New Augmented Reality Application for the iPhone helps mobile workers to find their ideal urban workspace – features reviews and interactive directions for hundreds of the city’s hotspot gems

London – September 22nd, 2009 – When the city is your office and the options are endless, finding the perfect café or coffee shop to serve as your mobile workspace can be overwhelming, especially if you’re in a hurry. WorkSnug.com, in association with Plantronics, has launched a groundbreaking application for the iPhone 3GS that guides mobile workers to the nearest and best places to connect to the Internet, all by simply holding up their phone. There’s no ‘clicking through’ required; WorkSnug uses Augmented Reality so that users can see Wi-Fi hotspots and potential workspaces in their vicinity right on their screen alongside their real-life surroundings. Finding the perfect mobile office, that also happens to come with the best cappuccino in the city, has never been easier.

“Work, in the traditional sense, has changed. It’s no longer a place we go, it’s a thing we do – we’re mobile, and the city is our office,” said Richard Leyland, founder of WorkSnug. “With the seemingly unlimited choices of places to work, ranging from noisy cafes to more formal co-working spaces, WorkSnug is the first tool to make sense of this emerging world.”

With WorkSnug, users simply hold up and point their iPhone, and the potential connection spots float alongside the real-life, real-time image of the users’ environment. To help users find the best workspace for their needs, the WorkSnug team has discovered and reviewed hundreds of places to work – from family-run cafés to formal co-working spaces – and offers personal observations, including a guide to power provision, atmosphere, noise levels, and even the quality of the coffee. In addition, WorkSnug users can suggest new places, review their favourite workspaces and will soon be able to connect with other local users and create ad-hoc co-working communities. Best of all, the application and all of these services are completely free of charge.

Richard Leyland also mentions that, “WorkSnug is much more than just the iPhone App, it is about building a community of like minded individuals who are passionate about the places in which they can work. WorkSnug gives the community a voice and the content will grow ever richer as participation grows.”

After visiting many hundreds of places to work, WorkSnug found that the largest single barrier to productive and relaxing work, or even just making a call, was noise. This is why each workspace is rated by the WorkSnug team for its ambient noise-levels.

“We’re thrilled to be a part of the development of WorkSnug,” said Stuart Bradshaw, Marketing Manager at Plantronics. “As audio specialists and leading experts in the headset market, we understand the importance of a quality sound environment for mobile workers, and fully support their effort to improve the overall mobile work experience.”

Currently launching for the London metro area, WorkSnug will soon also be available for the San Francisco Bay area and has plans to expand to several other global cities later this year. The website WorkSnug.com, which is scheduled to become active in November 2009, will mirror the functionality of the iPhone app while providing a complete platform for mobile work community building.

For more information and a first-hand glance at WorkSnug in action, visit worksnug.com.

About WorkSnug
WorkSnug exists to connect mobile workers to the nearest and best places to work. It strives to develop a community of all those for whom the city is their office.

WorkSnug was founded in London by Richard Leyland, a futurist and entrepreneur. Richard is an expert commentator on the future of work and has provided insight into the future for many of the world’s largest technology firms, broadcasters, professional services organisations and others.

About Plantronics
In 1969, a Plantronics headset carried the historic first words from the moon: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Since then, Plantronics has become the headset of choice for mission-critical applications such as air traffic control, emergency dispatch and the New York Stock Exchange. Today, this history of innovation is the basis for every audio product we build for the office, contact centre, personal mobile, entertainment and residential markets. The Plantronics family of brands includes Plantronics, Altec Lansing and Clarity. For more information, go to www.plantronics.com or call 0800 410014