Creating better photo messages
One of the key problems mobile phone networks are wrestling with at the moment is how to make money from photo messaging. While camera phones have become ubiquitous it appears that users prefer to use them as digital photo albums rather than send pictures to their friends and colleagues.
Not surprisingly then 3GSM was awash with software that added value to sending photo messages to make them sexier. Two caught our eye.
The first enables camera phone owners to add handwritten notes to their photo messages.
Using the software developed by French company Real Eyes phone users simply write the note on plain paper and then take a picture of it.
The message can then be placed anywhere on an image to create, for example, wish you were here style postcards.
The style and colour of the handwritten text can also be manipulated. The company demonstrated the software on phones running the Symbian operating system (as used on Nokia/Siemens smartphones) but adds that it will work with most mobile devices.
Meanwhile a UK based company, QinetiQ, is hoping to offer camera phone owners the opportunity of creating panoramic style images. Designed to enable phone owners to take group snaps or wide landscape shots, the images can be displayed on the phone or printed.
Both have a reasonable chance of attracting consumers if networks or handset manufacturers choose to embed them on their phones.
More on Real Eyes here and QinetiQ here.
