Imaging giants back touch transfer technology

Some of us are old enough to remember the old advertising campaign by the Telephone Company that popularized the catchphrase "reach out and touch someone." With a little modification the tagline might serve as the motto of a new consortium announced yesterday by a group of imaging industry heavyweights. Instead of "reach out and touch someone," however, the new battle cry will be "reach out and touch something."

The new TransferJet Consortium has been formed to promote a proximity wireless technology that enables the rapid transfer of high resolution video, music and images between electronic devices. With the technology, when two compliant devices touch each other, files can be transferred between them without the need for an access point. For example, touching a TV with a digital camera would allow photos in the camera to be instantaneously displayed on the TV.

The list of founding members of the consortium is an impressive one. It includes Sony, Canon, Kodak, Hitachi, Kenwood, Panasonic, Nikon, Olympus, Pioneer, Samsung, Seiko Epson, Sony Ericsson and Toshiba.

According to a statement from the consortium, it will be developing specifications and guidelines to ensure the interoperability between products incorporating the technology, as well as establish licensing schemes and administer the use of the technology's logo.

How long it will take the technology to make it to the mainstream is anyone's guess, but its developer, Sony, demonstrated prototype TransferJet devices at CES earlier this year.