Samsung on Monday unveiled the world’s first solar-powered mobile phone at an exhibition in Barcelona, showcasing the new technology it hopes will drive demand through the economic crisis.
The South Korean manufacturer put its “Blue Earth” phone on display in front of curious crowds at Mobile World Congress, with industry insiders keen to see the mini solar panels located on the back of the phone.
“This type of device would be ideal for developing markets where workers have long hours and don’t have access to electricity,” said Nick Lane, chief researcher at consultancy Direct2 Mobile.
PHOTO: AFP
“It would also interest consumers with an eye on the ‘green’ aspects, or companies and their CSR [corporate social responsibility] programs,” he said.
The device is to be launched initially in Europe in the second half of this year, but is likely to be out of the price range of a worker in the developing world. A Samsung representative said it would be a mid to high-end handset.
A full charge taking 10 to 14 hours in the sun would offer about four hours of talk time. The phone can also be plugged in to charge, with the solar panels used to top up the battery to extend its power.
Fellow South Korean manufacturer LG Electronics also put a prototype solar-powered phone on display although the handset is not ready for market.
LG showcased a mobile phone-enabled watch, which it said was a world first.
The Mobile World Congress, which runs until tomorrow, is the world’s biggest mobile phone show, bringing together 60,000 industry insiders from 1,200 companies, said the organizer, the GSM Association.
As well as the launches and new industry initiatives, the economic crisis has cast a pall over the gathering with cost-cutting the new concern of an industry that has become accustomed to constant growth.
Nevertheless, the chief executive of Russia’s Vimpelcom operator, Alexander Izosimov, sought to stress the rosy future of the industry as a whole despite the morose economic climate.
“We are dealing with something that is absolutely guaranteed to expand in the future,” he told reporters. “Our growth [as an industry] is absolutely secured.”
The chief executive of China Mobile (中國移動通信), the biggest Chinese network operator, said that his company had felt the impact of the financial crisis, but he underlined the recession-resistant nature of providing phone connections.
“Even in difficult times, people need to use their mobile phones,” CEO Wang Jianzhou (王建宙) told reporters.
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