King Abdullah was beside himself. He knew someone at the US company and called to suggest creating a product that could block mobiles from ringing.
Within two weeks, the company had a working prototype for King Abdullah. Word got out about its product. This week, Image Sensing Systems said it had taken orders to ship about 5,000 of these devices to customers around the world.
With the rise in the number of mobiles on the planet, there is a parallel increase in frustration over where people use them. While jamming is illegal in the United States and elsewhere, some countries, most notably Canada, are considering laws that would let people bar mobile phones from being used on their property.
But from the mosques in Jordan to the boardrooms of a giant US entertainment company, business people and private citizens aren't waiting for governments to act. A variety of new technologies are being developed to address what some contend are mobile annoyances. Although the rest of the telecommunications sector is sinking like a stone, the business of mobile-phone jamming is booming.
By some estimates, this small industry has seen at least a tripling in sales this year.
"Ten years ago, if someone was on a mobile phone, you figured it must have been an important call because only doctors or big businessmen had them," said Mary Beth Griffin, vice president of BlueLinx, which is creating a device that would automatically turn off the ringers of mobile phones. "But now they are so light, so portable, that everyone has one. It's less that people are trying to be rude, but that they forgot they are carrying this five-ounce thing in their pockets."
BlueLinx expects to sell about a million of its devices once they are released, she said. At least two movie chains, plus many theaters where live plays are presented, are among those clamoring for orders, she said.
US-based Zetron is celebrating the fourth anniversary of the introduction of a device that detects mobile phones within 100 feet and can be programmed to alert officials or trigger a recorded message requesting that the owner leave the phone outside. Business for the device is picking up, a company spokesman said.
One high-profile owner of these types of devices is actor Christopher Reeve of "Superman" fame. Reeve is paralysed and his breathing is assisted by a respirator. His voice is faint as a result. Mobile phones sometimes drown out his speech.
Other companies also are cashing in. NetLine Communications Technologies, an Israeli company, says it is selling record numbers of its C-Guard Cellular FireWall mobile-phone jamming equipment, especially in the United States, where jamming phones is illegal.
Jamming is punishable by an US$11,000-per-day fine. Yet, despite the possibility of a huge financial punishment, NetLine executive Gil Israeli said the United States remains one of the company's strongest markets.
The company's list of US clients includes a major entertainment company, a recording studio a House of Representatives, he claims.
"Although there is no official approval, they want to do it," Israeli said.
In Canada, lawmakers are mulling whether to lift a ban on phone jamming. A recent survey of Canadian citizens found 43 percent in favor of allowing jammers in theatres, hospitals and other public places.
