Losing Your Cell Phone Can Mean Losing So Much More

October 19, 2006 (PRLEAP.COM) Technology News
Winnipeg, Manitoba (PRLEAP) October 19, 2006 — Have you ever left a cell phone, digital camera or laptop behind in a taxicab, restaurant or airport? Did you have a feeling a panic when you were searching your pants, purse, jacket, briefcase for the item? Did it become full-blown horror when you realized it was indeed lost? Don’t worry this is not uncommon. As a matter of fact it happens to the best of us. With the myriad of gadgets and portable electronics today, people are inundated with things to carry around. It is only natural to misplace a few items from time to time. For those of you thinking that it could never happen to you, ask yourself this: Have you ever misplaced your TV remote control? Even for 1 minute? Now if you can lose your remote control in your own house, think about easy it would be to lose your Blackberry, MP3 player or other mobile device in everyday life, in your own city, in your country, the world.

Here are some facts:

· A study conducted by Pointsec Mobile Technologies, a mobile-data protection software company in Chicago, tracked items left behind in taxis in eight other countries. One cab company in Chicago had the highest numbers: In the final six months of 2004, it found, in its 113 taxis, 387 mobile phones, 97 PDAs and Pocket PCs and 20 laptops.

· Extrapolating from those numbers, Pointsec calculated that 85,600 mobile phones, 21,500 PDAs/Pocket PCs, and 4,425 laptops disappeared into Chicago's 25,000 cabs in those six months.

· 99% of cell phone owners do not back up the data on their phones. When your cell phone is lost or stolen, that precious information is gone. - The Wall Street Journal, May 2003.

· FOX News WFLD in Chicago did a news piece where they purposely lost 2 cell phones and got them back within 3 hours. http://www.trackitback.com/media/fox-chicago.wmv, November 2005
Now most of our portable devices can be replaced. For example, mobile phones won’t cost you and arm and a leg when you are signing a new contract or upgrading, but if you just want to buy a new phone while on a contract, that can start to become expensive. In fact, it will most likely be more than what you paid for it the first time. And even after you get your new device there are still many things to do such as re-enter all of your contact information, reprogram your phone, reinstall your software, and so on. After all, you did remember to back everything up right?

The good news is that you can do a few different things to prevent losing your favorite gadgets. Even more, steps can be taken to expedite their recovery. The most obvious is to etch your name and contact information into your products. That helps Good Samaritans who find you lost items contact you directly. However you still need to facilitate the delivery back of your device and do you really want to meet with the person who found your cell phone? I mean what’s the worst that could happen? It’s for reasons like this that more people today are turning to third party companies such as TrackItBack.

TrackItBack is a lost and found recovery service for portable consumer electronics that uses an ID label and reward system to reunite lost items with owners. Customers affix TrackItBack ID labels to their valuable items and register them through their Web site. Each ID label has a unique code. When a registered item is lost, the ID label instructs the finder to contact TrackItBack, and a reward is offered for doing so. TrackItBack makes all of the necessary arrangements for the item's safe return. All finders receive a TrackItBack gift pack for their honesty, while customers have the option of offering an additional cash reward. The product and service is now available through a variety of retailers and at www.TrackItBack.com.

“TrackItBack provides our customers with peace of mind, protects their privacy and is not only effective, but affordable,” says TrackItBack President Jason Wagner.

The cost for TrackItBack’s service is a one-time fee of only $8.95 per ID label. Through TrackItBack’s global recovery network, they are able to return your lost and recovered item to you anywhere in the world, which is included in the initial cost of the TrackItBack ID label.

About TrackItBack, Inc.

TrackItBack is the world's most comprehensive lost and found recovery service. Our privacy protecting coded ID labels, 24/7 service and global recovery network provide the most effective and affordable protection for your personal property. In today's fast paced mobile world, we are often "misplacing" our cell phones, cameras, laptops, MP3 players, Blackberries other portable items. The more of these items we own, the more likely we are to lose them.
Our industry leading benefits are why people and corporations from all over the world have chosen to protect their valuable items with TrackItBack.
· One-Time Cost - When your lost item is found, TrackItBack makes all of the necessary arrangements for its safe return to you - at no extra cost. TrackItBack does not charge you any service or incidental fees.
· Lifetime Protection - When you register an item with TrackItBack, it's protected for life. If you ever decide to sell your registered item, it remains protected for life under the new owner.
· 24/7 Customer Service - TrackItBack's recovery centre (live voice) is available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - for when you need it the most!
· Privacy Protection - TrackItBack protects your valuable items using anonymous ID codes instead of your personal information. TrackItBack facilitates all returns, so you and the finder of your item never meet and no private information is ever exchanged.
· Worldwide Protection - Through our global recovery network that includes strategic partners such as UPS, FedEx, Dynamex, TNT and DHL, TrackItBack is able to have your valuable items returned to you wherever in the world you may be.
· Theft Deterence - Statistics show that personal property with some form of identification is less likely to be stolen than those without. Also, our coded ID labels provide law enforcement agencies with a process to identify you as the rightful owner of your recovered stolen property.
TrackItBack offers device ID labels for all the major portable electronic devices such as cell phones, digital cameras, electronic organizers, MP3 players, gaming units, laptops and many other devices. TrackItBack is headquartered in Winnipeg, Canada with satellite offices in Phoenix, London and Brisbane. For more information, please visit www.TrackItBack.com or call 1-877-347-7222.