Are you prone to losing your wallet? Do you use an fairly recent iOS device? If so, Phone Halo have a solution for you that they have dubbed “Wallet TrackR”. It consists of a super-thin Bluetooth device (reckoned to be the thinnest Bluetooth device in the world, as a matter of fact) about the size of a credit card that you insert into your wallet (or anything else you want tracking). It then uses Bluetooth on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to alert you if the phone and the device are separated and logs the GPS co-ordinates of this last separation. The card itself is powered by a cell battery, and Phone Halo reckon it should last up to 18 months on a single cell. You can also make your wallet “ring”, which could be good fun…
As with a lot of recently-announced smaller scale hardware projects, Wallet TrackR is to be crowd funded. As it is in the opening stages of the funding effort, you can pick up the device for just $19 at time of writing, a saving from the list price of $49.95. For us non-Americans, it will cost an additional $7 with shipping, which comes out at around £16.31 for those of us here in the UK. For more information, check out the demo video below:
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You can reserve your Wallet Trackr at their website. Press release follows…
Phone Halo Launches WalletTrackR™ to Prevent the “Lost Wallet”
The Company that helped bring the first successful key tracking solution to market launches a new, crowd-funded project to help eliminate wallet loss.
SANTA BARBARA, Calif., – Wallet TrackR™ from Phone Halo promises to put an end to one of the most annoying problems experienced by people around the world . . . reaching for their wallet and discovering it’s not there.
Combining the latest in Bluetooth® Smart Low Energy technology with an easy-to-use iPhone app, Wallet TrackR™ helps users keep track of their wallet. The solution consists of the world’s thinnest Bluetooth device, about the size of a credit card, that can be placed in almost any men’s or women’s wallet as well as a companion iPhone app. Whenever the wallet and iPhone become separated, the user is alerted and the app records the GPS coordinates of where the phone or wallet was left.
In a recent study by USA Today, losing a wallet was deemed more stressful than losing one’s luggage, boarding pass, laptop, or tablet.* “We all know how stressful and time consuming it can be to lose a wallet,” says Chris Herbert, CEO of Phone Halo. “You spend hours cancelling credit cards, getting a new driver’s license, health care cards, membership cards, plus those other irreplaceable items. That time alone is probably more valuable than any cash left in the wallet.”
The Wallet TrackR™ utilizes the latest technology called Bluetooth Smart or “Bluetooth Low Energy.” Unlike older Bluetooth devices, Bluetooth Smart uses a simple coin cell battery that can last for more than a full year. The product is compatible with the Apple iPhone 4S, iPhone 5 the 3rd generation iPad, and the latest iPod Touch.
Though the Wallet TrackR will fit into most wallets, Phone Halo enlisted Franc Fernandez, designer of the infamous Lady Gaga “Meat Dress,” to design several wallets that are as fashionable as they are functional to accompany the Wallet TrackR device. “I have always been interested in the evolving partnership between fashion and technology,” says noted fashion designer, Franc Fernandez. “This project represents a great opportunity for me to achieve a balance between cutting edge design and cutting edge technology.”
“Never again will someone have to face the embarrassment of being out with friends or on a date and having to confess they forgot their wallet,” said Phone Halo co-founder, Christian Smith. “What’s exciting here is that we are helping consumers to prevent loss or misplacement in the first place by alerting them before they have stepped away from a valuable item.”
About ‘Crowd-Funding’
Phone Halo has set up a ‘crowd funding’ website to support the Wallet TrackR product. Customers who are interested in purchasing the Wallet TrackR can pledge their support for the project by registering their advance order or ‘pledge’ for one of the devices or for a package that includes the device and a Franc Fernandez designed wallet. Like other crowd-funded projects, the Wallet TrackR™ has set a minimum funding goal. Since the project must meet the funding minimum in order to move into the production phase, ‘backers’ are protected from funding a failed project. The development team at Phone Halo has a proven track record of success, having previously brought other Bluetooth tracking devices to market, including the Cobra Tag (www.CobraTag.com), which launched in 2011 as one of the first devices capable of tracking keys and other essentials from a smartphone.
More information about the new Wallet TrackR™ project can be found at http://www.wallettrackr.com.
*Source: TNS for Intel survey of 2,500 adults. May 9-13, 2012.