Template fad set to hit cameraphones

A WHOLE new genre of mobile content is about to hit the handset market - camera templates. They'll be pushed hard by network operators anxious to bump up their MMS (picture messaging) revenues.

The idea has been stolen from the seaside, where couples used to poke their heads through boards painted with silly pictures. And then have their pictures taken.

Such templates will allow the handset owner to take a picture and, for example, superimpose their mates' heads on top of an image of Michael Schumacher sitting in his Ferrari. Operators are hoping that the results will be sent as picture mesages.

The possibilities are endless. What it does require, however, is decent photo editing software. Plus a handset with a half decent camera.

According to figures put together by ABI Research, cameraphones which offer a resolution of around three to four Megapixels should overtake all other resolutions by late 2008 and easily become the dominant type by 2010.

Hoping to capitalise on this phenomenon is Sweden's Scalado. Its CAPS (CAmera Phone Solution) software is designed to let users edit their pictures inside the handset, rather than on a PC screen.

Scalado CEO, Mats Jacobson, claimed, "Users benefit by getting a cameraphone that has just as many - if not more - functions for capturing, managing and editing multi-megapixel images than with a compact digital camera.

Scalado has already developed relationships with three of the top handset manufacturers - Sony Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung. Now it is recruiting heavily for a sales push into Asia - targeting producers in Taiwan, China and Japan.

As Jacobson freely admitted to the INQ, his company is virtually alone in the handset imaging software market right now. "But if we're successful, then I definitely expect competitors to appear." µ