June 10, 2004

By: Alex Molner
Website: http://www.1st-in-cell-phones.com

ASP Service Allowing he user to Freely Simulate Hair-Color he user to Freely Simulate Hair-Color on a Photograph Taken with a Cellular Phone

Dai Nippon Printing Co. Ltd., has commenced the Cellular Phone Based Hair-Color Simulation System, allowing the user to freely simulate the hair-color of their choice on a photograph taken with a cellular phone, and launched it as an ASP style service from February 26.

With this system it is possible to easily perform hair-color simulation, by taking a portrait photograph on a cellular phone with a camera attachment, and sending the hair-color the user wants to try to a pre-set cellular-phone based mail-address. Mod's Hair from Nippon Lever K.K., which will enter the home-fashion hair-color market from this spring has decided to adopt this new service, and will display information about the service via such mediums as their website from early March.

Development

DNP developed the Hair-Color Simulation System allowing the user to freely simulate and alter the hair-color of their choice on a PC-based website, in 2002, and followed that up with the development of Tri-V DESIGNER for Make-up in 2003 that allowed for the high-definition simulation not only of hair, but also of various cosmetics, such as foundation, lipstick, eye-color, and rouge.

With this latest development DNP offers a service that makes it possible to simulate hair-color, which it is difficult to perform at the cosmetics-counter, but for which there is high consumer demand, by developing a system that can be easily linked with cellular phones that continue to see rapid growth.

Features

- By taking a portrait photograph on a cellular phone with a camera attachment, and altering hair-color, it is relatively easy to perform a simulation close to actual usage images.

- The basic operation can be carried out as easily as by selecting the desired hair-color via mail, and sending the user's portrait photograph. The result of the simulation can be seen within an average of ten seconds by viewing the reply on a pre-selected URL.

- The service works via two formats; accessing a website and selecting the desired hair-color, or attaching the images to a message and sending them to a mail-address dedicated solely to that color that appears on the product package.

- The service can be used on phones from such carriers as NTT DoCoMo, Vodaphone and au.

- It is also possible to attach a survey function that picks up simple attributes such as age, sex, and user frequency.

Costs

- Start-up costs: two million yen

- Operation costs: 300,000 yen per month (200,000 yen in the case of long-term contracts of over six-months. Though with a separate estimate necessary for such customized services as the creation of unique domains)

Future Plans and Sales Targets

In line with the newly developed Cellular Phone Based Hair-Color Simulation System, DNP aims to promote such ideas as printing two-dimensional barcodes on product packages and promotional flyers, along with ways to promote easier simulation by removing the need to input website or mail addresses.

We also plan to take the existing service and aggressively market it to hair-color makers and sales outlets, along with companies operating beauty salons. Including such peripheral services as packaging and promotional goods we aim to achieve 30 million yen sales in the first year, increasing that to 300 billion yen by 2006.

Author Notes:

Alex Molner contributes and publishes news editorial to http://www.1st-in-cell-phones.com.  A source for info and tips for the cellular phone industry featuring articles, comparisons and reviews of cellular phones and service plans.