SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The president of Sprint's PCS division says the carrier's marketing of a new integrated camera phone is more than a promotion to drive subscribership; it's a strategic move aimed at boosting the content side of Sprint's wireless business.

In an interview at the three-day Global Convergence Forum 2003 conducted by Accenture, the international consulting and technology firm, Sprint PCS President Len Lauer said the marketing of the new, heavily discounted Sanyo 8100 camera phone is focusing on simplicity and the relatively new concept of 'picture messaging' rather than on the ability simply to take photos with the phone.

The idea is to meet what Sprint believes is an unmet customer need by linking the familiar concepts of short messaging and voice mail with the new graphic-oriented capabilities of the phone.

'We've done a lot to simplify this thing,' Lauer said. 'Our expectation is it will be the biggest selling handset in the history of Sprint PCS.'

Sprint is retailing the handset, which features a high resolution TFT color screen, for $99 after rebates and is combining it with flat rate unlimited data pricing plans through its PCS Vision service, to help seed consumer demand for the product.

But Lauer says the company doesn't want to bank just on the appeal of the technology or the pricing. Rather, Sprint believes it can spark mass market appeal by a combination of pricing plus software and a user interface that make it simple and intuitive to take a picture quickly with the phone, attach a voice message to the photo and send it over the Sprint wireless network. With about 25 percent of its new customer adds opting for the PCS Vision data plan, that simplicity eventually could translate into a significantly broader takeup of other wireless content offerings.

During his presentation to the Forum, Lauer previewed for the audience a couple of the new Sprint television commercials promoting picture messaging; the themes of 'picture mail that talks' and 'send it when it happens' are messages that are the cornerstone of the carrier's content marketing efforts.

Sprint camera phone users already send an average of about 15 photos a month, Lauer said in the interview, with most going to a repetitive group of recipients, such as friends, family or business associates. That increases the likelihood of greater usage when subscribers easily can send photos to an established address book or buddy list of users.

'This becomes a true differentiator for Sprint PCS compared with our competitors,' Lauer contended.