Varioptic in The Register

The Register: Varioptic marketing manager Philippe Ruffin told El Reg: "It's much more reliable than mechanical alternatives. It can focus on a shorter distance - to about 5cm - and it's much faster [to focus] than a mechanical lens. On an ordinary module it will work at 800ms but we can tune that to 500ms."

Ruffin said the company's factory in Shanghai has capacity to produce 100,000 lenses a month and its plant in Lyon another 25,000. He said the company expects to take a large share of autofocus camera phones - usually above three megapixels, but also expects it as a way for handset makers to improve two-megapixel or lower-resolution devices.

"The next big story you will hear from us will be a handset deal," he said.