Stats update

Found newer research into pet owners: 63 percent of all U.S. households own a pet, which adds up to more than 69 million households. That’s an increase from 64 million in 2002 and 51 million in 1988. Americans own approximately 73 million dogs and 90 million cats.

Also, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, “the person most responsible for purchasing pet products is a 46 year old woman.” Pew Research shows that 53% of 30-49 year olds deemed a cell phone a necessity and 60% of the same age group said the same about home computers.

This is not the age range you immediately associate with cell phones and mobile technology, certainly not the higher end of the range. This was a valuable reminder to me that, while my application is useful to most dog and cat owners, the demographic buying it may be older than I had first imagined.

Owner demographics

I was looking into my target market and found this info:

- There are more than 60 million pet dogs in the U.S. and nearly 70 million pet cats.
- The average dog visits its veterinarian almost twice as many times as the average cat or horse.
- Dog owning households spent almost 38 percent more in 2001 as they did in 1996.

http://www.avma.org/reference/marketstats/sourcebook.asp

This tells me that there are a lot of pets out there, and that their owners are spending a lot of money on them! The "pet goods" market is big business, people are willing to spend their money to keep their animal safe and well, which bodes well for my application.

Similar but not the same

I've not found any other applications that do what I'm proposing mine will do, but there are some on the market that do one part or the other:
http://www.clickapps.com/moreinfo.htm?pid=5693&section=PPC&r=dwayhttp://www.clickapps.com/moreinfo.htm?pid=5693&section=PPC&r=dway

www.go2.com/webbrowser/indexPetsLanding.cfm?CFID=11016&CFTOKEN=90864751

www.globalpetfinder.com

More functionality...

A directory of local vets, pet stores, kennels, groomers, pet sitters, etc, should also be available via my application. Maybe with user reviews so owners can get a steer towards the ones worth trying and avoid the not-so-goods.
The website petfinder.com goes some way to achieving this, but I'd like to see more categories.

More for your money

I was thinking about the ways my "pet locator" application could be used aside from the obvious, and realized there are a few ways mobile device users might want to utilize the functionality.

For example, it would be useful to have all the pets details stored somewhere easily accessible. Their health records, food likes and dislikes, pet identification microchip number, etc. Also a calendar just for them, where you can add the dates of vet visits, when medication needs to start and stop, when shots are due, etc etc. And what adoring owner doesn't like to share pictures of their pet? An image gallery would be ideal, allowing you to store and share photos with other people.

I want this application to be practial, helpful and fun - not just useful in an emergency.

Cats don't need watches

So it seems I've been thinking about this project too much - last night I dreamt I was strapping wrist watches around cats' necks, then worrying that the watch would get lost when they went outside!
I reckon it's my subconscious telling me not to include a time-telling functionality in my device!

Still here...

It's been a woefully long time since my last post and I have no real excuse for my absence. However, I have been thinking about my final project idea - a device that tells a person, on demand, where their pet is at that time.
My classmate Ed told me the story of his cat who was "rescued" by a well-meaning stranger who thought he was a stray. She scooped him up and took him to her home, where she kept him for a few weeks before feeling bad about it, and started advertising that she'd found a cat.
Long story short, quite by chance Ed and his cat were reunited. But it struck me that the most proactive thing he could do was put the word out that his cat was lost. This is hugely frustrating for owners of lost pets. A device that could tell you were your cat was would save a lot of heartache.
When a pet gets lost people search far and wide, and often the pet is found very close to where they were last seen. It would be great to call up the info from a tracking device and be told where they were exactly.

A little off topic but...

I was amazed to learn that the UK has passed a law making it illegal to eat or smoke while driving a car. It's long been illegal to drive and talk on the phone (if holding the handset at the same time), but people still do it, much like they do in the US. I'm not a smoker but I wouldn't have thought smoking a cigarette would distract a driver as much as talking or texting, or even eating. I wonder if the same will happen in the US. Drive-thru restaurants might see a drop in business!