Josep just sent me a link to an interesting piece of software that is scheduled to be released soon. The software, PhoneBAK BB, is developed by a company called Bak2u and is supposed to help you get a lost or stolen phone back. The idea behind the software is that when a person finds or steals your phone and puts in his SIM card it will automatically send you a SMS message from that phone. The software is not yet released but will be very soon. It will cost a hefty $29.90 when it comes out which will be very hard to justify.
Personally I have quite a few reservations about the software. I usually try to delay judgment until I have tried the software but I just could not resist on this one.
- First of all is the software meant to stop thieves or just help people who lost their phone get it returned. If it is meant for lost phones why would an upstanding citizen replace your SIM with his if he means to return it? Also if it is meant for thieves why would they not just wipe the phone to get rid of the software?
- If the software is meant to help upstanding citizens return your device why not use a simpler tag such as an ID label from BoomerangIt, StuffBak, or Trackitback.
- Third of all, PhoneBAK does not protect your information on your phone in any way so you would probably just be better off putting a secure password on the BlackBerry itself which is free.
- Last of all, what exactly is the thief phone number going to help you with. In NYC the police would laugh at you if you tried to get them to run down a cellphone robber.
If you are really so worried about security get on a Hosted BES and put all of your BlackBerry security settings on lock down by using a password and content encryption. That way you have remote wipe options and an IT policy to protect your precious information.
Ronen Halevy ( View Profile) - Posts: