Sprint PCS made several announcements last week aimed at increasing its role in the wireless transmission of photos and videos over its network.
The carrier partnered with FlashPoint Technology Inc. to enable Sprint PCS enterprise customers to send images to the Internet via Sprint’s network using FlashPoint’s new Photivity digital imaging platform. The solution would require connecting an Internet-enabled Sprint wireless phone to a digital camera.
According to InfoTrends Research Group Inc., wireless imaging is a growing concern in the digital photography market.
“New developments are under way now that will allow wireless imaging solutions to begin to proliferate in 2001, putting this nascent market on the edge of rapid growth worldwide,” read the report.
Lia Schubert, research analyst at InfoTrends, said carriers like Sprint embracing the technology is just one of these new developments mentioned in the report.
“It’s the beginning stage and the first thing that must happen for this to become widespread,” she said. “The fact that Sprint is marketing to the business user is very significant.”
She gave two reasons. One is creating a new means of distribution for wireless imaging technology and the other is driving demand among current Sprint customers, many of whom have little idea that such technology even exists.
“Sprint is providing this as a service to their customers and that’s important in terms of driving the market,” Schubert said.
The Sprint-FlashPoint agreement leverages an existing FlashPoint application that allows photos to be sent wirelessly via e-mail. Sprint has integrated this system so that photos can be sent directly to a Web site, which Sprint will host. As such, integration between their technologies was necessary.
Applications include insurance agents transmitting photos of accidents directly from the scene back to the office, real estate professionals posting photos of homes immediately and even police officers transmitting crime scene photos more quickly.
The potential benefit to carriers is great.
“It’s just one more thing people can do with Sprint’s network. Images consume a lot of bandwidth,” Schubert said. “The pricing model has not exactly been worked out yet, but it’s safe to speculate that they’ll bill based on a combination of airtime and hosting services.
Announcements such as these are seen as the first step in the overall wireless imaging process. That step is the mere transmission of still images via wireless networks to non-wireless devices. Next is the transmission of the same to wireless devices and then will be the addition of streaming video, a front on which several other announcements emerged last week as well.
Sprint and SolidStreaming Inc. have partnered to test wireless multimedia streaming video and audio applications on Sprint’s network and supported devices. With SolidStreaming’s software, Sprint would be able to offer real-time streaming video, audio and text to multimedia-enabled wireless devices in future 2.5 generation networks and devices. Going further, the two will test MPEG-4 streaming software in expectation of the third-generation market.
Wireless digital cameras are expected to ship domestically by year’s end and are already available overseas.
“By 2002, nearly a million users in the U.S. are projected to have wireless photography solutions, and unit shipments for wireless imaging solutions are expected to grow more than 400 percent per year through 2005,” read the InfoTrends’ report.
However, the market does face its challenges, including low bandwidth on wireless networks today, lack of global wireless standards and lack of color displays on current-generation wireless devices.
“Imaging companies are not the only players aware of the opportunities presented by wireless imaging,” said Kristy Holsch, principal at InfoTrends. “Telecommunications infrastructure players and carriers are anxious to drive demand for bandwidth, and images will be a primary consumer of bandwidth in the coming years.
“Furthermore, wireless imaging connects users with the Internet, driving revenues through areas like increased usage, Internet storage and printmaking. Wireless imaging will allow service providers to extend the features and services they provide and thus enhance user loyalty.”
