Lost Your Cell Phone? Call a Cab!

Lost your mobile? Chances are it was left in that cab you took here recently. PCWorld is reporting that this is not just a US problem. As it turns out, this problem is a growing issue for mobile users all over the world. It is thought that the use of ‘lost and found centers’ will help with the recovery of these lost items. Myself personally, tend to doubt this.

Lost-and-found centers: They’re not just for umbrellas anymore. Taxicab companies across the world report that cell phones, PDAs, Pocket PCs, and laptops are being mistakenly left in the back seats of taxis by the thousands.

And it’s a global problem. About 900 drivers for cab companies in Chicago, Copenhagen, Helsinki, London, Munich, Oslo, Paris, Stockholm, and Sydney reported a deluge of discarded gadgets in their taxis over a recent six-month period.

In Chicago, more than 85,000 phones were found in taxis–about four for every taxi in the Windy City. A little more than half of those were reunited with their owners–in almost all cases by the drivers, says Pointsec Mobile Technologies, which conducted the survey.

While forgotten phones form the base of the mountain of abandoned electronics, 21,000 PDAs and Pocket PCs were also found in Chicago cabs, and about 14,000 of them were eventually returned.

Passengers even left about 4500 notebooks behind. Not surprisingly, these expensive devices were reclaimed at the highest rate–about 80 percent.

Of course, many items get left in cabs. Surveyed drivers reported forgotten condoms topping the list; however, pets, undergarments, knives, and luggage were in the running, too. British drivers turned in a harp, a throne, more than $150,000 in diamonds, and a baby.