January 17, 2014 (Whitehorse, YK) – A Yukon resident has apparently invented a keyless lock that is activated by smart phone applications according to recent reports by the CBC and The Whitehorse Star. The TEO (“tee-oh”) for Transferable Electronic Operation is a regular padlock enabled with Bluetooth technology, allowing users to lock and unlock it using an app downloaded to their phone. And while industrial uses are the primary market for Gord Duncan’s invention, bicycle locks are specifically mentioned in The Star article. But is this a new product on the market?
Duncan claims to have developed the original inspiration for the product while vacationing in Costa Rica where he wondered what would happen if he had lost his keys there. Now with the help of a Vancouver company called Form Three and a California firm, Heliox Technologies, which also makes technology for the U.S. military, Duncan has been working on the prototype for two years. An application has been submitted to Kickstarter, a crowd-funding Internet site, in hopes of raising at least $165,000 to bring his product into production. If all goes well, the new lock could be in production by the end of 2014 at an initial price of $79.
But a few quick Internet searches cast doubt on Duncan’s claim that this is a new product as other companies are already marketing similar products, some specifically designed just for the bike market. One such product, Bitlock, is marketed as the “world’s first keyless bike lock.” Both Bitlock and rival Lock8 come equipped with a GPS locator so that you know where your bike is. One advantage of this new system is that the locks can be waterproof (made without a keyhole). A promotional video for Bitlock suggests individuals can use the system to set up their own bike share networks. Interestingly, all of the inventors behind these products are seeking start-up capital from Kickstarter.
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