i-migo is unveiling the first stage of its new, patented mobile phone security system at Innovate 09 which is being held at the Business Design Centre, Islington, today. Its a Bluetooth, device, much like a key fob, which pairs up with the phone. So long as the key fob and the phone remain within range of each other, nothing happens. But if the phone is taken out of Bluetooth range of the key fob and the connection is lost, it sets off an audible and visible alarm on the key fob, while at the same time locking the handset. Data on the phone is also backed up the i-migo device.
Most Bluetooth devices are about connectivity; we are about loss of connectivity, explains i-migo Managing Director, Saban Demirbasa.
The first version of the device works with Symbian, Blackberry and Windows Mobile handsets, with other platforms to follow.
To mark the unveiling, visitors to i-migos stand can claim a voucher with a free download code to install the software to their phone. Prototypes of the physical i-migo device will be on display at the show, and production is expected to begin early in the New Year, with the devices due to go on sale around April or May, at a price of around 19.99.
According to Home Office figures, over 800,000 mobile phone users are victims of phone theft each year in the UK alone, and it is the UK's fastest growing crime, costing 1.3 billion per year.
i-migo has been able to develop its products as a result of winning the Designing-Out-Crime campaign, an initiative from the Home Offices Design & Technology Alliance against Crime and the Design Council, and supported by the Technology Strategy Board.
i-migo is developing its system in collaboration with its business partners, which currently include Sony Ericsson, Design Council, Technology Strategy Board, You Get It Back, PDD and SVEP.