The other night I was over at my friend’s place and there was a remote baby monitor device on the kitchen counter. I’d seen these little walkie-talkie-looking monitors for ages, but this one was different: It had a black and white screen on it.

I was amazed. My friend and his wife could not only monitor the sounds their baby makes in her crib, but also watch what’s going on. Although I admittedly haven’t been around many newborns in the past few years, this was the first time I’d seen such a thing.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, then, that streaming surveillance video has now reached mobile devices.

As David F. Carr of Forbes reported (March 24), it’s now relatively easy to use your smartphone to pull up video from any one of the surveillance cameras in your store. “The technology to do this is increasingly practical and affordable, as mobile phone capabilities and bandwidth improve.”

Carr describes the case of Charles Walker, the owner of a Save-A-Lot grocery franchise in Detroit, who purchased the equipment from MIST Innovations, which is also based in Detroit. Walker likes to check in from time to time, to see how busy the store is or how productive his employees are.

Indeed, the Big Brother aspect is an effective deterrent to staff idleness. “I think it helps productivity to keep people on their toes because they know I might be watching – so, hey, we should be doing something,” says Walker.

Other features to remote store surveillance via smartphone include (Source: David F. Carr, Forbes):

• For break-ins: You can see what is happening in the store within seconds after the alarm company calls.
• MIST’s service is called “MIST on Demand,” or MOD, and was released in early 2009. It is built for larger enterprises and government agencies. MOD II is offering a simplified version for small businesses.
• List price is $1,095, including installation, for a server that includes a digital video recorder and can monitor up to four cameras. Multiple servers can be connected to cover more cameras. The monthly lease is $49.95 per server, per month.
• Other vendors in this space include mobiDEOS, Lextech Labs and Xanboo, all with slightly different approaches, writes Carr.
• “The MIST software is tightly focused on efficient video streaming to mobile devices, with browser-based access being secondary. It targets Windows Mobile phones and PDAs but also runs on the iPhone and some versions of the BlackBerry.”
• “Live-streaming to a phone is still a little bleeding edge.” According to Rich Montalvo of Security 101, about 90 percent of potential small business customers are more interested in watching the surveillance on a laptop.

- newsletter@iQmetrix.com

* To read more about Emerging Technology, Store Security and Theft Prevention, check out the following articles from iQmetrix News & Views:

New Technology: Retailers Connecting with Customers' Smartphones

New Options for Offering Mobile Coupons

Pre-Purchase Research Goes Mobile: Consumers Shift from PC to Smartphone

Keys to Prevent Shoplifiting and Employee Theft

Stop Employee Theft Before It Happens