Subject: [NEXTEL-1] See me, hear me-Verizon Wireless launches phone-snapshot service $3-Unlimited For Pictures

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 08 Jul 2003 11:49:50 -0400

See me, hear me-Verizon Wireless launches phone-snapshot service
By Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff, 7/8/2003

Verizon Wireless, the biggest US mobile telecommunications carrier, is today
launching its first mass-market wireless camera phone service for consumers, a
move likely to accelerate the fledgling domestic market for phones that can take
and send digital pictures.

Verizon's offering, built around a $150 camera phone, also includes a considerably
simpler pricing plan than many of its rivals offer: 25 cents per picture sent or
received from the phone, with unlimited use for $3 a month, available through the
end of the year for customers who sign up within the next month.

The market for wireless camera phones has boomed in countries such as Japan and
South Korea and in some European countries.  But market analysts In-Stat/MDR
estimate that US consumers will buy only 2 million to 3 million camera phones this
year, less than 10 percent of the global market. US carriers are continuing to
struggle to develop systems that will allow subscribers to send pictures from
phones not only to e-mail addresses but to phones used by any carrier's
subscribers.

In addition to having features marketed to consumers as fun and cool, such as
being able to send an instant postcard or party snapshot over the Internet using a
wireless phone, camera phones are drawing increasing usage from business people.

Applications include filing field reports with images at construction projects,
investigating insurance claims, and sending clients on-the-spot pictures of real
estate, used cars, and industrial equipment for sale. Verizon's service launch
follows the deployment of similar services over the last year by Sprint PCS,
T-Mobile, AT&T Wireless, and, in some US markets Cingular Wireless. It also
follows Verizon's own limited foray into a digital photo service aimed at business
people that requires a $600 phone.

But given that Verizon dwarfs other competitors, with more than 33 million
subscribers -- half again as many as AT&T or Cingular -- its service launch "is a
catalyzing event," said John Jackson, a wireless analyst with Yankee Group in
Boston.
"We're very bullish on the prospects for picture messaging," Jackson said. "Over
the next couple of years, you will see the number of photo-capable handsets on the
shelves of retailers increase very dramatically, and adding camera capability
features very prominently on the product road maps for all the handset makers."

Bill Stone, a Verizon Wireless marketing vice president, said that in contrasting
its service to rivals' the Bedminster, N.J.-based carrier is stressing three main
features: the reliability of its nationwide network for sending and getting
images, the simplicity of using and paying for the service, and the fact that it
can take higher-resolution pictures of up to 640 by 480 pixels, which is several
times sharper than what most rivals' phones can make.

Verizon said users will be able to take and send a picture in just four steps,
compared to the six to 10 steps required for other carriers' services. Compared to
plans from T-Mobile and Cingular that involving pricing by kilobytes of data sent,
Stone said, "We think that `a quarter to send it, and quarter to receive it' is
something that's very intuitive and easy to understand."
Sprint PCS includes unlimited photo messaging for customers buying "PCS Vision"
plans that range from $50 a month for 300 calling minutes to $115 for 2,500
minutes. Cingular Wireless, which this month will add Boston to markets where it
offers the service, charges $7 a month for about 36 photos, with additional images
billed at 3 cents per kilobyte of data. Nextel Communications has not announced
camera phone plans.

The first model of phone Verizon is offering, the LG VX6000, costs $149.99 after a
$50 mail-in rebate for customers willing to sign a two-year service contract. It
is available on all calling plans Verizon Wireless offers, Stone said. The camera
includes a zoom lens and can take pictures in three degrees of resolution, with
highest-quality images potentially taking more airtime to send. Subscribers can
also create online photo albums at vzwpix.com.

Phillip Redman, a research vice president with the Gartner industry analysis firm
who specializes in wireless, said Verizon's flat 25-cent fee for sending and
receiving photos, with volume discounts available, is a "pretty good" offering,
particularly compared to European plans costing up to $1 per image.

But, Redman said: "Right now I wouldn't say anyone's in the running with this
service [in the United States]. It's getting better, but we still need to see more
devices that support these services, and everybody's trying to get to the point
where you can exchange pictures like you do short messages or dial a phone
number."

Peter J. Howe can be reached at [email-masked].

http://business.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2003/07/08/see_me_hear_me?mode=PF

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