Smartphone app opening key hotel market

SMALL PRINT:LOCKED OUT? There's an app for that. Lockitron, developed by Apigy Inc, works by "sending a signal from your phone through our servers to a small device that plugs into your internet router. This in turn talks to your door telling it to lock or unlock."

The app works with most door types and uses hardware in the form of a deadbolt lock powered by AA batteries. In a smart phone world where phones can replace everything from your music player to your camera, remote control and games console, it looks like they’re also now on track to replace your keys.

But Lockitron doesn’t just have to be used by one person. If you want to let your friends into your house, you can grant temporary access to them by sending them an invitation. And the app doesn’t discriminate against people without smart phones, as they can be texted an invitation and open your door using the SMS.

The app comes with a self-installation kit and covers the most popular locks, although the service is currently only shipping in the US.

The developers are also hopeful that hotels could become a key market, pardon the pun, especially as they continue to develop Lockitron with Near Field Communication tags, which means you could simply swipe or wave your phone – which had been configured to a particular door – next to the handle and it would unlock it. Let’s just hope burglars don’t think of a smart way to hack the service if it becomes widespread.