Hotel replaces room keys with mobile phones

According to Associated Press, "visitors to Stockholm hotel will be able to use mobile phones instead of keys to unlock the doors to their rooms." How it works is that the hotel will lend repeat customers hand-held mobile phones so that they can check in before arrival. These hand-held mobile phones can also be used as keys to hotel rooms. The mobile can activate a scanner-like sensor instead of having a card-like key originally used to swipe open the suite doors.

This new technology is called Near Field Communication and envisioned for ticketing and card payment. This new radio technology is expected to be built into smart phones and will be a new addition in the mobile phone market. Although currently the use of these mobile phone keys are on trial.

"The head of Assa Abloy's mobile keys division, Daniel Berg, acknowledged that participants in the trial may find it cumbersome to have an extra mobile phone." I agree with this. I don't understand what is the point of using a cell phone when a room key is sufficient enough. I don't see the problem with having a room key and carrying around and then having to swipe it to open the hotel room. People are always looking to modernize and update technology in the present time, but sometimes some upgrades are not necessary. According to the article, it said that this new technology will be adapted into smart phones, but I know a lot of people who do not own such advanced cellphones and are still using cell phones without touch screens. In fact, they prefer their phones to stay old-fashioned with key pads instead. I think by introducing this new mobile technology for hotel rooms may be trying to change modern technology too quickly and too fast.

In the article, it said "hotels can continue giving key cards to visitors who don't have the new technology in their phones." Even though the new technology is currently on testing trial, it needs be sent back to the lab so it can be revised more. Not everyone is a smart phone consumer. What the developers of the new mobile technology are aiming at, are at the upper class people who can afford the smart phones. Instead, they should consider that there is a significantly larger amount of population of people who are unable to afford smart phones and who do not want to upgrade their mobiles. A key card seems simple enough since it is provided from the hotel itself.

References:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39976610/ns/technology_and_science-wireless/