Tweet on your iPhone about your alcohol level - with an iBAC alcometer!

Ok, this is so Swedish it hurts. A portable alcometer with bluetooth capabilities, updating  inebriation status online. Hilarity ensues. But of course, one could see a future where every taxi, ambulance, police car and train driver cabin is equipped with such devices.   Drunk drivers that get caught and go through a mandatory rehab program alone could make this a billon dollar business, but then you have hospitals that don't want tipsy doctors, etc.  This is an employment revolution -I see a future where you are required to blow before you work, as simple as punching in a clock today. The market is  beyond huge.

In an exclusive interview, Miguel Arias, founder of Alcosystems, gave us the details from Barcelona.

The iBAC wireless alcometer for smartphones is coming to market. It was announced at the Mobile World Congress, the world’s biggest mobile trade fair at Barcelona.  iBAC is a Swedish alcometer for testing exhaled breath. With its minimal size, precise measurement results and ability to connect to large computer systems, it offers secure, discreet and cost-effective alcohol checks. There has been great interest in the iBAC during the entire period of its development and the product was launched on the market at the Mobile World Congress 2011.

The iBAC exhaled breath alcometer can connect wirelessly to smartphones, handheld computers and laptops, giving its user a detailed measurement result.

The price is aimed towards  business users,  with a subscriber and user fee model.   It is geared to be cheaper than the competition, for example the  alcolock, that costs 1000 Euro per car.

A networked alcometer is much harder to mess with, and an independent person monitoring the workforce through a computer insures better safety control than existing systems.

There are currently two large clients in Sweden that are undergoing a pilot trial with Alcosystems - an ambulance service and a dependency treatment provider. Having a private and government client insures funds needed for further development, and Miguel said that he was busy signing up new prospects at the congress.

No definite price has been set per unit, as this is not planned for the consumer market at this time.

The only part that requires updates, as needed, is the disposable mouthpiece, which is priced in cents.

Miguel is very happy to have interest from large companies, and is accepting pre-orders at the congress.

We have an interview scheduled, so stay tuned!

This is a new trend in mobile, with extra services outside of SMS and voice communication/internet. As usual, a specific need that requires a hardware solution, coupled to an existing network, has exciting profit potential. It was inspiring to hear Miguel talk about his business, the risks and challenges that he had to embrace with Alcosystems.

P.S. We are gonna order us some iBACS and see if we can ring up a 2 percenter and still be able to tweet about it!