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As mobile
telecommunications evolves, the capabilities of mobile handsets are also
evolving. The increased capabilities come at a price: the more
capability, the higher the manufacturing cost and hence the less
affordable the handset, offset by Moore’s Law and economies of scale.
This leads us to
looking
at
the two ends of the handset spectrum:
the highest capability handsets which enable the user to not only do
voice calls, but to also do text messaging, email, web surfing, and even
run various applications, vs. the low end of the spectrum where the
handsets can do voice calls, basic data services, and not much more.
At
the high end, we
have various “smart phones” which cost on the order of US$500 to over
US$800. These devices are computers (often in tablet form) in their own
right as they can run applications including email and wen browsing in
addition to mobile messaging and voice calling. These are presently 3G-oriented
but 4G devices are beginning to see the light of day:
Sprint Verizon 4G Handset Race Underway.
At
the low end, we
have various basic handsets aimed at low income subscribers in
developing countries. Prices below US$15 are indicated in
Vodafone launch 'world's cheapest phone’.
The article describes the Vodafone 150 handset which does voice calls,
SMS and has built-in support for mobile payment services. A more
expensive version, the Vodafone 250, also has a colour screen and an FM
radio, and sells for about US$20. HTC and Motorola among others offer
basic mobile handsets at US$40 or less.
What
does this mean?
These prices mean the affordability barrier is steadily going down for
the least advantaged of the world’s population. The positive societal
and economic effects in health, education and business from enabling
telecommunications have been extensively explored elsewhere. Competition
will drive more capability into even these basic handsets. The future is
bright! |
