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Bounty offered for a location-based profile manager for the BlackBerry Curve

August 29, 2008 @ 01:17 By: gordon Category: BlackBerry

I’ve been looking for an application for the BlackBerry Curve that can change the active profile based on the time of day, location or both for a few months now.  I’ve found a couple of profile managers that change the profile based on time, including one that can use calendar entries to determine what profile is to be used, but none that are location driven.  Similar programs exist for Symbian-based phones, such as Handy Profiles for the Nokia N71, so this shouldn’t be rocket science.

The ideal application would allow a BlackBerry Curve to automatically change the active profile based any of the following…

  1. the last-known location as determined from the GPS using proximity to a waypoint (eg: “when I am within 200m of this location, use the Quiet profile”).
  2. GSM cell ID (eg: “when I am ‘here’, use the Loud profile”).
  3. time of day/day of week ranges (eg: weekdays between 0900 and 1700, use the Normal profile).

Multiple conditions should be supported (eg: more than one location condition).  It should revert to the profile that was active before a condition was met.

Other BlackBerry users would probably be interested in this, too, so maybe a bounty will provide a little encouragement to the BlackBerry authors out there.

I’ll put $50 in the pot to get things started.  If you’d like to sweeten the pot, PayPal some cash to paypal AT dewis DOT ca with “BlackBerry bounty” in the comments.

Current bounty total: $75

Terms:

  • The working solution must run on a BlackBerry Curve 8310 on Rogers.
  • If the solution is not made available for free (i.e. is packaged as a commercial product, which includes “crippleware”), anyone who contributed to the Bounty must be given a free license.
  • The solution must be found by 23:59 UT on October 28, 2008.
  • If no solution is found by that time, I will refund the Bounty contributions (via PayPal).

A tip o’ the hat to Alex King who blogged about offering a bounty for tethering a BlackBerry 8700 to a Mac.

6 Responses to “Bounty offered for a location-based profile manager for the BlackBerry Curve”


  1. Squid says:

    I have this functionality on my Nokia N80ie, and it’s awesome. Profiles by location and time… couldn’t survive without it.

  2. gordon says:

    Well, I’m hoping that someone will create a solution for the BlackBerry that offers the same functionality. I’m surprised there’s nothing out there already.

  3. Luke in DC says:

    I’ve added $25 to the bounty! What were the other profile managers you found?

  4. gordon says:

    Thanks, Luke!

    The only one I found that came close was BlackBerry Profile Switcher from WCS, but it doesn’t have any location-driven events.

  5. Can you really develope apps like this for only $75? If this is the case I have a huge blackberry site, hit me up and i will have some app work for you!

    • gordon says:

      I was hoping that other BB users would sweeten the pot, but I guess it wasn’t sweet enough. I’m convinced there’s a market for something like this.


Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Bounty out for location-based profiles app | BlackBerry Cool (August 29, 2008 @ 11:17)
  2. Blackberry Tips » Blog Archive » Bounty out for location-based profiles app (August 29, 2008 @ 12:03)

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