Moblogs, cameraphone uptake, and lomography

Japan's English-language Daily Yomiuri newspaper carries an interesting piece on moblogs and cameraphones which credits moblogs with a rise in US cameraphone adoption. Alan Reiter picks up the article but doesn't kick that notion into touch, so we'll stipulate for the moment that moblogs may be boosting cameraphone sales and usage in the US. It's an interesting contrast with what's happening in Japan, where adoption rates are much higher (90% of phones shipped in 4Q03 had cameras) but sending pictures phone-to-phone is the only application for cameraphones that has been pushed so far, and there are no Japanese-language moblog providers along the lines of textamerica.com that we're aware of yet.

The author of the article also draws an interesting comparison between Lomography and cameraphone shooting, in the sense that one's going for atmosphere and a particular point of view rather than getting all the technical details right. Again, in Japan we sense that there's less idea of the quotidian as art and more of simple function--though those categories are probably as blurry at the edges as the photos themselves.

[Read: Daily Yomiuri article (Warning: Yomiuri articles are apt to disappear after a few days)]