Earlier this summer, I attended a small wedding ceremony. The happy couple had hired a professional photographer who, along with his assistant, darted in and out of view as they captured the blissful event. It was slightly distracting, what with a flash going off and the occasional obstructed view, but not nearly as distracting as every other person in attendance whipping out their cell phone and snapping a few photos of their own. This wackiness isn't just limited to weddings, either. It seems that no matter where you go, someone, somewhere, is snapping off a photo with their phone. What is this craze, nay, compulsion that is driving us to become a shutter-bug society?

I've talked a lot about mobile phones over the past year - the operating systems, the apps and the explosive growth of usage. Phone-based cameras are just another piece of our mobile evolution. Mobile phone-based cameras aren't anything new - mobile phone-based cameras that produce a quality image are. And that is what is happening.

The cameras that are being built into phones just continue to get better and better. Just take a look at the most popular cameras used on social networks and in online photo communities. Flickr.com shows Apple's 5-megapixel iPhone 4 taking a near