MWC: Handset OEMs embed Ontela photo-saving service

In addition to receiving another round of funding from Eastven Venture Partners, Ontela is embedding its photo-synching service in mobile devices from four of the top five handset manufacturers. To start, the Motorola Hint QA30, LG AX265, Samsung Delve and Nokia 7610 will all be sold through carriers with pre-installed Ontela software.

Ontela already has relationships with nearly 30 carriers in North America, including Alltel and Verizon Wireless, which both rebrand the service. The goal of the software is to make it ridiculously easy to get the pictures off the camera phone, said Dan Shapiro, Ontela’s chief executive officer. Carriers found that the only step that was still tricky for consumers subscribing to the service as an app was entering their email address in the handset; 25% of people couldn’t do it right, Shapiro said.

“By having the software on the phone from the minute it leaves the factory and working with the carrier to get the email address entered for customers before they get their hands on the phone, they literally don’t have to do anything to get their pictures to show up in their email boxes,” Shapiro said. “From there, it’s just a few clicks to the other destinations they want.”

Ontela’s PicDeck service is singularly focused on instantly sending photos taken on the mobile phone to the PC and photo-sharing sites over the wireless network. The technology works in the background to create a link between the phone and the network using a wireless application protocol (WAP) session, and Ontela’s server then distributes the photo to selected photo-sharing sites -- such as Photobucket, Snapfish or Flickr -- and storage sites, including the consumer’s email or the My Photos folder on the PC.

The service’s subscription fee is typically around $3, but for the handsets it’s preloaded on, a free trial will be available upon purchase. Of the people who’ve tried the service so far, more than 10% buy the subscription after the trial, Shapiro said. Having relationships in place with carriers to market and sell the service has been the biggest boon to Ontela’s service. Shapiro said it has done well as just an icon on the handset screen, but the support of both the carriers and handset OEMs could make the service as ubiquitous as camera phones today.

“Getting the nod from the carrier is a big thing, and getting a phone pre-installed is pretty neat,” he said. “Working with one is neat, but to be working with four of the top five all together is really exciting.”