Spend enough time in public, and chances are good you'll see someone taking a picture using a cell phone. In fact, camera cell phones are so widespread that analysts predict there will be 1 billion of them worldwide in the next five years.

These devices are mostly used to capture harmless images, but the gadgets are quickly becoming a source of gross misbehavior.

While not yet a serious threat to the pool industry, camera cell phones could spell trouble in the future as their use increases. For example, manufacturers such as Samsung and LG Electronics bar employees from using camera phones in research facilities to prevent the theft of sensitive data.

For retailers, this situation means camera phones pose two specific threats: higher costs and industry espionage.

First, there is the problem of trickledown price increases. For example, a pool-products manufacturer may implement pricey technology to prevent the use of camera phones in their facilities. That expense is passed on to the retailer. The same is true if the company's new-product development is compromised.

More importantly, there's the privacy issue. What's appealing about camera phones--their simplicity and discretion--is precisely what causes harm, enabling businesspeople to spy on competitors unnoticed. They appear to be fiddling with their phone when, in fact, they're snapping images.

So whether it's poaching display ideas or newly stocked products, storefront layouts or general store maintenance, sly "phone-photographers" can jeopardize competition.

"By putting a display up in a retail store, in essence you've published it for people to see," explained A. Michael Noll, a University of Southern California professor specializing in technology and privacy. "If someone came in with a camera and tripod, they would probably be kicked out, but a person with a good memory can leave and sketch the storefront in his car. Don't blame the technology; the bigger issue is the ethics involved.

The reality, however, is that ethical standards are eroding daily, with problems such as identity theft growing steadily. As a result, technology companies are developing solutions to prevent camera phone-related thefts.

Using electronic devices to actively jam a cell-phone signal is illegal in the United States, but since security experts say "passively" jamming phones is one way to avoid the troubles caused by the mobile devices. For example, lining a store in lead or installing "magnetic wood" paneling (lumbar saturated with magnetic particles) will deflect almost all cell phone signals.

Or you can invest in one of a number of products recently on the scene. One such item can supposedly detect hidden cell phones within a fixed radius while another remotely turns off the camera function in cell phones. However, such products can range from $300 to $3,000.

"The bottom line is that business owners should always be trying to get ahead of the technology curve," said Travis Larson, spokesperson for the Cellular, Telecommunications & Internet Association based in Washington, D.C.

Larson knows that maintaining close tabs on employees, customers and rivals is not a new concept. Many retailers will capitalize on observing other stores while traveling, taking note of unique displays and forward-thinking specials. It's a practice that is inextricably linked to the bottom line, said Mark Berns, chairman of the NSPI Retailers Council and vice president of Palace Aids Inc. in Torrington, Conn.

There's a difference between out-of-state visiting and cross-town snooping, noted Scottie Payne, vice president of Arkansas Pools and Spas in Jonesboro, Ark.

"It would make me very uncomfortable if I found out a local competitor was taking pictures in my store," Payne said. "That's a little close to home, and that would concern me."

Industrial espionage is competition at its worst. Though pool and spa retailers have yet to experience the harms of camera phones, they're as fiery as any industry. So, as John Mosher, owner of Central Iowa Pool & Spa in Des Moines said, "We'd better beware."

COPYRIGHT 2004 Hanley-Wood, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group