BlackBerry maker, Research in Motion, has recently applied for a patent on what many are affectionately calling the “CameraBerry” and BBHub has the scoop. It looks like Russell had an inside tip on exactly when the CameraBerry patent, US 2006/0146140 , was going to go up on the USPTO Website.
Reading the article on BBHub makes it clear that they’re talking about a BlackBerry *remotely controlling* a separate camera and displaying its “viewfinder” on the BlackBerry display. That only brings up one question in my mind – why on earth would I ever want such a thing??? Right now I already have a separate digital camera – its 8MP, has a display as large as my 8700’s, and is weatherproof – WITH removable memory cards. So I want to have the LCD viewfinder display sent wirelessly to my BlackBerry along with a way to control the camera from my QWERTY keyboard instead of the much more intuitive and purpose–designed keys on the camera? Huh??
I agree with Dallas Flier (and apparently, BBHub does as well, as it has now posted an update)…but this particular patent is not for a BB with built-in camera, but for a BB that can wirelessly interact with a digital camera. While that idea may have some merit on its own, it’s a far cry from a built-in camera in terms of usability and portability.
As others note, perhaps this is why the RIM CEO used that term “image capture” to describe that upcoming feature for new BBs…which many (myself included) naturally interpreted to mean built in camera.
As for the merit of this concept…hmm…I can think of some times when I’d like to snap a pic with a true digicam and then send via email wirelessly…but this seems such an awkward setup. For one, which digicams will this BB interact with? Please tell me RIM isn’t going to try to release its own digicam for pairing with this.
I do like the idea of a BB model with a camera built-in and the idea of RIM reaching out to the consumer market…but I also believe that RIM needs to not lose its focus on its core market while trying to do this.
Too often corporations try to branch out beyond their core strengths and try to be all things to all people. In the process they just lose their core market, and instead of having a few great products for a portion of the market, end up with several mediocre products spanning the entire market. RIM cannot dominate all aspects of the cell phone market, but they do currently have a very lucrative piece of that market, and better not blow it while chasing all of these other ideas.