Your iPhone May Soon Find You a Date, No More Awkward Moments

Apple intends to implement new technology in its portable devices that would bring you together with someone that shares your interests.

The person credited by Apple for inventing Ad-hoc networking based on content and location is Shuvo Chatterjee, from Cupertino, California.

The patent describes an all-new social experience on your iPhone that aims to eliminate those awkward moments when you meet someone but don’t know what they’re into, so you don’t really have much to say to them.

“Identifying like-minded people […] often requires a substantial amount of and time and effort because identifying new persons with common interests for friendships is difficult,” Apple explains in the patent filing.

“For example, when two strangers meet, it may take a long and awkward conversation to discover their common interests or experiences,” reads the application.

The Cupertino giant acknowledges that various social networking technologies already exist today with the purpose of getting people closer.

The filing explains that users are required to provide some biographical information, and/or identify his or her interests, so that this typical, modern computer-implemented social networking application can serve its purpose.

“…in some instances [the application] can suggest to the user other users with compatible interests,” it adds.

And this is precisely Apple’s point. Their solution aims to take this a step further, because it’s mobile.

“A user of a mobile device can identify another user using another mobile device who is close by, if both users have requested to participate in networking,” the invention is described.

The platform then identifies common interests and experiences of two or more users located close to each other based on the content they deem visible to others.

This may also include automatically created usage data of the mobile devices, such as location data.

“Usage data of a mobile device can be created based on activities performed on the mobile device (e.g., songs downloaded), a trajectory of the mobile device (e.g., places traveled), or other public data available from the mobile device (e.g., pictures shared),” Apple further explains.

Finally, when these conditions are met, the tool can identify whether another user having the common interests and experiences is close by, at which point it provides a notification.

The main goal, of course, is: “A means of initiating communication […] provided to the users to facilitate communication between the users.”

What are your thoughts on this? Would you like a tool like this to exist right now?

Would you get out more if you knew someone could pass you by and be instantly interested in you just because you both listen to Iron Maiden?