Q+A CENTER

The software needed to support a digital camera is complex, and the infrastructure behind a cell phone camera is in its infancy. Where do you see the market going as far as photo manipulation, transmission and storage and distribution systems?

We see great potential in photo manipulation software built into the cell phone to provide compression and special effects. Of course, in the US, the ability to directly transmit pictures is still in its infancy, so we see a market for the service providers to handle that capability across a wider range of standards. With the ability to handle small format pictures on the cell phone will also come a need to store the images, and there will be a resurgent market in memory cards or even small hard drives. Finally, the camera phone will become a serious tool, and the images will be used in a number of ways that will require a wireless way to connect directly to a PC for storage and distribution across the Internet. (Photos: IC Media)