The Japanese manufactured the first cell phone that enables its user to unlock their car and start its engine without an ignition key. Sharp Corporation, a Japanese leading electronics developer, used a previously-developed technology called “Intelligent Key” and implemented in a new handset which enables its users to open their cars and start the engines without taking their ignition keys from their pockets or bags.

Actually, the cars which have this new system automatically detect if the correct key is nearby and they unlock their doors. Once the user of the “Intelligent Key” cell phone enters the vehicle, it automatically starts the engine. The technology is based on two-way wireless communications.

Nissan, the multinational car manufacturer which first developed the “Intelligent Key” technology, said that, since 2002, it released into the market more than 950,000 cars which are equipped with the innovative technology.

What Sharp brought new is that it integrated the technology in a cell phone. The “Intelligent Key” service will work on the mobile network of Japan’s largest mobile operator, NTT DoCoMo Inc.

The high-end technology will reportedly be officially unveiled next week at CEATEC, a major technology conference in Tokyo, Sharp, Nissan and DoCoMo said in a joint statement. The phone’s release on the market is forecasted to be some when after March 2009. The release dates for the United States and Europe are unknown yet.

A cell phone of this sort will surely be a focus for customers, but its success will really depend on the device’s actual functionality as a phone as well and the rumors which downplay it already appeared.