Toshiba Corp will next month launch a digital still camera fitted with a modem and communications software for sending recorded images over standard telephone lines, and claims that the ProShot is the first still camera in the world with built-in communications functions. It incorporates a 16M-bit NAND Flash memory chip and 2Mb of data storage, also has a microphone so users can record audio, and has automatic focussing and built-in automatic flash, and can deliver pictures to liquid crystal displays, printers and monitors for instant assessment and printing. The ProShot’s memory has capacity for 40 images, but the camera has a PC Card slot, and there is an optional memory card that expands capacity to over 400 images. The camera, 6 wide and 1.4 high, will go on sale in Japan on September 1 for about $2,600, and Toshiba says it expects to sell 12,000 a year in Japan and it plans to market similar models overseas in future.
