iPhone users to get get-out call

iPhone users can now escape blind dates and boring business meetings thanks to a faked incoming call that urgently summons them elsewhere.

The application comes from Magic Tap, and costs 99 cents, but for that money the cornered iPhone user can appear to receive a call from anyone they wish complete with caller ID and photograph, on a pre-arranged schedule.

This capability, as is so often the case, has been available to users of other smartphones for years. Windows Mobile and S60 owners will have to pay a couple of quid for their versions, but S60 users get the additional functionality of a pre-recorded other-half of the conversation which lends itself to much more creative excuses, especially if combined with a speakerphone.

Various mobile operators, including Virgin, offer the same service - which explains all the calls that arrive whenever the vultures gather for a meeting not located in a pub.

iPhone users, of course, should find blind dates easier to cope with: just ask your date what kind of handset they've got and be ready to exit if the reply is anything but a perfect match. ®