Mozilla plans '$25 smartphone' for emerging markets (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

Mozilla has shown off a prototype for a $25 (£15) smartphone that is aimed at the developing world.

The company, which is famed mostly for its Firefox browser, has partnered with Chinese low-cost chip maker Spreadtrum.

While not as powerful as more expensive models, the device will run apps and make use of mobile internet.

It would appeal to the sorts of people who currently buy cheap "feature" phones, analysts said.

Feature phones are highly popular in the developing world as a halfway point between "dumb" phones - just voice calls and other basic functions - and fully-fledged smartphones.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26316265

[Blue_Tires]

1. Isn't the developing world more concerned about clean drinking water, medical care,

stable governments, etc?

[eppur_se_muova]

2. They also need communications, and cell phone use is already heavy there.

It turns out that installing cell networks is actually less resource-intensive than setting up landlines, and much of the developing world may actually never need landlines. I'm sure some Repugs will consider them "rich" because they have CELL PHONES OMG!!1! but the modern reality is that cellular is the most cost-effective way to expand communications.

We can work on more than one thing at a time. It is not an either/or world.

[LeftyMom]

3. That's the case in some very rural parts of the US too.

There are a few remote communities in California with no landlines, and quite a few in the Nevada desert.

Hell, there are communities in Nevada without connection to the power grid.

[Cal Carpenter]

4. Sure, but that doesn't mean they don't need phones and information.