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A splendid idea for worried parents,

DoCoMo Debuts Phone for Kids

Japanese telecom giant offers phone with alarms, alerts, and GPS features.
November 24, 2005

NTT DoCoMo, the leading Japanese phone company, and its eight subsidiaries have introduced a child-friendly 3G mobile phone with a decidedly child-unfriendly name.
The FOMA SA800i's functions and services are designed to help keep children safe, by informing parents and other caring adults exactly where the child is at any given time.

Parents have the option to sign up for an “imadoco search,” a GPS-driven feature that automatically sends emails to parents revealing their child’s location. These can come at pre-chosen intervals of 15, 30, or 60 minutes, even if the child’s handset is switched off.
To receive immediate attention, the child can sound an alarm of about 100 decibels in times of crisis. The alarm also automatically sends alerts to three numbers.

The alerts provide a voice message at regular intervals until all the parties pick up the phone, and they can only be stopped if a password is entered into the child’s handset.

While the phone introduced on Wednesday is the first instance of a mainstream telecom company designing a child-oriented phone, a company based in Chicago, Firefly Mobile, launched a kid’s phone in February (see Firefly Phone for Kids Ships).

Five Keys

Privately held Firefly won the 2006 CES Innovation Award, presented by the Consumer Electronics Association and the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show. With just five keys instead of a regular dial pad, parents use a private PIN to program up to 22 outgoing numbers into the phone, including speed-dial keys for Mom and Dad.

Kids place calls by pressing the keys for “mom,” “dad,” or “phone book,” and then “send.” An optional call-screening feature allows the phone to accept incoming calls from only those numbers programmed into the phone book.

The phone has no text messaging, no camera, and no ability to access the Internet.

The idea of producing phones for kids hasn’t been without controversy. Child advocacy groups have even testified in the U.S. Congress about their fears that the telecom industry is exploiting children as it searches for new markets (see Kid Cell Phones Raise Concern).
NTT DoCoMo’s phone for kids also has a direct call function. When the user presses the call button, contact information for up to five registered people pops up on the screen, making it easier to call or e-mail them.
While the price of the SA800i is not immediately known, the Firefly costs $99.99 and comes preloaded with 30 minutes of talk time and a couple of accessories.

Firefly phones are currently sold in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and South America, while the SA800i is newly launched only in Japan.
http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=14616&hed=DoCoMo%20Debuts%20Phone%20for%20Kids

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