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Hold the Phone, It's a Sex Toy
submitted by dadaist
By Leander Kahney
Giving new meaning to the term phone sex, a British company is selling software that transforms a cell phone into a sex toy.
Vibelet.com's Purring Kitty software, launched last week, turns certain Nokia cell phones with vibrating ring capabilities into a "discrete, vibrating massager."
"Its tender purring vibrations provide perfect company on even the loneliest winter nights!" champions the website.
"No, it's not a joke," said the developer, who asked to be known as "Zoe Walsh" rather than his real name. "That's one of our biggest problems, in fact. We had to delay the launch date to avoid April 1. It's a joke product, but it definitely works."
The software, which costs UKGP 1.50 (about $2.35), is downloaded straight to the phone via a WAP link. Once installed, it has just two controls: Start and Pause. While running, an image of a contented cat is displayed on the phone's screen.
Walsh, the 25-year-old co-founder of what he described as a "pretty well-known" mobile-phone game publisher, which he didn't want associated with the Purring Kitty spinoff, conducted most of his market research at his pub.
"The reaction has been pretty good," Walsh said. "There's a clear 50/50 split. Half the girls know immediately what it's about. The other half look at the kitty and say, 'Aw, that's cute, but why is it vibrating?' Then the penny drops."
Walsh said word of the software is starting to spread and it has already been downloaded a few dozen times without any advertising. He knew of only one instance of it being used for its intended purpose.
"This girl in the pub grabbed my phone, put it down her front pocket and wouldn't give it back to me until the batteries had run down," Walsh said. "It's the only confirmed use I know of. She had a very pleasant time."
A full charge lasts about an hour, he said. The software works only with Java-enabled Nokia phones. A list of compatible devices can be found on the site. It doesn't currently run on phones from any other manufacturer.
According to Walsh, this is the first application of its kind. Previously, getting a phone to vibrate for any length of time required ringing it over and over.
The software is available to most mobile-phone customers in the U.K., and can be downloaded in most of Europe and some other parts of the world. Walsh said it was possible to get it in the United States, but billing is complicated. He's looking into offering it to Americans, but thinks he may have trouble finding a provider.
"Not everyone's happy about taking this kind of content," he said.
Carol Queen, staff sexologist at Good Vibrations, a San Francisco vibrator store, said it was a shame that a "useful product" like this might not be acceptable to U.S. carriers.
"There's less of a patina of Puritanism (in Europe) compared to the U.S.," she said. "Here, you can use as many women with cleavage to sell cell phones as you like, but it's all over if you want to use your cell phone as a vibrator."
Based on her experience with vibrating cell phones, Queen said the Purring Kitty would probably be good enough for some, but may not vibrate strongly enough for others. "For some people it would be strong enough to get off," she said.
However, Queen said she was disappointed the phone couldn't be used to talk and stimulate at the same time. "It puts the kibosh on phone sex," she said.
In other vibrator news, later this month Good Vibrations will begin selling the first personal stimulation device that can be hooked up to a stereo or MP3 player.
The Audi-Oh, billed as the "world's first audio-driven pleasure system," uses sonic energy to create "uniquely stimulating, infinitely variable vibration," according to a marketing blurb.
"It plays music on your crotch," explains Andrea Burnett, the store's publicist.
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