MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2010, BARCELONA – Cork company Yougetitback.com has struck a deal with a major European mobile operator to put its security software on the company’s forthcoming smart phones.
Yougetitback.com has developed an intelligent technology that helps reunite missing laptops and smart phones with their owners.
The company’s technology contains software that allows people who find missing laptops or phones to get in touch with their owner, or, if the device is stolen, allows the device to be locked down and tracked via GPS.
The latest version of the technology is smart enough to take a picture using a laptop camera of a user using a missing device and posts the picture as unmovable wallpaper. This subtly acts as a novel way of encouraging people to return the device.
The Enterprise Ireland and venture-capital backed company has also struck an alliance with insurance firm Ace European Group.
“Seventy-five per cent of things found by people are returned,” explained Wayne Morgan of YouGetitback.com. “Our technology has a ‘click here if found’ feature that can be installed on notebooks and smart phones.”
Morgan said that Yougetitback’s software is now available as an app on Symbian, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and in April on Google Android devices.
“We’re working on a version for the Apple Mac that will lock it down if the device is lost or stolen,” explained co-founder Paul Prendergast.
“Our technology effectively gives the device an electronic ID and a major European telecoms operator will be installing it as a security product on smart phones sold via its online store,” Prendergast said.
On laptops, the technology can figure out if the device is in the wrong hands, makes a siren noise that encourages them to face forward and the device takes a picture of them so they can be identified. The technology is also smart enough to destroy files so data won’t be stolen.
Prendergast said that future versions of the technology will make strong use of GPS and the company is currently at work on a Windows 7 app.
“We’ve had interest from Asia, Russia, India and other countries. We are only scratching the surface of what this technology can do,” Prendergast added.
By John Kennedy
Photo: Paul Prendergast, co-founder of Yougetitback, with Steve Laird, Ace European Group, Isobel Cuau, Ace European and Wayne Morgan, Yougetitback.com at the Enterprise Ireland stand at the GSM Association Mobile World Congress in Barcelona
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