Most of us who write about mobile are constantly searching for the next killer application. You know, that thing that folks just can’t live without. You’d think it would be something useful that would make our lives better, safer, or longer but it is, more often than not, a lot closer to Flappy Birds.
This definitely says something about our race that I find disturbing. So it was with great interest I saw Nokia’s announcement today of Treasure Tag I thought this could be it.
You see, not a week goes by that I run off in a rush to a meeting I’m running late for and am well down the street when it occurs to me I left my phone on my desk, charger, or even in the wrong car. Like a lot of folks I live by my phone and get cold chills when I reach for my belt, where I keep it, only to find it is gone.
Treasure Tag
Now Nokia isn’t the first to release a device tracking product. Honestly, I’ve tried a ton of them over the years and most really don’t work well. However, Nokia appears to be the first to launch a product integrated with your phone which should keep you from leaving it behind.
It uses Bluetooth to set the range and NFC to configure the device. This last feature is particularly nice because if you’ve ever tried to set up a Bluetooth sensor the process seems to entail multiple attempts ending with the ritual sacrifice of a chicken or the device itself (I find jumping on it a few times reduces my frustration significantly). Chickens the world over will appreciate the ease of getting Treasure Tag to work.
It isn’t just for your phone either. If you have a nasty habit of leaving other things behind you can place up to four tags on things you are likely to lose from a purse (we have a hunt for the purse game at our house that occurs every time we are running late for a dinner), a jacket (granted I get a lot of nice new jackets without it), a computer bag/backpack, keys, or maybe even your spouse or kid. My grandfather could have used this as he was often asking me to get out of the car to open the gate and then driving through and off forgetting I was there. (Granted I was kind of a pill at that age and this might not have been accidental).
Wrapping Up
I actually think we’ll increasingly be using our phone’s various sensors and geo-location capabilities to track a lot of things. Where our kids take the family car, where our spouses and pets go when we aren’t around, and as we age, even track better where we’ve been, though it would likely be a greater help to keep track of why we went someplace. In any case if you, your spouse, or your kids are constantly forgetting things Treasure Tag could be the killer app for you. I’d text my friends about it but damned if I can figure out where I’ve left my phone. (They didn’t actually send me one to try out). It’s coming in April for just under $30 for Nokia phone users.
