Samsung wants public hotspot access for new wireless camera

EXCLUSIVE: Sharing your images is key focus

13 August 2009 19:21 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Samsung has confirmed to Pocket-lint that it hopes to sign up Wi-Fi operators in the next 12 months to allow users of its wireless cameras access to public hotspots around the globe.

Although the company has yet to announce any partnerships, a spokesperson for the company told Pocket-lint that it hopes to sign a deal with hotspot or mobile carriers that would allow users to share photos from the new T1000 wireless camera or future models in places like Starbucks and Barnes & Noble without having to go home and connect to a private wireless network.

"Although not available on the current model, we hope to create a software update that if an agreement was reached with someone like AT&T, could allow us to offer that feature in the future," our man told us.

The move isn't new, however, when Kodak launched its now defunct wireless offering, the EasyShare One, it came with a year's free T-Mobile hotspot access in the UK, however consumer take-up failed to grasp the concept when the camera launched with much fanfare four years ago.

In a separate interview with Pocket-lint at the launch of the company's wireless compact camera, David Steel, senior VP for marketing at Samsung Electronics America told us that sharing was key to the company's focus moving forward.

In a candid "off the cuff" interview with Pocket-lint, Steel commented that it wasn't implausible for Samsung cameras to feature the ability to share your photos via Twitter or Facebook rather than just Flickr and Google's Picasa online albums in the future.

As for adding HSDPA connectivity to a compact camera? Steel said it was possible, but didn't really see why you would want to.