Parks Associates: Mobile Pictures Driving New Consumer Push for Convergence

Parks Associates will issue an upcoming report that finds "convergence is finding traction in mobile phones, with one-fourth of all U.S. Internet households willing to use a high-resolution camera phone as their primary camera."

The report also found interest in mobile music, "although photo applications are more popular among U.S. Internet households, with 52% (10.2 million homes) intending to buy a mobile phone with an integrated camera and only 30% (5.9 million homes) planning to purchase a mobile phone capable of downloading music."

Vibha Pant at Parks Associates said, “Although the industry is currently focused on iPods and Motorola’s new music phone ROKR, consumers would rather have a camera phone. Moreover, the impending introduction of advanced mega-pixel camera phones will strengthen demand, which will create great opportunities for service providers to increase their ARPU by offering photo sharing, photo printing, and other applications.”