Via Mobile Media Japan

One development Nikkei recently reported is an ongoing shortage of camera phone lenses: "Camera-equipped cell phones, which debuted in late 2000, made up roughly 33.7 percent of total cell phone shipments in the first half of fiscal 2002, according to the Multimedia Research Institute. The figure reportedly jumped to 70 percent in the second half, and shipments of camera-equipped cell phones are estimated to have totaled more than 20
million units for the entire fiscal year."

According to the article, 1 megapixel phones require special glass lenses, the same lenses that are used in consumer digital cameras, which are also seeing production stretched to the limit (shipments grew 66 percent to 24.55 million units in 2002, surpassing the Camera & Imaging Products Association's earlier estimate by about 5 million units). If the high-end megapixel camera phones prove popular, there may be delays in fulfilling demand.

Are there any numbers for Europe?

Also interesting in this regard: Mobile phones that send and receive images are the latest threat to privacy,
How to use Sha-Mail (japanese)
Sha-Mail and Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS) in Japan,
Sha-Mail FAQ and
Consumer mobile data to rake in $124b

Operators must market content that customers want yet the industry lacks a track record in understanding user demand beyond the current voice and SMS-based offerings.

Via this

DoCoMo to launch first million-pixel phones

The new handsets, with resolution four times sharper than existing models and suitable for making standard-sized prints, are expected to put cellphones in competition with entry-model digital cameras.

"With 1.3 megapixels, this phone is as good as low-end digital cameras," Takeshi Natsuno, managing director for DoCoMo's hugely popular i-mode mobile Internet service, told a news conference.

I guess, we have to wait a bit, till such cameras will be available here...

Via Smartmobs

Japan's Generation of Computer Refuseniks

Most teens and young adults in Japan rarely use computers to surf the World Wide Web. Instead they use cell phones to access a scaled-down wireless Web. The result: A growing computer literacy problem among Japan's youth.

The article conclusions leave a mixed feeling. Do Japanes Youngsters favor the cellphone really because it is more intimate medium than the PC?

I think it's the ubiquity which really makes the mobile phone the most attractive communication tool. Certainly there is also the price argument and the peer pressure, but I think ubiquity is the most important. Naturally the article mentions all these reasons, but it's the emphasis put on certain reasons that I do not agree with.

Anyway, it's an important article and I am curious how quickly this evolution will be noticed in Europe.

Via Howard, thanks to Emily.