"A mother will be able to know if her child is at school or at home, and a group of friends will be able to find each other on an outing, all in real time", explained Paulo Dimas, who is responsible for the product.

Individual privacy is safeguarded, as users can choose with whom they share their personal details and current location, and for how long.

"People can become invisible", he said.

During initial stages only a select number of mobile phones will be compatible with the technology, includ ing the Blackberry, though Timebi is in negotiations with other makes, such as Nokia.

"It is the highest sold brand of mobiles. We are working with them to make this facility available [for mobiles of this brand] from the third trimester of this year".

Timebi's pioneering project represents an investment of around €344,000, €189,000 of which will be footed by EU funds, under a National Strategic Reference allowance.

"This will allow Wizi to be internationalised. We are doing all our marketing in English and we will place the product on a global market. Our objective is to compete with other companies from around the world", says Paulo Dimas.

Timbi predicts this new type of technology to eventually gain a user-base that is greater than that of GPS systems.

See more on website:
URL
http://www.wizi.com

The Portugal News