Hi townsvillian
Thanks for the quick response!
I understand your concerns regarding the theft of the devices, yes it would have to be very cheap.
I'm not sure how much it would cost but look at it like this:
You can purchase a basic mobile phone for approximately £60? Now, I'd assume that alot of this cost must be down to the display, the keypad and all the internal chips and development needed to run the phone. Every phone works on the same principle and I'd assume that the chip responsible for sending/receiving to the network is probably one of the cheapest parts because by now it would simply be mass-produced by each manufacturer and put into all of their phones.
Essentially, this is all that is needed. Obviously it will need some more internals to store the instructions (what to do when a message is received etc) but past that, nothing else.
I would hope that this could be produced for market at around £30 - £40?
I'm sure there must be some way to ensure that the components can't be reused? - like when you burn a CD and close the session??? (sorry for my lack of knowledge!
)
The harness idea is also a possiblity, although I feel that this could increase the cost, provide opportunities for a cat to get tangled up in a hedge etc and it would be more attractive if it were simply a replacement to a collar (also, potential theives wouldn't be able to instantly know if a cat was wearing one).
The point about the collar being removed: This can't be helped...you could have a Delux version with a non-removable collar, but this would add to the overall cost (hence Delux!)
Any other comments?
I work for a group of companies that import, export, repair and sell mobile phones. I'm gonna try and get an email address for one of the developers on monday and pass my comments on to him...I could potentially get the company to look into the idea!
Cheers
Wayne