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Why Nokia needs to get off their ass and make a solar charger for the emerging markets

Categories: Nokia
By: , IntoMobile
Wednesday, December 26th, 2007 at 11:28 PM

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Just read this snippet of news on textually titled “Villagers walk 20 kms to charge mobile phones” and it just made me shake my head in dismay. Someone needs to do something to give these people power where the only infrastructure these people know is the cellular network. All this talk of being a green company, yet renewable energy is one facet that has yet to be explored, especially for countries where people need it the most.

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About The Author

Stefan Constantinescu

Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.

  • Will Park

    There are plenty of solar solutions out there, but they’re expensive.

    I thought the same thing when I wrote about this situation. But I realized that if the villagers are living in such poverty that they don’t have electricity, then they probably don’t have money for a solar charger.

  • Varun

    Solar power is expensive to generate…

    Probably is theres an philanthropic arm of Nokia.. they should install free solar powered mobile chargers

  • PhoneBoy

    There are other ways than solar to generate enough electricity to charge. I have a little hand-cranked cell phone charger that cost maybe $10. Perhaps Nokia could make a version of that as an accessory for places without electricity?

  • newtype2011

    This is a great opportunity for Nokia to step up and really show that they are in the business of “connecting people.” Granted, no company is required to do anything of this nature, but it would be great publicity and may encourage other comapanies to step up as well.

    In the meantime, lets get these people some of these handcranks that Phoneboy is using -