Kodak Takes WiFi Camera to Market

Technology News reports on Kodak's new Easyshare-One, a $599 4 Megapixel digital camera "capable of connecting to the Internet Web Hosting and Web Design services from the original domain name registrar, Network Solutions. or PC for photo sharing via 802.11, or WiFi-enabled hotspots."

Roger Entner at Ovum said, "It should make it much easier to transfer your files from device to computer. It's an enhancing feature for existing digital cameras, which are under assault from cell phones already. It should make it better [for digital cameras]."

Entner snoted "the ability to easily and wirelessly send and store pictures" may give diital camera an advantage over camera phones. "With a mobile phone, you either have to pay 25 cents or you have to take your memory stick out, which is always a big endeavor," he said.

Yankee Group senior analyst John Jackson thought WiFi technology made more sense than uilding into cellular technology. "It's a very logical addition to the digital camera. The key here is that the camera has a liberated distribution channel. There are very few precedents for consumer electronics devices to appreciate in price. The digital camera guys are trying to reverse that," Jackson said.