DUBLIN, Ireland-Vodafone Group announced it will launch the “Sha-mail” service in Europe in the fourth quarter. The company revealed its plans to begin marketing the new camera-enabled phones in seven European markets.
The Sha-mail service enables mobiles subscribers to take digital photographs using new camera phone handsets and send them to friends and family using multimedia messaging service (MMS). Vodafone has high hopes for the new service in Europe having seen it prove extremely popular in Japan since its introduction last year.
According to the president of J-Phone, Vodafone’s Japanese subsidiary, Vodafone will shortly place a large order for camera phones. Sharp has so far been the main supplier of such phones to J-Phone, and industry insiders predict Vodafone will place its order with either Sharp or another Japanese manufacturer.
