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Once upon a ‘snap’ junkie
PERHAPS one of the hottest gadgets these days is the multifunctional mobile phone with camera, making communication faster and easier.
The primary function of most camera phones is simple: point towards an object/person, take a picture and send it via MMS. The features depend on what a particular handset manufacturer offers and can vary greatly. No matter what the functions are, the phone’s style and appearance is important to just about anyone. Some of the latest phones include highly fashionable and functional features that make the latest technology more usable — swivel-style mechanics, 360-degree rotating screens, vertical left turns and much more. The ever-shrinking microchip technology and the huge investment that goes into research have already made camera phones one of the coolest pocket gizmo. In fact, trendy camera pouches for this purpose have also appeared in the market. What is more, internet devices, music players and even television broadcasts are being merged with mobile phones with cameras.
As per reports, more than 75 million mobile phones with cameras were sold worldwide last year and the figure is likely to reach 150 million by the end of this year. Earlier, the Boston-based Strategy Analytics reported, “camera phones made up four per cent of global handset sales in 2002. By the end of 2005, more than a quarter of global handset sales will be camera phones.” Next year, Nokia alone “plans to launch about 40 new handsets, with over half the phones models with hidden keypads, and two-thirds of them will have built-in cameras,” reads another industry report. Given that the exponential growth and usability is improving everyday, industry executives expect that camera phones will surpass digital cameras in less than a decade.
Of course, the data given above is pertains to most countries around the world. The difference in the use of mobile phones with cameras in America (where the device was first introduced only a couple of years ago) or in Japan (that leads in usage) and Pakistan is obvious. What is amazing, however, is the popularity of mobile phones with cameras in an otherwise “low-tech” Pakistan. So far, the main users of mobile phones with camera locally are young people, who, more often than not, are looking for some “style.” It doesn’t really matter if you don’t use the camera phone in your mobile. Azmat Hayat, a vendor in Hafiz Centre says, “people do not buy camera phones for the camera. They buy a phone that should have a camera with it. But, camera phones are certainly common among those who can afford them (and now a large number can) and they are high on the wish lists of those who still do not have them. They are considered cool or just plain fun. For them, having camera phones is a lifestyle.”
“Visit any school/college/university campus and see how people use camera phones. There is great peer pressure to join the “picture messaging crowd,” notwithstanding interpretability and multiple standards. Currently, only one phone service provider offers picture messaging, but word is, that the new mobile phone service providers (coming in soon), as well as some old ones, are all launching this service; they have to, if they want to stay in business,” says Haider, a young student of BBA. Ali, a business graduate-turned-DVD vendor in Lahore’s Defence Society of says, “It is my hobby. I used to change my mobile every six months, until I bought my present camera phone.” However, h e feels that sophisticated usage of such phones have yet to make its presence felt in Pakistan, though it is certainly growing. “I wanted to buy a particular car rim that the vendor would not understand. So, I went where I had seen the one, took a picture and showed it to the shopkeeper. He took it out from his store immediately. It is for such occasions that mobile phone cameras come in handy,” he said, while showing me photographs of his shop racks and of friends, stored in the phone memory.
In developed countries, cameras phones are being successfully used as business tools particularly for real estate, public safety, insurance, marketing, construction and advertising. Newspapers are publishing front-page pictures shot by amateur photographers, using cameras built in their mobile phones. This is just an example of how technology advancement can assist traditional media in collecting and printing news. In Japan, it has already become common to sell pictures, taken with the help of such phones, to television stations and other media channels. Emily Turrettini and Cyril Fiévet have launched a site known as picturephoning.com, exploring the world of pictures and videos (made with the help of these phones), where contributors and readers send out-of-the-ordinary pictures, taken with these phones. Then there is MoBlogging, which has given a new surge to photo blogging. There is, however, a downside to this technology. Industrial spies, disgruntled employees, criminals and pornographers are abusing camera phones as well. Teachers have caught students sending images of answers to another student across the same examination hall. The proliferation of mobiles with cameras is providing more opportunities to use mobile phone devices in various capacities. Technology, however, is not the issue here — the bone of contention is the way these phones are being used.
The very technology that makes mobile phones with camera so tempting and seductive can also be used for deception. It is possible for anyone to pretend to be in any situation, from heavy traffic to thunderstorm, during a mobile phonecall — a software has appeared that generates fake background noise, while users may actually be elsewhere. A blogger wrote that with the help of this software, different backgrounds noises can also be assigned to different phone numbers so that they automatically kick in when a certain person calls. In fact, such software can even create the sound of another phone ringing to provide a handy excuse for cutting a call short.
Imagine what cameras phones, with the ability to take anyone’s picture, along with distributing or storing it, can do in a conservative society like ours. It is reminiscent of the paparazzi culture — freelance and curious photographers roaming everywhere, all the time.
The use of mobile phone cameras has been banned in Saudi Arabia. Many sensitive businesses in the West have also banned camera phones on the job, due to mounting suspicions that high-tech gadgets may pose threats to closely guarded trade secrets.
Of course, banning the use of the technology is not the answer. It does not work. Instead, preventing the abuse of technology must be done through education and awareness. So how can we respond? For starters, we should remember that that people have the right to maintain a degree of privacy and security. Beyond that, we should encourage openness, instead of giving way to mass hysteria. No one would like to return to the days of mailing pictures via snail mails, but first, we should try to find more meaningful uses of camera phones. Till then, they remain a fad among high-end consumers.
The writer
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