subject: Dogs With Phone Numbers [print this page] It could only happen in Finland, where mobile-phone usage is so common that it would not be at all surprising if children were born with one of the gadgets soldered to their ears.
This is after all, the home of the world's biggest producer of mobile phones, Nokia (nyse: NOK - news - people ). But it took some creative thinking from Finland's other mobile-phone producer, Benefon, to get man's best friend in on the wireless act. This hunting season, some of Finland's trendiest hunting dogs will be sporting their own wireless phones. We are not making this up.
Combining a wireless phone with a global positioning system (GPS) chipset, Benefon has teamed up with a firm called Pointer Systems, which specializes in technologies for tracking people, animals and vehicles. The result is a wireless phone that can be strapped to the back of a hunting dog, sending the dog's location back to its master while tracking hunting prey. The hunter can also dial up the dog's phone to give verbal commands. It can also let the hunter listen to the dog's bark, which can vary depending on what kind of animal the dog is tracking.
But the key feature is keeping track of the dog's movements. Once a dog sets out after an animal, hunters often have trouble finding it and end up relying on the dog's ability to find its way back. The GPS electronics in the dog's harness relay its coordinates back to a handheld device that displays a map showing the dog's relative position within five meters to the hunter. It can also display the position of other hunters in the party.
At this point it seems only to be available in Finland, though the company expects to expand the product to other European markets eventually. But it's not clear how well it would work in other markets, like the U.S. The phone system is based on the global system for mobile communications (GSM), which is the wireless phone standard across all of Europe. And while there are GSM mobile-phone carriers in the U.S., among them T-Mobile (formerly Voicestream), Cingular Wireless and AT&T Wireless (nyse: T - news - people ), systems in Europe use a different variation of the GSM technology from what is used in the U.S.
Plus, as anyone who's ever tried to use their mobile phone in the backcountry already knows, wireless towers are all too rare in the unpopulated areas frequented by hunters. It would be difficult--if not nearly impossible--to get a phone signal in most hunting areas.
But you never know what other ideas for wireless products may spring from this concept. Why not create a phone/GPS combination for suburban dogs with a habit of running around the neighborhood chasing rabbits or mail carriers. Simply track them down by GPS or call them up to say its suppertime. And how long will it be before cats demand equal wireless time?
Maybe the companies that make up the wireless industry have been thinking the wrong way about spurring their unit sales back to life. Every quarter they complain about slumping handset sales. Could it be the next wireless killer app will lie with customers who don't even have hands?
