsed new legislation that would cordon off access to commercial Web sites that let users create public ‘Web pages or profiles’ and also offer a discussion board, chat room, or e-mail service.

“That's a broad category that covers far more than social networking sites such as Friendster and Google's Orkut.com.  It would also sweep in a wide range of interactive Web sites and services including Blogger.com, AOL and Yahoo's instant messaging features, and Microsoft's Xbox 360, which permits in-game chat.”

Targeting conservative suburbanites

The proposed legislation, called the Deleting Online Predators Act,” comes out of a group of conservative Republicans calling themselves the Suburban Caucus.  The Deleting Online Predators Act is, apparently, just one of a collection of proposed legislation designed to appeal to suburban voters.

Other possible legislation includes tax incentives to encourage educational savings accounts, a national sex offenders database and plans to curb over development in the suburbs, notes an article in The Hill.

Well, I’m a suburbanite and the Caucus certainly does not appeal to me!

Target TypePad?

If the proposed legislation would ban Blogger, would it also ban TypePad –– the company that hosts my weblogs?  And what about all the moblogs and video weblogs on Internet hosting companies?

I assume this is relatively early in the process, but it’s important to keep a close watch of what’s going on.

Sony Ericsson product manager clueless about camera phone business?

I inserted a question mark into the headline because I want to give Suzanne Cross, a product marketing manager at Sony Ericsson, the benefit of the doubt.

I was watching a CNET News video where Cross is interviewed by Patrick Houston, editor in chief of CNET, about Sony Ericsson's new S710a camera phone.  The handset features a 1.3 megapixel camera and a QVGA LCD.

Houston asked Cross whether 1.3 megapixels is the higher resolution Sony Ericsson has been able to incorporate into its camera phones.  She replied that it's the highest resolution of any camera phone, except for some two megapixel handsets that are available only in South Korea!

Get the fact straight

Oh yeah?  Cross should get some tutoring from camera phone expert in Sony Ercisson or read Camera Phone Report!

She needs to check out the three megapixel camera phones in South Korea and Japan and learn about the five megapixel camera phone available from Samsung.

Her blunder notwithstanding, the S710a is a nice phone.  It contains a CCD sensor (typically superior to CMOS) and an LED flash.  Check out the review on Om Malik's Gigaom Weblog and CNET's review. 

engadget's review

And, just a few minutes ago, engadget posted a favorable review of the S710a.  Engadget says, "Although its sensor, lens and the resulting pictures blow away pretty much every other cameraphone available in the States, the S710 still cannot replace your high end digicam.

"Still, it’s perfect for snapshot from a day, or (thanks to the flash and CCD) even a night out on the town. Be warned though, a day of picture taking will destroy your battery life, however a snapshot here and there doesn’t seem to have any significant effect."

Nokia's chief of Mobile Multimedia & Imaging discusses problems, opportunities

Juha Putkiranta, the senior vice president of Mobile Multimedia & Imaging at Nokia is the opening keynote speaker for the Cameraphone Summit, and discussing the problems of creating a via camera phone business.

He says it's still too difficult to print photos from a printer at home. He also notes that cellular airtime rates are much too expensive and the data rates are too slow. Download speeds are two to six times faster than upload speeds.

Roaming also is a problem, with compatibility problems.

Putkiranta says there are a varieyt of sweet spots for providing solutions in the camera phone environment. These opportunities include:

* High quality simple printing for consumers

* Cost effective means for uploading multimedia to networks

* Peer-to-peer sharing applications for community building

* Solutions to help consumers cope with increasing amounts of personal multimedia content

* Solutions for vertical markets