New mobile phones to empower Youth

 According to Cingular’s latest wireless courtesy and dating survey, 33% of people communicated with their date or mate via text messaging, up 6% over last year. 

A US-based technology group Genmobi believe they have found a solution for parents wanting strict powers of censure and supervision. They have developed customised programmes called “Buzz Kidz” and “Buzz Teenz” that allow junior phone users access to only authorised sites and chat services. It also includes a built-in bad language detector that informs parents when expletives are exchanged.  

Most kids use their computers at home, making Internet surveillance easier, but a mobile phone is a personal device by design and a jealously guarded symbol of independence for many.

Fully-fledged mobile Internet access still eludes network operators, but they are already expanding their services and have a declared goal of replicating the computer Internet experience on mobile phones.

“Clearly there is more APPLICATION AND GAMES on an open Internet site (than on a mobile Internet site),” said Vodafone marketing director Frank Rovekamp at the mobile phone industry’s.

In Brussels last week, leading European mobile operators pledged to draw up a voluntary code over the next year aimed at protecting children from adult material and illegal content. About 70% of Europeans aged 12-13 own a mobile phone and 23% of 8-9-year-olds, according to European Union data from 2005.