Your Pedometer is Ringing!

A cell phone pedometer? NTT DoCoMo, Inc. is marketing the F672i (Raku Raku PHONE III) in Japan, believed to be the first mobile phone that also is a pedometer. But wait, there's more! Not only does the pedometer phone record your steps, it also can email them once a day to the address of your choice, or others can message your phone with a specific Subject Line to find out your pedometer data. The Raku Raku Phone III is designed to be friendly to new users - and since many such new users are pedometer-loving seniors in Japan, combining the two seemed like a good marketing move. Beginner-friendly features include three large buttons on the outside of the closed phone each enable one-touch calling to an assigned number without even opening the phone. It also enables enlarged text display and voice output of various content.

No word on whether the pedometers will be featured on phones worldwide. Given the high rates of both obesity and cell phone usage by teens in the US and Canada, adding a pedometer to cell phones could be a big public health benefit to encourage walking in the younger age groups.