Corporations forcing handset vendors to remove cameras in phones

I have been blind-sided.

It appears that because corporations are decrying the inclusion of cameras in cellular phones, handset vendors and cellular operators are talking about creating two versions of the same phone: One with a camera and one without.

I pride myself on anticipating the evolution of the wireless data environment. I've got good instincts. (I know nothing about just about everything, and I know very little about just about everything else. But I do know wireless data.)

But I didn't see this coming. I didn't imagine security considerations would be so "virulent" that handset vendors would change their plans. However, according an article in the November 11 issue of eWeek, this is occurring. (Thank you Harry Goodman for sending me the link. Harry, create a Weblog!)

No cameras allowed

It's no secret that some corporations with sensitive work ban devices that could compromise security, such as all types of cameras and video recording equipment. So it's no surprise that camera phones would be banned, too.

But the "breadth of concern," as eWeek writer Carmen Nobel puts it, has surprised the cellular operators -- and they are doing something about it. I assumed -- and the operators did, too -- that high end phones would have cameras. Period. Wrong!

Cindy Patterson, vice president of enterprise sales at Verizon Wireless, manages a technology board of Fortune 500 CIOs who look at new cellular phones before Verizon decides to offer them. Patterson says 50 per cent of the board members -- Verizon customers -- said they couldn't allow a camera phone, eWeek reports.

Two handset models

eWeek writes about Verizon, "The company has already worked with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. to create a version of Samsung's high-end i700 phone with a disabled camera for security-sensitive corporate customers. But a disabled camera remains a camera.

"'You could bring in a severely antiquated camera from 1920 that obviously doesn't work anymore, and they wouldn't let it in,' Lockheed Martin's Milkovich said. 'It's still a camera. If you had a phone with a camera in it, they'd take it away from you and probably jump up and down on it.'

"To that end, Verizon Wireless is talking to handset providers about creating two SKUs of its high-end phones, one with a camera and one without, Patterson said."

Sprint/Handspring discussions

Other cellular operators also are talking to handset manufacturers about two versions of phones. The eWeek article notes that Sprint PCS and Handspring are talking about a camera-less version of the Treo 600. The 600 has received rave reviews and the photos look good, too.

(Check out the Treo 600 photo albums by Dr. Bill Koslosky, also known as the "wireless doc.")

Sprint and Handspring are discussing disabling the Treo 600's camera with a software modification and also the possibility of developing a version without the camera.

Eliminating the camera would be a drastic development. Handspring has given a lot of thought to creating the 600. The camera is an integral part of what the phone is "all about." Removing the camera would be like removing an arm.

Expensive for everyone

Developing a phone costs $15 million - $20 million, according to Peter Bancroft, vice president of communications for Symbian, which produces the Symbian OS for cellular phones.

Although removing a camera isn't like starting completely from square one, it certainly would require a lot of time, reengineering and software modifications. If you start seeing camera-less versions of the same model phone, you'll know the wireless industry has been under enormous pressure from corporations.

Driving change

There are significant consumer and business applications for camera phones. Consumers -- not corporations -- are the driving force in the evolution of camera phones around the world. Indeed, many analysts have consistently dismissed the value of consumers as drivers of change in wireless data and, of course, have been proven wrong.

Many analysts have only recently awakened from their somnolence after seeing, duh, the explosion of SMS used by kids followed by the explosion in ringtones and games. Of course, some analysts are still clueless about the value of camera phones.

Certainly some business people already are embracing camera phones. Large corporations might be leery of them, but there's no doubt that small businesses -- real estate, construction, field sales, as examples -- are finding camera phones a value in their work.

Security is going to remain a serious issue. But people will embrace camera phones in any case.