I think that we are all aware that Research in Motion doesn’t currently offer, and from the sounds of it, plan to offer anytime soon, a BlackBerry with a built-in digital camera. Security is usually the reason given and there are a lot of organizations that have a strict policy forbidding camera phones of any type on their premises, however, my guess is that there are a lot more organizations that don’t have such a policy. Lately I have been wondering if RIM just might be wrong about their no camera-phone, no way, not ever policy.
A buddy of mine just bought a new Treo 700w and although he cannot go more than a day without charging it, has to reboot it 3 or 4 times a week, and still somehow thinks that a Treo is just another kind of BlackBerry, I must admit that the ability to take a picture and immediately send it as an attachment is pretty cool. I have owned a camera phone before and honestly thought it sucked because it was so difficult to send the pictures to anyone. After playing with a Treo 700w, however, I kind of wished that my BlackBerry 7130e had similar functionality.
If you just take a look at the BlackBerry.com homepage it is clear that RIM is starting to market to the individual buyers. If they truly want to make a dent in the consumer market, I think that they will have to rethink their position on camera phones.