First 2MP camera phone

[AL9999]

Here's the link: http://www.mobileburn.com/news.jsp?Id=495

Something I've been waiting a while for actually... a 2MP camera would be more than adequate for what I need everyday. I wouldn't need to buy a dedicated camera at all actually! =)

Too bad it's still a Japan only thing... I do wish the Japanese manufacturers would realise that there is a market outside of Japan for the Japanese made phones (not the current ones made by Panasonic and Sony Ericsson, they were designed outside of Japan (that includes the Z series by SE, they were designed in Europe)). I don't think Sharp would have set foot in Europe if it wasn't for Vodafone pushing them to do so. Remember, Sharp had a very good partnership with J-Phone in Japan, which got taken over by Vodafone and now bears their name there. Convenient eh? =P

What do you guys think?

[Michael]

The way I see the Japanese market is like this.

They are a year+ ahead of us. They likely will stay there for marketing reasons, not technical ones.

The point being, the Euro/America manufacturers don't have to put out 1.3MP or 2MP to be the latest and greatest. Most phones here don't even have VGA. Not true in Japan, they started well before us.

So why give up everything at one time, when you could incrementally offer new and improved phones that people will upgrade to.

That way perhaps a person buys one phone every 1.5 years instead of ever 2.5 years. That equates to more money.

Sure that pisses off guys like us that know what is out there, but we are in a very miniscule minority. Most people with a mobile phone in Europe are happy to have any camera. Most people in the Americas don't even realize phones can have cameras at all.

So if the manufacturers trickle it out they will get more money for their R&D efforts. The components are cheaper (older tech) and easier to develop.

[AL9999]

Yeah it makes perfect marketing sense, it just pisses us all off, hehe :)

I'm waiting for 3G technology to develop a bit more, that way I can import some really cool 3G phone from Japan and use it on the Three network here at home in Australia =D

[Michael]

Not likely. While DoCoMo's network is very close to the WCDMA standard that Oz uses, it ain't close enough.

The handsets won't work.

[AL9999]

Oh really??? I had thought one of the big selling points of 3G was that it could be used anywhere around the world (once the infrastructure was there of course, but the idea was that the technology would be the same)...

Maybe Vodafone Japan's network will be compatible? Ahhhhhh =(