Lovegety

Last updated

Lovegety was a proximity matchmaking device introduced in Feb. 1998 in Japan by Erfolg Co., Ltd., which allowed users to find potential dates that matched their personal preferences in the vicinity. Over 1,300,000 of these units were sold in Japan for the price of 2,980 yen per unit. [1]

Contents

It was the first proximity dating device, and "the first commercial attempt to move introduction systems away from the desktop and into reality". [2] As such, it was an important precursor for other location-based social networking applications such as Nokia's Bluetooth-based Nokia Sensor, and more recent geolocation-based social applications such as StreetSpark. [3]

There were three modes users could pre-select on the Lovegety device which reflected the mood they were currently in and hence what kind of partner they were looking for. These included “let’s just chat”, “let’s go sing some karaoke” and “get2” or "looking for love" modes. The devices could be set to interact with each other when a potential mate was within close proximity (15 feet) or to simply notify a user of others who are currently set to the same mood.

Howard Rheingold reflects on technologies such as the Lovegety in his work and urges consumers to think carefully about the social implications of these technologies. Rheingold states that "loss of privacy is perhaps the most obvious shadow side of technological cooperation systems". [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

Location-based service (LBS) is a general term denoting software services which use geographic data and information to provide services or information to users. LBS can be used in a variety of contexts, such as health, indoor object search, entertainment, work, personal life, etc. Commonly used examples of location-based services include navigation software, social networking services, location-based advertising, and tracking systems. LBS can also include mobile commerce when taking the form of coupons or advertising directed at customers based on their current location. LBS also includes personalized weather services and even location-based games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smartphone</span> Handheld mobile device

A smartphone, often simply called a phone, is a mobile device that combines the functionality of a traditional mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multimedia playback and streaming. Smartphones have built-in cameras, GPS navigation, and support for various communication methods, including voice calls, text messaging, and internet-based messaging apps.

A ringtone is the sound made by a telephone to indicate an incoming telephone call. Originally referring to the sound of electromechanical striking of bells or gongs, the term refers to any sound by any device alerting of an incoming call.

i-mode Japanese mobile internet service

NTT DoCoMo's i-mode is a mobile internet service popular in Japan. Unlike Wireless Application Protocols, i-mode encompasses a wider variety of internet standards, including web access, e-mail, and the packet-switched network that delivers the data. i-mode users also have access to other various services such as: sports results, weather forecasts, games, financial services, and ticket booking. Content is provided by specialised services, typically from the mobile carrier, which allows them to have tighter control over billing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Near-field communication</span> Radio communication established between devices by bringing them into proximity

Near-field communication (NFC) is a set of communication protocols that enables communication between two electronic devices over a distance of 4 centimetres (1.6 in) or less. NFC offers a low-speed connection through a simple setup that can be used for the bootstrapping of capable wireless connections. Like other proximity card technologies, NFC is based on inductive coupling between two electromagnetic coils present on a NFC-enabled device such as a smartphone. NFC communicating in one or both directions uses a frequency of 13.56 MHz in the globally available unlicensed radio frequency ISM band, compliant with the ISO/IEC 18000-3 air interface standard at data rates ranging from 106 to 848 kbit/s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wireless Application Protocol</span> Technical standard for accessing information over a mobile wireless network

Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a now obsolete technical standard for accessing information over a mobile wireless network. Introduced in 1999, WAP allowed at launch users with compatible mobile devices to browse content such as news, weather and sports scores provided by mobile network operators, specially designed for the limited capabilities of a mobile device. The Japanese i-mode system offered another major competing wireless data standard.

Mobile device management (MDM) is the administration of mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablet computers, and laptops. MDM is usually implemented with the use of a third-party product that has management features for particular vendors of mobile devices. Though closely related to Enterprise Mobility Management and Unified Endpoint Management, MDM differs slightly from both: unlike MDM, EMM includes mobile information management, BYOD, mobile application management and mobile content management, whereas UEM provides device management for endpoints like desktops, printers, IoT devices, and wearables as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ovi (Nokia)</span> Former Internet services by Nokia

Ovi by Nokia was the brand for Nokia's Internet services. The Ovi services could be used from a mobile device, computer or via the web. Nokia focused on five key service areas: Games, Maps, Media, Messaging and Music. Nokia's aim with Ovi was to include third party developers, such as operators and third-party services like Yahoo's Flickr photo site. With the announcement of Ovi Maps Player API, Nokia started to evolve their services into a platform, enabling third parties to make use of Nokia's Ovi services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Here Technologies</span> Netherlands-based mapping data company

Here Technologies is a Dutch multinational group specialized in mapping technologies, location data and related automotive services to individuals and companies. It is majority-owned by a consortium of German automotive companies and American semiconductor company Intel whilst other companies also own minority stakes. Its roots date back to U.S.-based Navteq in 1985, which was acquired by Finland-based Nokia in 2007. Here is currently based in The Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nokia E72</span> Cell phone model

The Nokia E72 is a mobile phone from the Nokia Eseries range manufactured in Finland. The Nokia E72 was announced on June 15, 2009 at the Nokia Connections 2009 event in Singapore. It is the successor to the Nokia E71 and is based on a similar design and form factor, and offers a similar feature set. The Nokia E72 is a business-oriented phone and has standard features including mobile email, calendar and instant messaging among many others with its Symbian-based S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 operating system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Symbian</span> Discontinued mobile operating system

