Eastman Kodak Co plans to grab a share of revenue from Europe's fast-growing camera-phone market by launching its online photo service for mobiles here as it scrambles to make the transition from celluloid to digital technology.
Kodak was to announce the move yesterday at the 3GSM world mobile phone congress in Cannes, southeast France, senior vice president Bernard Masson said.
From May, owners of a new wave of higher resolution camera phones should be able to upload their pictures and videos to a central server, send them by e-mail or print them off via wireless infrared or Bluetooth links at Kodak kiosks.
Final terms and prices have not yet been agreed with the phone operators that will bill Kodak's new subscribers in Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands.
"We're confident about this because we've been able to capture the three big operators in the US," Masson said by telephone, referring to AT&T Wireless, Cingular and Verizon, which began offering the service to their subscribers at US$3 a month in November.
Kodak has already struck a deal with phone maker Nokia to make phones compatible with its kiosks, Masson said, and is in "advanced discussions" with operators Vodafone, T-Mobile and Orange.
Masson said it was too early to make revenue predictions for the new service, adding that financial terms of agreements with operators would not be disclosed.
As camera phones become more affordable -- and move beyond the grainy, dim shots produced by early models -- sales are picking up. US-based market research firm IDC estimates 250 million of the handsets will be sold in Europe over the next three years.
That represents a potential cash cow for Kodak, which last September announced an ambitious strategy to make digital imaging its new core business.
More than a century after it turned picture-taking into a hobby for the masses with its US$1 Brownie camera, Kodak also acknowledged that chemical-based photography was in irreversible decline.
It now plans to invest US$3 billion in digital consumer photography, commercial printing and medical imaging by 2007.
As mobile subscriber numbers reach saturation in mature western European markets, Kodak's image services and its household-name brand also offer operators a new way to boost revenues and recoup their massive outlays on high-speed UMTS licenses and infrastructure technology.
The so-called "third-generation" of mobile telephones has finally begun to arrive in Europe, years behind its original schedule, and the new services it includes -- such as live video-streaming and broadband Internet access on-the-go -- will be a central feature of this year's 3GSM conference.
Some 30,000 visitors are expected to descend on the Riviera town of Cannes for the congress, which runs from yesterday through Thursday.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique