Perth developer previews 3D mobile phones

Mobile phone content developer DDD has been travelling Australia demonstrating 3D technology and content for mobile phones.

Chris Yewdall, chief executive at DDD, said the Perth developer -- which specialises in creating 3D content -- was launching a 2D to 3D conversion product for the mobile phone market.

Users could switch a screen from 2D to 3D display. "You can see 3D without having to wear the glasses," he said.

Sharp had pioneered a 3D mobile phone a couple of years ago via a partnership with Japanese mobile phone leader DoCoMo and sold some three million of the new products. That initiative had not translated outside Japan, Yewdall said.

At the time, little 3D content was available, he said.

"There's a whole new generation of flat panel display screens being developed by companies that make screens in Asia, such as Sony, Sanyo and Sharp," Yewdall said.

Yewdall said interest in 3D television and movies was accelerating. A migration to 3D mobile phone technology could not be far behind, he said.

"I think, probably today it's like we're on the brink of the television market was in 1940. Today, you never see a black-and-white television unless it's an old one," he said.

The new mobile phones provided an additional revenue opportunity for retailers in an environment of shrinking margins for hardware and handset sales. However, they were primarily a consumer product and he couldn't see them going through the business-focused IT channel, Yewdall said.

DDD signed a $1.2 million deal with "one of the top five" handset makers in July. Yewdall said he was not yet permitted to say which handset maker was involved. The deal paved a route for DDD's DDD Mobile software to be integrated with a 3D handset, Yewdall said.

The software allowed users to present photographs, animations and movies in 3D on mobile phones, he said.

Meanwhile,DDD also inked a memorandum-of-understanding with peer-to-peer ringtone provider Jamster to use its content library and act as a content aggregator for converted 3D images in markets such as Asia and Europe, Yewdall said.

Yewdall said investors could view DDD Mobile in action on a 3D mobile phone in Brisbane and Perth from 12 to 15 September.

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