After half of earth has looked closely at the BlackBerry “Image Capture” patent, the CameraBerry as I like to call it, it would appear that US patent 2006/0146140 is not a BlackBerry with a camera in it all. I it looks like the “Image Capture” that RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie was talking about is a new feature that would allow pictures to be transferred directly from a digital camera to a BlackBerry.
All I can say in this one is Wow, RIM just doesn’t get it.
There are several reasons why I don’t think “Image Capture” will take off. The first and foremost is that most people carry a mobile device with them all the time, however, most don’t carry a digital camera with them. The reason for sticking a camera in a BlackBerry would be to kill two birds with one stone. Allowing me to transfer my pictures from my camera to my BlackBerry isn’t a compelling enough reason for me to start carrying a camera everywhere I go.
A second reason is that if I am going to use a digital camera, I am not going to take a low quality photo just so that I can send it via email from my BlackBerry. Here in the U.S., less Verizon, the carriers are just two slow to send large files with any frequency.
The whole point of a BlackBerry with a digital camera in it is so that when I am in the park and I see a dog walking on just it’s front two paws, I can take a picture of it. When I see a woman breastfeeding while driving her car, I can take a picture of it. When I see an adult goose with it’s wings spread facing traffic to stop it while gooselets cross the road behind it, I can take a picture of it.
If I would have had a digital camera on me at the time, I would have taken a picture of all three of these things. Unfortunately, however, I only had my BlackBerry and even if it did have “Image Capture”, I would have still probably only had my BlackBerry.
hmmm… maybe RIM is trying to make this “image capture” be installed on future digital cameras? since they patent it, every camera with with this feature being sold, they got a piece of a pie? Thats the only way this patent make sense to me.
I see your point Nox, I just don’t know if there is a big enough market for this. In essence, you can already do this with just about every wireless PDA except the BlackBerry.
I have never heard anyone say that they just have to get a Treo because the ability to take an SD card out of their camera in stick it into their treo so that the can send a picture. I am sure that someone has done this simply becasue it can be, however, I am willing to bet that many, many more just take picutures with the built-in camera.
Robb: you nailed it. People want the camera built into their cell phone; that’s where the convenience lies.
All statistics show that the vast majority of digital pictures take these days are with cell phone cameras, rather than with stand alone cameras. Why? Because of the convenience and connectivity.
Sure, the RIM solution offers a way to send pictures once you have taken them, but it’s a far more clumsy solution than just having the camera built in.
One can only hope that RIM was just registering this patent just in case one day they wanted to use it, and that this is not their “image capture” strategy.
I suppose RIM resistance to have a built-in camera is because BB primary design are for those users that uses it in a secure environment like government agency. By having an external image capture, the feature can be turn on or off depending on the environment we are using in.
Thomas, I disagree. RIM is clearly going after the consumer market and has even split the BlackBerry website into a section for individual consumers and a section for business. Additionaly, even though a large chunk of RIM’s customers is the government, the majority of it’s users are private sector.
i totally agree with you guys. i truly believed rim should make bb’s with buit in cameras. i’m just saying this “image capture” patent is another way for rim to make more $$$ out side the box, not just from BB devices. imagine how much money they make, if sony, canon, kodak and etc… starting to produce and sell cameras with this bb “image capture” feature ?
man, I cant wait for rim to put wifi,mp3 player, and maybe camera features in bb’s.
I already do image capture on my BB. Take a nice digital pic. Email it to myself and save the image and download to backgrounds. A lot of Fedearl Govment uses with BBs and cameras are not allowed in real secure areas 😉
SugarLand2k
nofx: the big question with your scenario is if sony, canon, kodak, et al., are all willing to sign on and build this “BB image capture” feature into their devices. I’d say that would be a pretty tough sell.
For one, all of these manufacturers would be adding cost to their devices, when only a small percentage of their market would have these special BB devices required.
The bb may be a somewhat ubiquitous standard in the enterprise email segment, but it surely isn’t with the average person who totes around a digital camera.
As Robb keeps pointing out: there’s any easy solution: simply make consumer models with cameras, and business models without cameras. Make the model numbers very distinct; make their looks and color very distinct. It’s not a hard concept to understand for most people. I don’t understand why RIM doesn’t get it.