Scalado, which specialises in mobile imaging software solutions, has revealed that its CAPS imaging Software Development Kit (SDK) is now being used in more than 150 million mobile phone handsets.
The Swedish company currently has its software embedded in more than 50 different cameraphone models, with suppliers such as SonyEricsson and Samsung signing licensing agreements with Scalado to power its imaging applications in new camera phones. LG also became a Scalado customer during 2007. Scalado can now list four out of five of the top Tier 1 mobile phone manufacturers as its licensees, as well as several handset manufacturers in Taiwan.
End of 2007 figures place worldwide mobile telephone subscriptions at around 3.3 billion – equivalent to half the global population. Global mobile phone sales last year alone were over 900 million, with cameraphones sales in 2007 accounting for close to 750 million, or approximately 80% of the market, with this figure predicted to grow further in 2008.
As manufacturers get smarter with the number of pixels that they can offer, with many now providing 5, 6, 7 and even 8 megapixels, the need for powerful and memory efficient image processing software is evident, says Scalado. With CAPS, Scalado offers an extremely CPU and memory efficient software solution, which it says drastically decreases image processing times when capturing, viewing, and editing large images.
As megapixels in cameraphones continue to grow, users will be taking many more images with their mobile phones, that are larger and need to be processed, manipulated and then sent quickly, so the need for fast and efficient image processing is even more vital, says Scalado CEO, Mats Jacobson,. Our applications have been specifically designed to bring the ultimate digital photography user experience onto a mobile device. We are working closely with the mobile industry to improve this experience all the time and finding great ways to create, browse and share pictures.”
In addition to adding new customers, Scalado also ended 2007 by expanding its global operations, launching operations in Korea, in order to be more responsive and flexible to customers in this region. These new operations will also put Scalado in close proximity to some of the emerging markets manufacturers, and nearer to the operators who are fast becoming leading players in their respective countries.
The global presence that we now have in terms of handset penetration is a fantastic achievement, adds Jacobson. We are very proud to be working with the leading mobile phone manufacturers in the world, and we are looking forward to continuing to improve the camera phone experience even further by partnering up with key mobile platform hardware and software vendors as well as key operators.