Doting Grandparents Expected to Be Buyers : Japanese Unveil Telephones That Transmit Pictures

Doting grandparents and lonely businessmen separated from their families are among the buyers anticipated for still-video telephones that transmit black and white photographs of users, but many industry analysts say the concept is unlikely to catch on.

The telephones have been unveiled by Japanese electronics manufacturers hoping to attract consumers flush with summer bonuses.

But some industry analysts question whether the average consumer is interested in what the telephones can do--enable users to see or send a series of black and white photos--and have their conversations interrupted in the process.

The machines are likely to be overtaken by technological advances allowing live color transmissions, the analysts add.

The still-video telephones, hooked to existing telephone sets, can transmit and receive black and white still pictures of those talking in six seconds over ordinary phone circuits.

Conversation is blocked during the transmission.

Five Japanese electrical firms announced in early June that they had developed the still-pictures telephones based on standards set last May by Japan’s Telecommunications Technology Committee.

The TTC is a private industry group affiliated with the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.

Matsushita Communication, Mitsubishi Electric and NEC have already started marketing the black and white still video phones.

Sony Corp. plans to start sales in August but Sanyo Electric has not decided its marketing plan.

There are no extra charges beyond ordinary phone rates, and the units are priced at at around 55,000 yen ($415) each.

Each of the five companies plans to produce from 2,000 to 5,000 units monthly, expecting the new product to be a hit for both personal and business uses and for people of all ages, company spokesmen said.

Especially popular uses are expected to be for traveling businessmen and for elderly people eager for a glimpse of children and grandchildren during conversations, industry analysts said.

However, some analysts think huge consumer demand will only be found for a full videophone that will allow simultaneous conversations with live color video of the person talking.

“A still picture phone is boring. Who wants to buy a black and white picture phone in this age?” said Darrel Whitten, Prudential-Bache Securities associate director of Far East research.

“We want a color moving image of the other person.”

The one full-video telephone now on the Japanese market is the INVITE 64 system developed jointly by Kokusai Denshin Denwa and Mitsubishi Electric. The system requires special high-quality lines, however; it cannot use conventional telephone circuits.

With a price of 6 million yen (about $45,500) and a limited digital network, interest in the unit has been largely confined to business, and only some 100 have been sold since KDD started marketing INVITE 64 in July 1987.

“The trigger to mass sales of color-moving video phones is semiconductor progress,” Whitten said. He said four megabit memories, which he sees on the market in 1990, would slash the color-moving-picture video phone’s price.

Tatsuya Minamiyashiki, on KDD’s research and development headquarters staff, said: “If a larger capacity semiconductor is developed, a color-moving-picture phone will need few semiconductors, and there will be large production cost cuts.”

But a communications industry analyst said the high-quality lines required for a videophone are years away.

“The general spread of fiber-optic ISDN will take more than 10 years because fibre-optic ISDN will impose expensive charges on users. A color-moving video phone will not be available for individuals for at least 10 years,” he said.