A positioning service for hooking up around town

Copenhagen-based Hvem er ibyen (Danish for 'who's in town') has developed a positioning service that should gel with the SMS party generation worldwide.

It’s something that TRENDWATCHING.COM described as part of its PLANNED SPONTANEITY trend, and it’s closely related to Howard Rheingold‘s Smart Mobs: mobile planning and hooking up. Now, as we don’t care much for global positioning satellite system (GPS) induced techno babble, we were pleasantly surprised to spot two new concepts that, while incorporating the latest positioning and messaging technology, offer an easy-to-use, easy to understand service for party-goers and attention-starved individuals. Take Copenhagen-based Hvem er ibyen (Danish for ‘who’s in town’), which has developed a positioning service that should gel with the SMS generation worldwide. What is it? When entering a participating bar, club, coffee shop, lounge or restaurant, Hvem members scan their free ID-card at a terminal, which then automatically notifies a pre-selected group of friends about their whereabouts by sending them a SMS/text message with the card holder’s name, the time and the venue he or she just entered. The same information can also be tracked on a dedicated website, only accessible to the same group of friends. In Hvem’s own words: “They know where you are, and you know where they are – and then it’s easy for you to go party together!”

Opportunities