Microsoft today unveiled a cheap internet capable Nokia phone for $29 with a 29 hour battery life. The Nokia 215 comes with pre-loaded apps such as Facebook and Opera Mini Browser. Other functions include a flashlight and radio. The phone has very low specs, but according to Microsoft it is the most affordable internet ready phone on the market.
This signals a trend in the market that will see the price of smartphones continue to drop, increasing accessibility in more impoverished parts of the world. Certainly there are still network limitations, but the lower cost of handheld devices combined with Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook’s “goal with Internet.org to make affordable access to basic internet services available to every person in the world” means that soon we will be seeing a huge need to develop educational tools to coordinate with this new infrastructure.
Ednastics is ready to meet this challenge head on, as we are currently working to develop creative new solutions, so that this increased access to technology and the Internet is supported by educational solutions.