Intelligent mobiles: New mobile design combines phone with keys

As mobile phones take on an increasingly important role in our lives, devices are combining everyday tasks with handsets to create highly convenient portable devices. A new collaboration between Nissan, NTT Docomo and Sharp hopes to solve the problem of lost car keys, with a handset that combines a phone and a device for unlocking cars.

The mobile is no longer just a communications tool between individuals, but between retailers and consumers. In Japan, incorporating everyday processes into a handset has been a trend for many years, while in the UK. London authorities continue to tinker with the idea of putting Underground Oyster cards into mobiles. Recent research suggests that payment by mobile phones could even save the ailing convenience store sector.