- An Austrian telecom firm that offers a GPS (Global Positioning
System) tracer service with each new mobile telephone contract has found
that instead of using it to help to track the handset if lost or stolen,
many purchasers want it to check up on their lovers' whereabouts.
-
-
-
- Maria Rohrmoser, from max.mobil said: "There is
no shortage of people buying the phones and handing them over to their
partners in the hope of checking whether they really are where they say
they are."
-
-
-
- The firm, a subsidiary of the German telecommunications
giant Deutsche Telekom, can barely keep up with demand for the pioneering
new technology since it unveiled the "Friend Finder" service.
-
-
- It works with any of the new generation mobile telephones
and indicates a person's position within a few yards. Ms Rohrmoser, said:
"Gone are the days of excuses about being in a shop or in the bath."
-
-
-
- The Friend Finder service takes advantage of the same
tracking technology used by police to monitor prisoners on home release
and works as long as the telephone is switched on.
-
-
-
- Max.mobil says that it developed the idea for the Friend
Finder service while working on technology that would allow customers to
locate their nearest chemists and theatres.
-
-
-
- When the telephone user moves, updates can be sent straight
to the handset of the jealous lover. Ms Rohrmoser added: "We are finding
through market research that it is mostly boyfriends and girlfriends wanting
to keep an eye on things who are interested.
-
-
-
- "It isn't just about snooping on each other. You
could always find each other in a crowd or surprise your partner for a
date. Ultimately, this is a community tool for young people to use on a
social basis - to meet close ones more easily."
-
-
-
- After the success of the Austrian scheme, the company
intends to introduce Friend Finder in the rest of Europe later in the year.
-
- http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/09/09/wfone09.xml
|
