It appears that Eye-Fi, the makers of WiFi enabled memory cards is getting a reasonable bit of financial help from Japan’s largest mobile operator NTT DoCoMo, as word is the Japanese operator has announced they are to invest 14 million US dollars in Eye-Fi and as such will offer other services based on Eye-Fi tech.

According to an article over on IT World, included in the services is one that would auto-send images taken via digital cameras to its digital photo frames, something that can also show images taken via mobile phones on their network.

Apparently Eye-Fi cards are become popular due to their ability to wirelessly auto-sync with other devices and download images from digital cameras although Eye-Fi has stiff competition from camera makers who are building the feature right into their hardware.

Word is NTT DoCoMo will be the first to employ the new method of configuring Eye-Fi memory cards using only a smartphone, a process that previously required the use of a computer.

Apparently Eye-Fi is currently contesting a new spec for SD cards with WiFi proposed by the SD Association, one that Eye-Fi says infringes on their intellectual property.

NTT DoCoMo’s investment is part of a US$20 million funding round for Mountain View California based Eye-Fi with previous investors being TransLink Capital, Opus Capital and Shasta Ventures.

Image courtesy of en.gigazine.