This isn’t exactly the “pure” mobile phones news, but since the big carrier is involved, we’re publishing it nevertheless.
Panasonic has teamed up with T-Mobile for its new wireless digital camera called Lumix. The idea is to allow users to upload photos directly from the camera to Google’s Picasa service using T-Mobile HotSpot service. We like how it sounds, as with this kind of camera you won’t have to worry about the lack of space on the memory card — simply upload photos to Picasa, delete them, and voila… more space is available for new photos. And best of all, once released — and we don’t know the release date nor price — the Lumix will come bundled with T-Mobile HotSpot service subscription for 12 months. Nice!
PRESS RELEASE – Panasonic, the leading brand by which Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is best known, today highlighted the development of a LUMIX digital camera with wireless network connectivity, complete with integrated access to T-Mobile HotSpot service and the ability to send photos directly to Picasa Web Albums, a free online photo-sharing service from Google. Panasonic collaborated with T- Mobile Hotspot and used Picasa Web Albums’ APIs to develop a new and optimal online environment for photo sharing.
After taking digital photos with the new LUMIX, users will be able to upload their photos directly to Picasa Web Albums through the T-Mobile HotSpot service. The LUMIX comes with complimentary access to T-Mobile HotSpot service for 12 months. After uploading, they can receive an email with a URL link to their photos, which they can then share with family and friends. In addition, users can confirm photos have been successfully loaded to Picasa Web Albums and can delete photos directly from the digital camera, eliminating the concern that photos have or have not been uploaded.
Panasonic has collaborated closely with T-Mobile to enable quick and easy digital photo uploading. T-Mobile HotSpot service provides fast and reliable Wi-Fi Internet access at more than 8,500 public T-Mobile HotSpot locations throughout the country. As the largest carrier-grade, commercial Wi-Fi network in the United States, T-Mobile HotSpot service is available at many Starbucks coffee shops, Borders Books & Music stores, Hyatt Hotels and approximately 70 major airports across the United States.
“T-Mobile HotSpot service continues to innovate and build new bridges that help people stick together,” said Joe Sims, vice president and general manager for Broadband Services, T-Mobile USA. “Through T-Mobile HotSpot, empowering people to share special moments-in-time captured by the LUMIX digital camera is yet another way we’re helping people stay connected to those who matter most.”
“The new LUMIX will be the perfect digital camera for consumers who are accustomed to the benefits that wireless connections offer: speed and convenience,” said Tokikazu Matsumoto, director of Panasonic AVC Networks Company’s Digital Camera Business Unit. “Ideal for the active user who is always on-the-go, the new LUMIX with wireless network connectivity, has the ability to upload directly to Picasa Web Albums, making sharing photos with friends and family, as simple as a touch of a button and as seamless as connecting to a wireless network.”
“We want our users to be able to access and share their photo collections however and wherever they’d like,” said Mike Horowitz, product manager for Picasa Web Albums at Google. “We created open APIs to encourage exactly this kind of integration. The new LUMIX camera from Panasonic gives our users a great new way to share photos quickly and easily while they’re taking shots on vacation or at a convention.”
“Our collaboration with T-Mobile Hotspot and our work with Picasa Web Albums open programming interface pushes the boundaries of digital photography, said Merwan Mereby, vice president, New Business Development and Strategic Alliances, Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company. “We are in a new paradigm of taking digital photographs, where people want to share their memories easily, while also embracing the immediacy that online communities demand. With the direct upload capability onto Picasa Web Albums through any T-Mobile Hotspot location anywhere in the United States, the wireless LUMIX digital camera makes sharing photographs an easy and seamless experience.”