Symbian is a discontinued mobile operating system (OS) and computing platform designed for smartphones. It was originally developed as a proprietary software OS for personal digital assistants in 1998 by the Symbian Ltd. consortium. Symbian OS is a descendant of Psion's EPOC, and was released exclusively on ARM processors, although an unreleased x86 port existed. Symbian was used by many major mobile phone brands, like Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and above all by Nokia. It was also prevalent in Japan by brands including Fujitsu, Sharp and Mitsubishi. As a pioneer that established the smartphone industry, it was the most popular smartphone OS on a worldwide average until the end of 2010, at a time when smartphones were in limited use, when it was overtaken by iOS and Android. It was notably less popular in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nokia N8</span> 2010 smartphone model manufactured by Nokia

The Nokia N8 is a touchscreen-based smartphone developed by Nokia. Announced on 27 April 2010, the Nokia N8 was the first device to run on the Symbian^3 mobile operating system and it was the company's flagship device for the year. It was released on 30 September 2010 at the Nokia Online Store before being released in markets around the world on 1 October 2010. There were two versions made, the N8 and the N8-00. The N8 was made for Vodafone and locked to its networks, and the N8-00 was made by Microsoft and open network.

Nokia Point & Find is a mobile application, which lets you point your Nokia smartphone camera at objects and images you want to know more about, to find more information. It is a visual search technology that uses the phone's camera to obtain information by using image recognition to identify objects, images and places in the physical world in real-time. For example, one can use the application to find information on movies by pointing the camera at movie posters and then view reviews, or find tickets at nearby theaters. Its uses include city landmark tagging, barcode scanning for comparison shopping and 2D barcode scanning and finding information related to products and services based on content provided by third party publishers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nokia E6</span> Mobile phone

The Nokia E6-00 is a mobile phone running the Symbian^3 operating system. It supersedes the Nokia E72 as the new Symbian business mobility solution from Nokia following its announcement on 12 April 2011. It shipped with the new "Symbian Anna" version of Symbian^3, and originally retailed for 340 euros before taxes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nokia N9</span> Smartphone model

The Nokia N9 is a flagship smartphone developed by Nokia, running on the Linux-based MeeGo mobile operating system. Announced in June 2011 and released in September, it was the first and only device from Nokia with MeeGo, partly because of the company's partnership with Microsoft announced that year. It was initially released in three colors: black, cyan and magenta, before a white version was announced at Nokia World 2011.

An app store, also called an app marketplace or app catalog, is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the computer itself. Complex software designed for use on a personal computer, for example, may have a related app designed for use on a mobile device. Today apps are normally designed to run on a specific operating system—such as the contemporary iOS, macOS, Windows, Linux or Android—but in the past mobile carriers had their own portals for apps and related media content.

Microsoft mobile services are a set of proprietary mobile services created specifically for mobile devices; they are typically offered through mobile applications and mobile browser for Windows Phone platforms, BREW, and Java. Microsoft's mobile services are typically connected with a Microsoft account and often come preinstalled on Microsoft's own mobile operating systems while they are offered via various means for other platforms. Microsoft started to develop for mobile computing platforms with the launch of Windows CE in 1996 and later added Microsoft's Pocket Office suite to their Handheld PC line of PDAs in April 2000. From December 2014 to June 2015, Microsoft made a number of corporate acquisitions, buying several of the top applications listed in Google Play and the App Store including Acompli, Sunrise Calendar, Datazen, Wunderlist, Echo Notification Lockscreen, and MileIQ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lumia imaging apps</span> Imaging applications for Lumia devices

Lumia imaging apps are imaging applications by Microsoft Mobile and formerly by Nokia for Lumia devices built on the technology of Scalado. The Lumia imaging applications were notably all branded with "Nokia" in front of their names, but after Microsoft acquired Nokia's devices and services business the Nokia branding was superseded with "Lumia", and often updates included nothing but name changes, but for the Lumia Camera this included a new wide range of feature additions. Most of the imaging applications are developed by the Microsoft Lund division. As part of the release of Windows 10 Mobile and the integration of Lumia imaging features into the Windows Camera and Microsoft Photos applications some of these applications stopped working in October 2015.

Nearby was a location-based social networking service launched in June 2010 and discontinued in September 2021 following a significant data breach. The service was created by Brian Hamachek and was known for leveraging the GPS technology in mobile devices to help users discover and interact with others located nearby, although explicitly not intended for dating, dating was the primary use case for the app.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Here WeGo</span> Web mapping and navigation service since 2012

Here WeGo is a web mapping and satellite navigation software, operated by HERE Technologies and available on the Web and mobile platforms. It is based on HERE's location data platform, providing its in-house data, which includes satellite views, traffic data, and other location services. Maps are updated every two or three months.

References

  1. Lovegety was planned and manufactured by Japanese venture company. Makoto Miyanouchi, Takeya Takafuji, Harumi Hibiki was core member of Lovegety project. Takeya Takafuji planning director said that" Lovegety opened mobile communication world using mobile devices." Lookin' For Love in New Cyber Spaces
  2. "Social Serendipity: Mobilizing Social Software" Authors: Nathan Eagle MIT Media Laboratory, Alex Pentland MIT Media Laboratory Published in: IEEE Pervasive Computing Journal Volume 4 Issue 2, April 2005 Archived 2007-07-01 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Mashable.com - StreetSpark: Foursquare for Dating, retrieved 4/17/2012
  4. Rheingold, Howard (2002) Smart Mobs: the Next Social Revolution, Perseus, Cambridge, Massachusetts