Mobile Asses

Adam Curry reported a funny website (Mobile Asses), which started me to wonder about the services behind the mobile camera. What is the service behind taking a picture and sending it to someone or submitiing it to a site?

Basically the service is very simple, i.e. it is email with an embedded or attached image file. However the mobile phone, the embedded camera and the client software around camera and phone, make the service more intriguing. To the user of this package (phone, camera and client0 the service is the combination of these three item. To him taking and sending and image is the service offered by the service provider of the mobile phone.

It however depends very much how the software works on the phone. Are taking picture and sending it, two steps for the user of is it integrated? In the first case it a “take and picture email service” and in the latter case just a “picture email service”. And maybe the word mobile or wireless should be added to the service name.

My guess is that it is just an email service for most picture phones, as the user might be offered more options apart from emailing a picture.

The most intriguing part remains the influence of the capabilities of the client on the service