The mobile generation is riding a new wave of convenience. Camera phones are quickly replacing basic cell phones as the gadgets of choice for today's on-the-move market.
These days, almost everyone has a cell phone. From Bluetooth and WAP-enabled phones to infrared-based models, we simply can't live without them. There are almost as many cell phones on the street as there are pedestrians. If you're not convinced, try a little experiment to prove it to yourself:
Have a friend call you on your cell phone while you stand on a crowded street corner or in a shopping mall. Then, when your handset rings, look around and see how many people are checking their phones. You really will be surprised.
The very fact that cell phones have caught on like wildfire in the bushes is hardly surprising. After all, these mobile wonders offer constant communications from just about anywhere, to virtually anywhere. What amazes some people, however, is the rampant popularity of the camera phone.
Modern cell phones allow users to make calls, take calls, instantly send and receive e-mail and text messages, play games, surf the Internet and organize their lives. Best of all, these tasks can be performed while the user is at home, at work, on the bus, in a restaurant or virtually anywhere else. Now, there's yet another benefit for cell phone users: the ability to take photographs using their cellular handsets. Cellular users are so excited at the prospect of taking digital photographs with their cell phones that they're quickly hanging up their old handsets in favor of new camera phones.
Camera phones were first introduced to the Japanese market several years ago. These new cell phones immediately caught on with Asian cell phone users. It wasn't until a few years later, however, that camera phones were widely marketed in the US and became available to the masses. At first, they weren't overly popular. As soon as people began to see the extreme convenience afforded by a camera morphed with a cell phone, the devices became so well liked that some have predicted that they may become the most popular consumer device in history.
Industry analysts suggest that camera phones comprised about 12% of all cell phones sold in 2003, and those numbers are expected to climb rapidly. According to a research firm called IDC, more than 80 million camera cell phones have been sold throughout the world.
Some people wonder if it isn't just as easy to carry a cellular phone and a camera. The answers lie in life's fleeting moments. That once-in-a-lifetime opportunity when you run into a famous rock star at a roadside diner, or see a majestic sunset as you stroll along the coast. Those moments are certainly lost forever if your camera is locked in your car. With a camera phone, however, you can capture those moments and turn them into memories to last a lifetime. Best of all, you can use your cell phone to save and even email the photos to all of your friends.
The convenience of having a camera incorporated into a cell phone may seem excessive, but you never know when life will hand you a perfect moment. And when it happens, that's one call you don't want to miss.
