The concept is simple. When you want to share a file, recommend a song or an app, or give someone a contact from your address book, you both pull out your phones. Bump them together (or, with Hoccer, employ some more theatrical gestures) and the data zips onto their phone over the Internet. This should go without saying, but the gesture itself is just a trigger. The bumping or throwing does not actually transmit the file through local space from one device to another (yes, I've met people who asked about this), even though it may appear to have this magical effect. The services use your phone's GPS location to detect the proximity of the two phones running the app, and the accelerometer to detect the bumping or throwing/catching motions. Even in a crowded space where lots of people are running those apps, that data is enough to trigger the transfer of whatever data the sender has selected.

Bump

Of the two services, is by far the more established. It's available for iOS and Android, and readily transfers data between the two platforms. You can use it to share photos, music, contacts, and apps. The gesture is basic: Bump your phones together to establish a connection or send data.

I should point out that bumping a paid app or music download does not actually give the recipient a free copy of the tune or app. For music, it takes them to a YouTube stream of the song, and for apps it will take them to the app store of market. It also includes the ability create a connection in person, and then later send files to that contact even if you're miles apart. Bump develops on an iPhone-first basis, so as of this writing the iOS version includes the ability to share calendar entries and social network connections, while the Android version is still awaiting further updates to bring these features.

Hoccer