Sharp's cell phone can start your Nissan

The smarty pants engineers over in Tokyo came up with an absolutely brilliant idea: a mobile phone with a built-in intelligent car key. I've been driving an Acura RL with an intelligent key system for the past three years, and absolutely love it. I can only imagine what will happen next year, if DOCOMO releases a mobile phone that doubles as a keyless entry and ignition device.

The world's first Mobile Phone with Built-in Intelligent Key is a prototype at the moment that will be showcased at CEATEC Japan 2008 next week. The design is a product of the collaboration between DOCOMO, Sharp, and Nissan who are furiously working together to bring this device to consumers as early as next year.

The phone-key handset incorporates Nissan's Intelligent Key system, which has been a standard feature in over 950,000 Nissan models since 2002. This system uses two-way wireless communications technology to automatically unlock/lock the car door and start/stop the engine. The back of the phone is shown in the picture above, although no images of front are available.

This is probably an ideal device for those who don't like to carry too many things in their pockets, but you have to wonder about the security risks that will come with it. What do you think? Do you want a mobile phone that also start your engine? Let me know in the comments.