Sprint and Fuji Develop New Photo Service
By George Anderson
Sprint and Fuji Photo Film U.S.A. have agreed on a deal that will allow Sprint PCS Vision customers to take photos with their camera phone, edit and send them to a retailer to have prints made.
John Garcia, senior vice president of sales and distribution for Sprint said, “By working with Fujifilm … Sprint is taking mobile imaging one step further and giving our customers more ways to enjoy Picture Mail, whether sharing phone to phone or ordering prints at retail locations.”
The service is expected to be available this summer.
According to a report on the Kansas City Star’s Web site, “Sprint customers used cameraphones to send more than 66 million photos in 2003.”
John Prendergast, a vice president of strategic business development for Fujifilm said, “If you look at the usage of camera phones, this could be in the hundreds of millions of images very soon.”
Wireless companies are expected to rollout 1-megapixel camera phones by the end of this year. These new products will provide a high enough resolution for consumers to print five- by seven-inch pictures. It is expected that the availability of higher resolution products will increase consumer usage of camera phones and print services.
Moderator’s Comment: What are your thoughts on the Sprint/Fuji deal and the future of
wireless retailing?
The next stage of a successful wireless service commercial campaign will involve a man with glasses walking in various places around the country asking
the question, “Can you see me now? Now? Good.” – George
Anderson – Moderator