Get In BEDD With Strangers
As mentioned what seems like moments ago, Blue-ing is growing in popularity, though in very small disparate systems across the globe. Adding another straw to the camel's back, we have BEDD. BEDD is a living, functioning system that is slowly starting to take shape in Singapore that works very similarly to the Mobule system.
The software automatically searches for and exchanges profiles with other phones that come within a 20-metre (65 ft) radius. Matched users are given each other's contact details.
"I've become close with people that I've never known before, built up a close clique of friends whom I chill out with, sleep over at their homes and go for late suppers with," said Lim, 19.
Joe McCarthy adds some more insight to this phenomena by digging up a more detailed comment about the service:
For the end-users, BEDD costs only S$0.98 per month and offers a full menu of BEDD-functions: BEDDmates - searches automatically for friendship or dating; BEDDbay - searches automatically for items to buy, sell and trade; BEDDtalk - allows users to send free SMS with Bluetooth range either person to person or broadcast to a group simultaneously; BEDDbuddies - alerts users when their buddies or family are close by; BEDDshare - superdistribution of the software where users can share with each other; and BEDDfish - allows users to send Bluetooth messages to any Bluetooth enabled phone.
Source: Hardware Zone via Gumption, "BEDD: Multidimensional Social Software for Bluetooth Phones"
I'm most intrigued not by the technology per se, as it's really not reached anything close to a wide enough base to be useful (in a meaningful manner), but moreso in the philosophy that drives this product. There are two difference that I think worthy of note:
Autonomy - Unlike Mobule and many of the other services, the BEDD service uses a local application to provide its processing and filtering. This has some pros and some cons, of course. There will be inherently different kinds of filtering that are allowed since there is less processing power and data available, generally, on these portable devices than on server farms. Of course, this is almost not an issue when the context is considered. It's important to note that we are connecting passing parties, people in motion with minimal contact. This creates a need for efficiency, the kind that passes as little as possible between devices.
Application - While the majority of the mobile social networking systems are focused on forming social relationships, the BEDD system has some early applications that encourage/enable financial relationships (the sale or barter of things). Is this a potential expansion point for things like EBay?
Peter Caputa asks a very good question: "BUT, DOES ANYONE USE THESE FANCY SERVICES?". I think until we see the interfaces for cellular phones improved to the point that there is easy utilization of these devices, widespread deployment of Bluetooth components to mobile, pocket, and related devices, and standardization of a Bluetooth protocol (there are many formats and security issues to consider), we're still going to see pre-dominantly small communities for the near future.