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Camera phones won't be banned - report sees bright future

Several pundits have predicted that phones with cameras built in will be a short term fad, because most businesses will ban them. Not so, insists a report from Telecom Paper.

"Camera phones are not only here to stay but over the next few years will become an accepted feature of most mobile handsets worldwide," says the four-page 59 Euro report.

They will be the rule rather than the exception, it says. "Once the quality of in-built cameras starts to match that of the average digital camera, then a higher percentage of people will use them and service providers will have a positive impact on data revenue streams," it concludes.

But it casts a bit of doubt: " - only if pricing plans are adjusted to encourage usage and service providers will increase their bandwidths to cope." And it seems there's no anxiety about "up skirt" pictures leading to their demise.

Telecom Paper's survey shows "best estimates among analysts are that this will be in 2006/7 in Europe and North America."