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Intel offers dual digital, PC camera

By Associated Press, 8/15/2000

AN JOSE, Calif. - After dipping its toe into the water with a branded Internet appliance, Intel Corp. is making another foray into the pool of businesses that complement its computer chip-making with a dual-purpose digital camera.

The Intel Pocket PC Camera, which begins selling today, allows consumers to take Internet-ready photos and record short video clips at or away from the personal computer - even set up a ''spy cam'' to take pictures and e-mail them automatically to a given address.

''The great thing about this camera is it's really focused on people who want to share their life's story over the Internet,'' said Dwayne Canfield, product line manager at Intel's Connect Products Division in Hillsboro, Ore. ''You can have it hooked up to your computer or you can disconnect the cord and take it with you.''

Digital cameras eliminate the need for silver halide film that has to be chemically processed, instead capturing images on chips with tiny square sensors called pixels.

The $149 battery-operated product comes with 8 megabytes of flash memory, capable of taking 128 pictures or two minutes of video in the highest-quality mode, which is 640 by 480 pixels.

By comparison, megapixel digital cameras, retailing for $300 and higher, feature resolution of 1,028 by 960 pixels, and take pictures almost as perfect as those made by traditional cameras on film. Unlike these high-end cameras, the Intel device does not allow the picture-taker to immediately review images on an imbedded LCD screen.

''People should understand you're not going to get the highest-quality print from this [Intel] camera,'' said analyst Michelle Lampmann at InfoTrends Research Group in Boston. ''But this device enables affordable digital image capture... that can be detached from the PC, and that makes it much more useful and fun.''

Amid indications that PC sales are slowing in the United States, Intel has been moving aggressively to expand beyond its core semiconductor lines.

It formed the Connect Products Division with the mission of producing Intel-brand consumer products, began selling an Internet appliance - a countertop device that allows access to e-mail, organizer and the Internet - to telephone companies for resale to consumers, and plans to market other consumer gadgets later this year.

Intel's Pocket PC is an extension of the fast-growing PC camera business, which InfoTrends estimates is worth about $338 million this year. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company has three other PC cameras retailing between $49 and $99.

About 5.5 million digital PC cameras will be sold this year in the United States, but InfoTrends estimates 50 percent of the computers sold by 2003 will be packaged with entry-level PC cameras, boosting the market to 38 million units.

This story ran on page C03 of the Boston Globe on 8/15/2000.
© Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company.