The slow speeds of even the most advanced cellular networks make sending images from camera-phones a tedious process regardless of whether they are sent to a phone, an e-mail address, or a URL. When it takes more than a minute and sometimes as long as three minutes to share an image, users think twice before they hit the Send button. Therefore lack of bandwidth is a critical inhibitor to the widespread, mainstream adoption of Mobile Imaging, and to monetizing images within the mobile ecosystem.

Furthermore, as the resolution offered by the typical camera-phone increases to match entry-level digital cameras, the problem is exacerbated. And 3G wireless networks won't help for uploading images from the mobile device, only for downloading content to it.

This report examines and compares the current state and the near-term roadmaps of the key Personal Area, Local Area, Metropolitan Area, and Wide Area network technologies, including: Infrared, Bluetooth, UWB, the many flavors of Wi-Fi, GSM and CDMA cellular technologies through HSDPA, HSUPA, and CDMA EV-DO Rev. A & B, UMTS-TDD, FLASH OFDM, and WiBro/WiMAX. It also examines the coming competition between cellular networks and the wireless internet as the medium of choice to send and receive images wirelessly, along with the implications for industry players.

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Table of Figures
About the Author / Future Image
Definitions & Methodology
SEEoIP ?
1 SEEoIP
1.1 VoIP
1.2 Metro-Scale Wi-Fi
1.3 Wi-Fi Cameras
Technology Review
2 Technology Review
2.1 Personal Area 3
2.1.1 Infrared
2.1.2 Bluetooth
2.1.3 Ultra-Wideband (UWB)
2.2 Local Area
2.2.1 The Different Flavors of Wi-Fi
2.3 Wide Area
2.3.1 The Cellular Networks
1G
2G
2.5
3G
3.5G
2.3.2 GSM
GPRS
EDGE
UMTS
HSDPA
HSUPA
2.3.3 CDMA
CDMA2000 1xRTT
CDMA 1x EV-DO
CDMA 1x EV-DO Rev A
CDMA 1x EV-DO Rev B
2.3.4 Alternative WWANs
WiMAX
UMTS TDD
FLASH OFDM
Conclusions & Outlook
3 Conclusions & Outlook
3.1 Personal Area
3.2 Wide Area
3.3 Local Area
3.4 Outlook

Table of Figure

Fig. 1 – comparative speeds for transferring a three-megapixel image over the WLAN and WWAN networks likely to
be in place within two years
Fig. 2 – comparative speeds for transferring a one-gigabyte
memory card over the WLAN and WWAN
Table 1 – USB
Table 2 – Infrared
Table 3 – Bluetooth
Table 4 – UWB
Fig. 3 – comparative speeds for transferring a three-megapixel image over WPAN
Fig. 4 – comparative speeds for transferring a one-gigabyte memory card over WPAN
Table 5 – Ethernet
Table 6 – 802.11 Working Groups
Table 7 – Wi-Fi
Fig. 5 – comparative speeds for transferring a three-megapixel image over WLAN
Fig. 6 – comparative speeds for transferring a one-gigabyte memory card over WLAN
Table 8 – GSM
Table 9 – GPRS
Table 10 – EDGE
Table 11 – UMTS
Table 12 – HSDPA
Table 13 – HSUPA
Fig. 7 – comparative speeds for transferring a three-megapixel image over GSM networks
Fig. 8 – comparative speeds for transferring a one-gigabyte memory card over GSM networks
Table 14 – CDMA 1x
Table 15 – CDMA 1x EV-DO
Table 16 – CDMA 1x EV-DO Rev A
Table 17 – CDMA 1x EV-DO Rev B
Fig. 9 – comparative speeds for transferring a three-megapixel image over CDMA networks
Fig. 10 – comparative speeds for transferring a one-gigabyte memory card over CDMA networks
Table 18 – WiMAX
Table 19 – UMTS TDD
Table 20 – FLASH OFDM
Fig. 11 – comparative speeds for transferring a three-megapixel image over WWAN networks
Fig. 12 – comparative speeds for transferring a one-gigabyte memory card over WWAN networks