Ontela does for mobile devices what Polaroid did for cameras - update
You may have read the review I posted recently on Ontela’s picture transfer service, which is available from many mobile carriers. At the time I had asked the company if they had any interesting stories about how people were using the service. I was expecting to hear something cutesy about a parent at a graduation or something and figured it probably wouldn’t use it -but hey, no harm asking.
Well, their reply did not make it in time for the review, but it was interesting enough that I had to post it, which is why you’re seeing this update. Here’s the email I received from a vice president over at Ontela;
A year and a half ago, before we launched our first production service for Cellular South, our marketing plan was basically “send people phones so they can try it for themselves.” We must have mailed out something like 3 dozen RAZRs with Ontela software and sometimes it took some persistent follow-up to get the phones back after people used them for a month or more. I remember one time when a potential customer told us he was really sorry but he couldn’t find his demo phone. We scratched our heads for a day or two and then we thought of asking him if he was still getting any pictures on his PC. We thought “Who knows? Maybe a co-worker picked it up by accident.” He looked through his pictures and “surprise!,” someone neither of us knew had the phone and was taking some pretty ridiculous photos. We shut the account off the next day of course, but we also realized there was an extra feature in the service we hadn’t really planned on: built-in theft protection. If you’re a happy user of an Ontela-powered service and someone steals your phone, you can Email the photos that show up to the police and maybe even catch the guy. ? - Mike Arcuri, VP Product Management, Ontela
How many of you have dozens of great photos locked away in your phones, BlackBerries, and other devices? With most mobile devices now equipped with built in cameras, everyone is snapping photos. Photos at conferences. Photos on vacations. Photos of loved ones. Only a few, however, are actually showing those photos to anyone. Why? Because it’s a hassle. Who wants to deal with five different menu commands or peck at a tiny keyboard to email every photo? What if you have 20 photos? You have to email each one separately to yourself, then upload each photo to your Flickr account for your family that uses Flickr, and then there are your friends who read your blog, so that’s another upload, and don’t forget Facebook, and on and on.
At last a remedy. Ontela has launched a service that promises to do for digital photos what Polaroid did for traditional pics – set them free. Now, with a touch of a button, you can send a photo from your mobile device instantly to your email, blog, photo sharing site, and other networks simultaneously.
I tried this out for myself using a Motorola RAZR. Here’s how it works:
The Service:
Ontela sells its service to cell phone carriers which then offer it to the end user. Earlier this year, Ontela signed agreements with major carriers; Alltel, Cellular South, Cincinnati Bell, and nTelos. Over the Summer, the Seattle based company added partners including; Alaska DigiTel, Appalachian Wireless, Bluegrass Cellular, Carolina West Wireless, Cellcom, Cellular 29Plus/Lyrix Wireless, Golden State Cellular, Illinois Valley Cellular, Inland Cellular, Leaco Rural Telephone, Northwest Missouri Cellular, Panhandle Regional Wireless Network, Thumb Cellular, and United Wireless. Since new companies continue to be signed, it’s best to check out the Ontela site to see if your provider works with the service.
Partner Sites:
Customers are able to upload photos with a click of a button to partner sites including some of the most popular blog and photo sharing networks. Some of the companies that have signed on already include; Dot Photo, Facebook, Friendster, Kodak Gallery, Personal Grid, Picasa, SmugMug, TinyPic, Blogger, Flickr, Photobucket and Snapfish. As with phone carriers, new social networks and other sites are adding support, so this list could be out of date by the time you read this. The Ontela website will have the latest list of supported sites.
The Set up:
Either at the store or at home, customers can input information for any accounts they wish to add. The process is simple and not unlike the way one would add accounts for chat services that allow multiple clients. The interface has an easy, familiar feel that works well with the RAZR, which has a traditional “phone keyboard” (versus the qwerty setup on some devices). Here’s what the set up looks like:
Note: Ontela has worked with carriers to train in-store sales reps. In many cases the set up will be done for the customer when they purchase the phone.
My Experience:
Since my phone had Alltel as its carrier, I used Alltel Pic Transfer. Each service will be a little different, however the basic functionality and sites supported will be the same. As with all of the services, once I set up my account with my flickr, Photobucket, and email information, every time I took a picture it was automatically sent to each account. If I chose, I could even have the phone send photos to a specific folder on my notebook, such as myphotos. I took a quick walk around my neighborhood and snapped a few pictures.
Here is what my flickr site looked like when I arrived home:
The process was almost instant and I did not have to do anything other than simply take the picture. The photos you see above were taken about two blocks away from my house and by the time I got home (about a minute journey) they were already on my photo sites and in my email inbox. A photo I took inside my house took less than a minute to hit my inbox and I have a feeling the delay had more to do with my mail server than Ontela’s server (Photos take a quick trip to Ontela’s server and are then routed to the appropriate photo sites).
You would be surprised, but no one else is doing this. It’s a case of it being a lot harder than it looks and beyond the technical side, there is the partnering issues. As anyone who has spent any time in the telecommunications industry will tell you, signing up the laundry list of companies Ontela has on board is difficult and impressive -and then there is the small matter of getting the social networks on board, which Ontela has also done.
How to get it:
Check with your service provider to see if they offer picture transfer software. If so, the price will be $2.99 per month and can be purchased in stores, over the phone, or online on your carrier’s website. Alltel, for example, offers this link for quick purchase via their website which sends a text to your phone: The application also appears in the phone’s Axcess shop menu.
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This entry was posted on Saturday, November 8th, 2008 at 5:13 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
