With Urban mobile subscriber base close to saturation point, most of the handset manufacturers are aggressively targeting the rural Indian market to increase their subscriber base. However, one of the biggest impediments is that many villages in India still lack proper supply of electricity – And where the supply is available it is quite erratic.
Now if you do not have proper supply of electricity, the biggest issue is – How are you going to charge your mobile phone?
Worry Not ! An Indian Telecom company “Olive Telecommunications” has launched a mobile phone that runs on regular “AAA” batteries. The mobile phone aptly called "FrvrOn" — short for "forever on" — has a rechargeable lithium-ion battery common to mobile phones, but also a facility to include a AAA, dry-cell battery. Whats more – this mobile does not cost you a bomb. It comes to you for mere 1699 rupees !
This is probably the first mobile phone in the world (atleast I think so), which has this kind of facility built into the handset.
Its not only rural people who will benefit, but also urban heavy mobile users or people travelling to remote areas where they may not get electricity. Just pack couple of batteries and all your worries about mobile battery draining off will be history.
Personally, I think this is a great idea and I see other mobile manufacturers following suit very soon.
Whats your take? Do you think regular battery based mobile phones will become popular with Indian people?