India is the largest market for cheap mobile phones in the world
A mobile phone costing $20 has been developed by the Mumbai-based company Spice, with authorized capital of $2 billion. In developing the phone, everything least essential had to be sacrificed, including the screen.
According to Prian.ru citing the Times, Spice expects to sell over 10 million cheap mobile phones in 2008. Sales are planned to start in March. It is possible that a phone for just $10 will also appear on the market.
About half of the global mobile phone market consists of devices priced under $40. Markets in developed countries are saturated: for instance, in the UK there are more mobile phones than people, while in India, 870 million out of a population of 1.1 billion are ready to buy mobile phones. Currently, India is the largest market for cheap mobile phones in the world.
In the next three years, the number of mobile phones is expected to double to 500 million units. The world's largest mobile operator, Vodafone, recently announced that it is ready to invest $2 billion in creating cellular infrastructure. Russian operators are also announcing the development of services for the sale, repair of mobile phones in Moscow and their advertising.