Blog Post #5

 EOTO Timeline Project

Kyocera Visual Phone (VP210)

The Kyocera Visual Phone (VP210) was the first camera phone invented in 1999. The product was manufactured between the years of 1997 to 1999, but it was first released in 1999. The camera phone was invented in Japan by the corporation, Kyocera. This was the first phone sold commercially with a built-in camera. Although there may be some confusion on the internet about who really created the first camera phone, I have found that Kyocera was technically not the first camera phone. Although it was the first camera phone sold ever, the idea of having a built-in camera phone was not their idea. This idea came from Philippe Kahn.

Philippe Kahn's Background

 Philippe Kahn created the first camera smartphone in 1997. A little background information on him --- Philippe Kahn was a French engineer and software entrepreneur. Although Kahn was famous for the invention of the first camera phone, he was also the CEO of four different technology companies.   

Kahn Invention of The First Camera Phone

 He created this in order share pictures instantly with friends online, along with the public network. During this time, Kahn's wife, Sonia Lee, was expecting a baby. Kahn wanted to create something that can allow him to share his baby's birth with his friends and family, but what was really important was that he wanted to share it with them instantly. Creating the first camera phone, allowed him to do just that as he shared a picture of his newborn baby with them. And to show how impactful it was, his picture of his baby was shared with 2,000 people. According to Kobra Tech, Kahn created this by "connecting a digital camera with his flip phone using a wire he ripped out of his car telephone." 

Sharp's 'Nokia' Camera Phones

 After Kahn's invention of the first camera phone, other companies were inspired and tried to create their own camera phones. The 'Nokia' Smartphone was another camera phone that came out in 2002, owned by the Sharp Corporation. The corporation was founded by Tokuji Hayakawa. The Nokia camera phone was made in Japan and only sold in Japan in 2002, and surprisingly, it wasn't as popular as you'd think it'd be. According to Android Authority, in 2003, when the phone was sold in the U.S., it became a hit and 80 million of this smartphone was sold all over the world. Fast forward to 2007, when the first Apple iPhone came out, the Nokia camera phone wasn't as popular, but this is extremely important as this and all the other first camera phones influenced other companies and people to create their own. This leads to my last topic --- how has camera phones impacted society?

Impact of Camera Phones

 We can clearly see that the inventions of camera phones has really impacted our world, especially today, as everyone (mostly everyone) owns a phone. We can see the changes between our phones now compared to the ones invented in the past. We can see how technology has advanced and progressed into something so amazing. And by amazing, I mean, how much technology, especially iPhones have changed our world. Along with that, camera phones have also led our world to the influence and awareness of social media today. Social media impacts our world tremendously now and that involves camera/digital photography because most social media platforms allow you to share digital photography or videography. The impact of camera phones also have changed the way we communicate with others. 

Change in Communication with Camera Phones

    The invention of camera phones also impacted the communications we have as camera phones or any phones in general, allows us to communicate with one another through call, FaceTime, other social media platforms --- such as Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, etc. Even during the COVID-19 Pandemic, phones, although mainly laptops, allowed us to communicate with professors, classmates, advisors through Zoom, Google Meets, and other similar apps. Most of the time when we communicate with others, we usually do that through text messages on our phones, call, FaceTime, or social media apps. Bringing up social media again, we can also communicate through platforms by commenting, posting, and sharing. This just demonstrates another form of communication. According to Kobra Tech, "Today, on average, people upload 350 million photos on Facebook everyday worldwide." This just goes to show how camera phones have very much changed the way we communicate with others. 

Negative Impacts of Camera Phones on the World

 Although iPhones, and other technologies have changed our world today in a positive way, there are a lot of downsides to this. Technologies, especially iPhones, has had a huge influence on our world. The majority of the world either owns an iPhone or Android, and although it can be very useful, it is really bad for the younger generation. Kids are starting to get phones at the age of 8 or 9, which is really important to recognize as there weren't even phones until the late 90s. Being on phones has enabled people to be glued to their technologies and this impacted their lives both mentally and socially. The invention of technology has also led to the world of social media, which can bring both positivity and negativity. The idea of mental health also stems a lot from the world of social media as people posts digital photography and videography every single day. Social media allows people to comment, like, and share on each other's platform and some of these comments can be good, others can be bad, which is why this is one of the main reasons why camera phones can have a negative impact on the world.