Picture Phones

[Dravyk]

Just curious ... how many here (and/or their kids) are into the whole take a photo with your cell/mobile thing?

How many (again, you or your older kids) have one? How many use the feature? Oh, and if you have it and use it, how many of you use it in connection with Net in terms of emailing or uploading your pics?

[Mike AI]

I have a camera on my phone, but I don't really use it. I wanted the certain features on mine, and a small size - it just happened to have a camera. ( I would have prefered a MP3 player)

[AM Jeff]

I have a picture phone. But used it a couple times, goofing off and such.

[slavdogg]

i have a cam phone
took about 15 pics in the last 2 months
havent figured out how to download them yet :)

[cj]

i've had one for about a year, and have used the camera about 20 times - not much but the times i used it were really helpful.

For example I was shoe shopping at this giant sale a few weeks ago and saw a pair of purple heels that my sister would absolutely love so I took a photo of them and sent it to her and she dropped in later that day to pick them up.

Another time I purchased some stands for our greeting card business and needed to know how to put them back together but there were no instructions so I photographed it and copied it when i got home.

Think of how many times a day you say to someone 'you should have seen this thing i saw today' ... as with everything, its up to the companies to market it to people so they can't live without it.

There is a great series of commercials here on TV like 2 girls getting ready to go out, they message each other what they are wearing and it happens to be the same. Disaster averted thanks to picture messaging!! :yowsa:

[Trev]

I've had one for ages and everyone I know has one, they're great fun when you first get them.

You'll be taking pics in the bar when everyone's drunk, sticking them under toilet doors and stuff, but they get old real quick...


I got myself a video phone about 3 months ago and it rocks :rokk:



:D

[Hammer]

I just bought a video phone and have a picture phone. I don't use it that much, but like cj says, the times I've used it I was glad I had it. I've used it several times when we've been out with the family and the kids did something cute and I didn't have a camera with me.

I've also used it a couple times when I was riding my bike and had an altercation with the morons driving the cars. Giving a cop a description of a car and a license number just doesn't compare to showing them a photo of the car, the license plate and the face of the irrate idiot driver that just threw a coke bottle at me and then pulled over when I shot him a bird.

It's funny how those drivers always back down after I pull up and they realize I'm not some 140 pound wimp in spandex. They still like to stand there and yell a lot and it really freaks them out when I pull out my phone and take their picture. :lol:

[Peaches]

I have one because with the rebate and minimum monthly service, it was cheaper than the other flip phones :)

I've used it a few times, but it's not something I use a lot.

Slav, if it's like mine, you email the picture to yourself (or someone else) to download :)



Last edited by Peaches at May 21 2004, 10:11 AM

[Bishop]

Don't have one that takes pictures.. looked cool but I didn't think I would ever use it. I wanted the absolute smallest phone I could find and that one didn't have a camera on it.. I don't use my phone much.

[*KK*]

Mine does pics and video with sound, just as an incidental... I wanted a speakerphone, that was my big requirement, to get that I ended up with live tv and all that other stuff on there too --

[Bishop]

Originally posted by *KK*@May 21 2004, 12:10 PM
Mine does pics and video with sound, just as an incidental... I wanted a speakerphone, that was my big requirement, to get that I ended up with live tv and all that other stuff on there too --

KK has the phone of the future.. watch CNN while striking deals.. I love it.. haha

[pushpills]

Like mike I was also looking for an mp3 player but not finding a decent one that had all the other shit i wanted. I want mp3 not a camera.


I rarely use the camera, have a few decent shots for backgrounds, a bunch of my sister and a few of my girlfriend.

[*KK*]

Originally posted by Bishop+May 21 2004, 09:37 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Bishop @ May 21 2004, 09:37 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteBegin--*KK*@May 21 2004, 12:10 PM
Mine does pics and video with sound, just as an incidental... I wanted a speakerphone, that was my big requirement, to get that I ended up with live tv and all that other stuff on there too --

KK has the phone of the future.. watch CNN while striking deals.. I love it.. haha[/b][/quote]
I really love my phone the more I use it. I got a map to Orange County yesterday, watched a little Discovery channel and checked my ePassporte balance, all in an hour time span...

I've seen a demo of MobiTV as an adult channel, and I think this is going to have a ton of potential for adult.

I don't see it as a way to push traditional memberships, but I could see a VOD for short clips at a cheap price -- ie 10 minute scenes for 2 or 3 bucks -- becoming a profitable enterprise for those with the hookups. I can also see camgirls doing well with this too...

We're working on an ePassporte j2me app right now that would allow users to pay for higher ticket purchases directly through ePassporte, which would add great value in places where SMS is not yet as advanced as the rest of the world, like the US. There are also a lot of regulations in the US regarding actual SMS billing, and some of those might change with the eP app for the merchant and the end user, facilitating an easier payment ;)

[bdld]

i dont have one yet but ill definately use it once i get it.

[cj]

KK, SMS can be used for high ticket items, the amount just has to be broken down into smaller charges - an I'd bet that more people have a phone than an epassporte account.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend this, we haven't tested it enough yet but its possible. We have a 16 pound ($30) per month membership which sends about 5 messages over the course of the month. While there are rules, they aren't that hard. The worst bit is the cost of processing for premium rate sms. The costs are so high that by the time we get our affiliate stuff setup giving webmasters 50%, its more like 10% of overall charge.

Processing is 1 small part of the total revenue streams sms offers ...

if anyone is interested in trying some things like sending traffic to phone download sites (ringtones, wallpapers etc) lmk. We are working on something special with our celebrity content and aga's software. :awinky:

[slavdogg]

kk what kind of a phone do u have ??


Peaches, i tied that once it didnt work, havent tried it since

[Mike930]

picture phone? no i dont have. too expensive here 20,000+ php almost US$400 , id rather buy other stuff before that..lol

[ocho-ocho]

different NOKIA camera fone has been distributed here in the philippines...
filipinos now are quoted TEXT-addicts!

one of the coolest cam-fone is the NOKIA 6600

[Dravyk]

Interesting stuff, folks. :)

Yeah, I agree it's probably a great "toy" when you first get one, and probably gets boring after.

I can also see where those times you wished you had a camera on you, now you do. :)

KK, also sounds like if you get those extra features you didn't intend (that came with the phone), that having them, one gets to use them.

All very interesting responses.

Also, I could be wrong, but I think the mass phone-pic taking is probably something most used by folks in the 18-29 demographic would be my guess. Not sure if it's any more urban, demographically, or if it is more general. But I do thing the primary users are probably the younger set. Only a guess. Haven't seen any hard data anywhere. (Which is what made me curious about this in the first place.)

[Hell Puppy]

I've had a camera phone for about 18 months, I bought one of the very first ones on the market. But even back then I was buying the phone for the other features, the camera was a throw-in.

The problem for me isn't the concept, it's the optics. The lens on these things are so small that you stand no chance of a decent pic without a lot of light. And the resolution is still very low.

There are uses for it, but it's no substitute for a small digital camera.