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Closing the Wireless Convergence Circle

June 27, 2006 Comments

Posted in Articles

Ever since the word convergence entered the tech lexicon several decades ago, analysts have predicted a wide array of technological permutations and combinations.

Companies bet millions on the idea that paper, PCs and the pen would converge into PDAs; the PC and the cable TV guide would unite in set-top boxes with Web browsers and video on demand; and the Web was going to merge with refrigerators, ovens, washing machines and other common household appliances.

While some of these ideas caught on, none have fully replaced its preceding technology. Instead, the one place where analysts did not predict convergence would happen is precisely where it has boomed: the wireless phone.

Indeed, the wireless phone has become a 'black hole of convergence,' apparently absorbing every new digital technology that comes along, often in ways analysts didn't foresee.

Web browsing. E-mail. E-commerce. Text and instant messaging. Games. Music. Videos. TV shows. Feature films. And one of the biggest: Photography.

Once a cutting-edge gadget, camera phones now are drawing all other digital technologies to their side. With the technology’s resolution quality increasing, and sales steadily climbing, service providers are gearing up for a camera phone revolution where consumers store, share and print their images, all directly from their camera phones.

One problem: consumers seem to have missed this memo. According to the Photo Marketing Association (PMA), 82 percent of users in U.S. households that took pictures with camera phones in 2005 viewed their photos on their phones’ tiny screens. Only 4 percent actually printed them out.

This disconnect has two solutions. The first is camera phones’ increased usability, better resolution and camera quality lenses, as well as faster networks. Giving customers the ability to take two-megapixel-and-higher pictures with options to manipulate resolution and lighting, which will increase picture and video taking. More importantly, the easier it becomes for customers to take images and then connect to photo storage, printing, blogging and “e-tailing” sites to share, print and create merchandise, the less likely they are to leave their images in the phone memory to sit.

The second is the proliferation of sites and services where consumers can store, share, print, merchandise, and edit their photos and videos. Kodak, Photobucket, Snapfish, dotPhoto, Yahoo Flikr, Webshots, YouTube – the list goes on for sites where communication, merchandising and community have become the emphasis. There, consumers personalize their images while making them global, too.

So what’s next for this technology? Maybe not convergence on the wireless phone itself, but rather, it’s the elegant integration of camera phones with the Web, retailers, service providers, carriers and, of course, consumers.

And therein lies a tremendous opportunity in the wireless convergence cycle: to employ a rich media application that utilizes user-generated content, drives data traffic, and increases revenue for service providers and carriers.

Though many wireless phone carriers provide a photo application connected to their branded photo and media storage service as part of their data packages, the reality is that users are not purchasing the phone service to access the carrier’s photo and media sites. Rather, they buy carrier service plans and phones for the phone features, price plans, data messaging features and media player capabilities.

Third-party rich media software exploits this flaw to allow the exchange of information with visual media Web sites, printing destinations and other users. The result: a rise in user-generated content, such as images, video and voice.

Rich media applications such as Pictavision 5.5 and Pictavision Teleprints override the view-only WAP or browser apps, and take over and manage camera control, camera photo and media memory and messaging features through a single application, giving users easy-to-read menus of flexible, immediate options, including the ability to:

Create high-quality prints directly on a home printer, deliver by mail, or send directly to participating retail outlets such as Walgreens for in-store printing and pickup … all through a few button clicks.
Connect and save to an array of online photo and video media services of choice, including Webshots, Kodak, dotPhoto, etc.
Send the picture to a user or group of users instantaneously.
Post pictures online to blogs or Web sites.
Tag photos with voice or text.
Turn photos into post cards, online games, and other merchandise.
Save, share and message video clips at any rich media site.

Certainly as camera phone competition becomes more intense, rich media applications will expand these Web and handset capabilities with an increasing spectrum of voice, text, editing and sharing options, making their offerings more robust with each update.

In response to the camera phone resolution issue, for example, rich media applications soon will bypass the handset’s capabilities and, instead, enhance resolution and quality on the server side. By transferring these features and functions away from the limited handset, images become easier to transport and use between sites.

This improves overall service for the user, without bogging down phones with excess or confusing features. Ultimately, server-side functions will allow consumers to synchronize not only with digital media Web sites, but also with digital devices such as TVs or DVRs.

As we all know, carriers make money on data traffic and data traffic plans. Yet their recent trend to build their own photo and media portals with embedded applications has not proven successful. Less than 10 percent of a carrier’s customers actually use these photo sites, and even then it’s spotty at best.

That’s where a rich media application such as Pictavision reconnects the users to carriers – and helps them expand MMS and data traffic. Here are some examples:

Access a world of digital media through one application. Value is added to the service provider’s package by letting users upload and download their pictures, share albums and create multimedia with any relevant digital media sites worldwide, resulting in dramatically increased data traffic. Connectivity to major photo, video and blogging portals through a single application on the handset makes it easier for subscribers to carry user behavior over from the Web to a wireless handset.

Partnerships with photo-printing retailers. Direct print-to-retail partners play a significant role in the profit-sharing equation. According to the PMA, printing at retail stores is outpacing home printing and is expected to do so in the coming years. Their value-added printing services – mailing content, printing pictures, and providing in-store pickup – all generate additional revenue. Since these retailers operate on a much broader scale than a carrier’s photo site, the carrier certainly will benefit from the wider exposure, cross-promotions and revenue share agreements.

Branding and marketing opportunities. The strongest rich media applications will incorporate marketing extensions and support for promotions and redemption codes, advertising screens and auto-registration of users – facilitating advertiser and brand-supported revenue models and effective customer acquisition. This additional stream can create subscription price reduction, perhaps even to the point of free distribution.

With so many application benefits, rich media software soon will bring ubiquitous connectivity and convergence between handsets and digital media sites. Camera phone consumers will have multiple, easy-to-use outlets for user-generated content, and service providers and carriers will enjoy enhanced revenue streams and profit-sharing opportunities.

Integration. Expansion. Connection. A rich media application brings all this and more to the photo imaging space as an innovative vehicle for increased content and revenue generation. Without it, pictures languish on phones. But with it, the convergence phenomenon is fully realized, and images become the hallmark of their lucrative evolution.