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Molly Steenson on Indian Cell Phone Usage
by constantly saying "we people in the west" this woman has already irritated me ,,,,
Mark, the thing I found is that anyone who really wanted to own a mobile, did. The price point is ever lower, but even people who lived in the slums got mobiles several years ago, often because their work required it. But the use is what changed: it was marked by constraint. So a young adult might only use the mobile for texting; a poor phone owner might only use it for incoming calls; or someone non-literate will use the voice functions only.
The cultural, economic, geographical diversity in India give rise to a whole lot of innovation.
I was traveling in a bus the other day through Mumbai and there were these guys digging on the side of the road laying some cables. Suddenly one guy pops his head out of the pit on his mobile , screams to one of his friends down the other end and flings his mobile to him. The call was for his friend but he infact owned the phone.
More interesting for me was the fact that a guy digging trenches even owned a mobile. This guy would probably be earning something like 3 or 4$ a day.
So yeh besides opening up a whole new market, India gives designers a whole new playing field.
Mark D'Souza
Industiral Designer
Mumbai, India