Swipe That Cell Phone--For Info, That Is

Japanese cellular carrier NTT DoCoMo this week said its latest service will enable cell phones to be used to obtain information in locations such as restaurants and music stores.

The operator's new service, which it is calling ToruCa, will enabled phones to be swiped near compliant information kiosks to gather information. The company cited as an example a user swiping a phone in a music store to receive information about a specific CD and artist.

DoCoMo also said that users will be able to create custom searches for specific information and also to share the information with other users of compatible phones.

DoCoMo said there will be no additional fee for the service. It said that it arrived at the ToruCa name because Toru means capture and Ca is the first syllable in the Japanese word for card. The company said ToruCa-compliant phones will be available this winter.