Telephones that can transmit and display images are expected to be big business in Japan, reaching 1m phones a year within three years, but the usual problem of standards has reared its head once again: Reuters reports from Tokyo that Sony Corp has designed a phone to specifications set by Nippon Telegraph & Telephone that takes 10 seconds to transmit a picture, but that Matsushita, Mitsubishi and NEC have agreed an alternate standard that transmits an image in only 5.5 seconds; NTT is trying to involve others in its own standard, but Matsushita wants to get its phone out in November, at about $350.
