Camera phones capture a picture of practicality

It's been a while since there has been an article on how businesses are using cameraphones. The Chicago Tribune has an excellent roundup.

Judy Artunian reports that "according to Boston-based Strategy Analytics, about 700,000 people will use camera phones for business purposes this year. That number is expected to top 2 million by 2009.

But it's not major corporations that are leading the way. Smaller companies have been the early innovators, often turning to camera phones as a cost-saving alternative to sending employees to far-flung locations.

For instance:

-- In Yakima, Wash., salespeople at Burrows Tractor drive as far as 100 miles to visit farmers who want to trade in their tractor for a newer model. In the past, the Burrows sales staff would shoot photos of customers' tractors with a digital camera and bring the photo back to headquarters. General manager John Riel would evaluate the tractor's condition and determine its trade-in price. Now, there's a huge savings on mileage, because the camera phone saves a minimum of one trip on every deal.

-- Chicago-based Maintenance Systems, a commercial painting contractor whose clients include such national retail chains as Burger King, J. Crew and CompUSA, relies on images taken by camera phones to keep clients in the loop.

-- Real estate agents were among the earliest professionals to make use of camera phones. It has become a common practice for real estate agents to shoot photos of a property's key selling points and send them to clients.

-- Camera phones are also popping up in medical facilities as a convenient way for medical professionals to capture images of skin problems, for instance, and send them to specialists for a consultation.

-- Insurance companies are investigating how images from camera phones could help them more quickly assess property damage, especially after severe storms and other situations that call for fast claims processing.

emily | 9:34 AM | How people and businesses are using cameraphones |
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