The German mobile service "Call a Bike" shows, that mobile services do not only need to be virtual. This year the mobile phone based bike-sharing service is rolled out in Stuttgart, the city you probably know as the home of DaimlerChrysler.
The system is quite simple to use: At all major crossings within the city users can rent a bike with a mobile phone call - and return it. The user receives a code via SMS to his or her mobile phone and is able to open the electronic lock of the bike. Returning the bike is as easy as renting it: Just leave it at a major crossing and check out with another phone call and the deactivation code of the electronic lock. The registered user is charged by minute. Read the rest of this entry »