mBackup : A universal phone directory

Idea: Every one of us goes through an experience where you either lose your phone or it gets stolen or your phone becomes unusable when you need it the most. Cost of the phone is the least concern at that point. What's more inconvenient is the loss of data on your cellphone, especially your contact list which you've built over time. You can keep a copy in sync with your cellphone either on your computer or on physical notepad! Keeping the contacts in sync is an annoying task, and so is restoring them on your new device. How about a facility in your cellphone to backup your contacts (and possibly other data) on a remote server. Now you can access not only your voice mail but also your contact list from any phone around the world. Isn't that just convenient? Once you have all the data online, restoring it on a new device becomes easy and so does sharing it.

Reward: Once you have all the data online, restoring it on a new device becomes easy and so does sharing it across any number of cellphones.

Bonus: With all the phone directories online, (and other anti-terror organizations) can have tighter control over global communication!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

When I read your post, I wondered what about my privacy. What if my online account gets hacked? But then I figured all the cellphone service providers carry a lot of your communication data online anyway, and if the account gets hacked, your privacy is breached. In a way, your scheme doesn't seem to pose any more of privacy concerns than there already are. May be you should think about an idea to attack those concerns.

Good luck.

Meenakshi said...

The "syncing" that you mention is an Apple concept.
Yes it would be rather nice to have that information stored and handy.
I am aware that when your cell stops functioning, you can get your service provider to transfer that information to your new cell, with a small fee.
Your idea makes sense when one loses the cellphone.
Interesting concept.

Bhavesh said...

Not only when one loses the cellphone, when you are on an international trip and your cellphone is not with you, you should be able to use any public phone and access your cellphone directory. I believe that serves a greater purpose.