Fotolia Instant app is first to successfully monetise smartphone photos

Fotolia has announced over 50,000 image sales via its Fotolia Instant app, making it by far the most successful platform for selling smartphone photography. Previously only available on iOS, a free Android version was launched today on Google Play.

Fotolia Instant is the first smartphone app to succeed in enabling photographers to sell their smartphone images. Since its launch in October 2013, more than 135,000 images have been uploaded to the "Instant Collection", which is curated to ensure quality. Images from the new collection have already been downloaded more than 50,000 times, demonstrating how quickly buyers have accepted smartphone images to fulfill their need for imagery that can connect with the younger generation.

Fotolia Instant allows any iPhone - and now Android - users to download the app, set up a free account, and upload photos for sale. The app plugs into Fotolia's five million-strong community of image contributors and buyers and proceeds from sales are shared with the photographer, as with Fotolia's other image collections. Over the past nine months, Fotolia Instant has established itself as a convenient way to earn money from smartphone pictures, as well as a market for a new group of photographers, with iconic, fresh and spontaneous mobile photography.

Oleg Tscheltzoff, founder and CEO of Fotolia, said, "The Instant app was an experiment, because we knew mobile photography was a big trend that we couldn't ignore. Now it's a source of fresh new images and sales for Fotolia that has grown far beyond expectations. Finding the 'magic ingredients' to make a marketplace take off is hard, so we're thrilled by its success, and excited to see how the new Android app will boost mobile contributions and sales. Other photographer community sites have announced plans to sell mobile images, but they lack Fotolia's professional selling background and pre-existing audience of millions of image buyers."

Morgan David de Lossy, Head of Mobile at Fotolia adds: "This new generation of mobile photographers enjoys a fresh, youthful, nonchalant approach to commercial photography. Instant embodies the joy of life, urbanity and temporary lifestyle. A brand new iconography is being created. An iconography advertisers crave to reach mobile consumers."

Some of the top-selling images from the Fotolia Instant collection:

http://www.fotolia.com/id/57383640 © samantoniophoto

http://www.fotolia.com/id/62372754 © christianmutter

http://www.fotolia.com/id/62237470 © robinmhl

A selection of Fotolia's Instant collection images can be viewed here.

The Fotolia Instant app for Android is available for free at Google Play.

About Fotolia

Fotolia is a leading provider of royalty-free photos, vectors, illustrations and HD video, and the preferred choice for millions of artists and content creators worldwide. As the first worldwide microstock organisation to offer both crowd-sourced and professional images on one site Fotolia provides its members with quality, reliability, and affordability. Today, Fotolia is over 4.9 million members strong, and spans the globe with websites in 14 languages and offices in 23 countries. With over 29 million files to choose from, Fotolia offers something for everyone on any budget. Fotolia was founded in 2004 in New York City.