It’s old news that mobile phones have moved beyond a device that simply allows people to talk: Text messaging, mobile Internet, games, and streaming entertainment are booming, and the possibilities for other innovative mobile applications are only limited by our imagination, because the technology is developing so quickly. Imagine, for example, a cell phone that accepts biometric data transmitted from a secure database, which can be used to verify identity and allow secure, safe payment options, or gives you a fast pass to skip long security lines at the airport. Or, imagine a mobile application that can prompt you with the names and backgrounds and locations of people in a meeting room, or a conference hall.
Some startup companies developing innovative mobile applications include:
Car Harbor, a startup company still in development, is going to solve a very common problem of finding a parking space in a crowded city:
If you have a parking spot that you know you don’t need (like a driveway, during the working hours when you know you will be away from home), you can enter it into the network along with a price. People looking for a spot in a neighborhood can use their mobile phones to find local spots, and pay straight for it from their account.
Car Harbor will launch first in San Francisco, and then roll out to other cities. Craig Newmark (founder of Craigslist) is an advisor to the company. [Thanks, Mike Arrington]
World Tracker, a UK based company, can track the location of any GSM mobile phone with accuracy between 50 and 500 meters. Simply enter in the number you want to track and mobile location will appear in a Google Maps-based interface. Privacy advocates may not be appeased by the fact the first time the mobile user has to respond to a text message to activate tracking, because there is an easy and obvious enough workaround, if you want to track somebody without their knowledge. The company has plans to expand to markets beyond the UK, including the US. [Thanks, Engadget]
BillMonk is another company with a clever mobile application. When you go out to dinner with friends and they each owe you $20, and you need to keep track of who owes who what over time, Billmonk can help you do it from your mobile phone. Text 60×3 to Billmonk and it’ll automatically create an entry that says your friends owe you $20 each. [Thanks, Scobleizer]
Another innovative application for cell phones is mobile dating, which has been popular for years in Japan, and starting to gain traction in the United States.
Match.com and other dating sites have an option for you to view profiles, and send text messages via a mobile phone, but Small Planet takes mobile dating to new heights. The company has developed a way for its compatible users to be alerted when they are within range of each other.
“You could have Bluetooth running and then when you walk into a bar, it’s automatically sensing and using the program and serving up pictures and profiles, and if someone meets your criteria, they can meet you.” said Hunter Heaney, chief executive officer of SmallPlanet. “It’s about getting past that point of pain of going up to talk to someone at a bar.” [Thanks, SF Gate]
