Lost or stolen phones can reveal whereabouts

If you lose your mobile phone, or worse still, if it is stolen, wouldn't you like the phone to be able to tell you where it is, and what it is being asked to do?

The software now exists that will achieve these things. It is called "Track Me," and the mobile application, developed by a group of Mahidol University students, has won a Gold Award at this year's Samart Innovation Awards. 

A member of the development team, Suleeporn Sujichantararat, said the Track Me engine could be installed in mobile phones by their owners, so the devices could be found if they were lost.

Mobile phone users have to download Track Me and install it, then choose a password in order to pre-program the phone.

If the phone is lost, the owner uses another mobile phone to transmit the password by short message system (SMS) to the lost phone. This activates the Track Me program. The lost device then automatically sends information back to its owner via another pre-assigned mobile phone. The information includes its International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI), SIM Card ID, cell ID and the latest phone usage record.

If the phone is stolen, and even if it is shut down, the program embedded inside the device does not stop working. Once a thief turns the phone on, the device will automatically check its IMEI against the mobile phone number, and if the phone number has been changed it will ask for a password. If the incorrect password is entered three times, the device's keypad will be automatically locked and it will immediately send its IEMI, SIM Card ID, cell ID and the latest phone usage record back to the owner via another pre-assigned mobile phone, to reveal its whereabouts.

The Samart Innovation Awards follow an annual software contest arranged by Samart Corporation and its partners, Software Park Thailand, the Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa), the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (Nectec), Microsoft (Thailand) and Sun Microsystems (Thailand).

Track Me won the Gold Award and a prize of Bt100,000. This year's competition attracted 225 entrants. Only 12 teams passed to the final round.

Samart Corporation chief executive Charoenrat Vilailak said the contest aimed to encourage students to develop innovative mobile applications as well as coaching them in software development and preparing them to enter the commercial world after graduation.

"Next year, the Samart Innovation Awards will be expanded to include more categories. We will not only focus on mobile applications, but also on e-learning and enterprise solutions such as customer relationship management (CRM) and geographic information systems (GIS). The target group will also be expanded from students to others working in the industry. Some of these applications will have potential for future commercialization," Charoenrat said.