Telecom Lead India: Indian handset company Micromax
will soon launch a mobile phone with built-in solar charger, which will be
targeted at consumers in rural areas with little or no power supply. The
soon-to be launched feature phone will give 1.5 hours of talk time when charged
for 3 hours in sunlight.
The company could launch its solar powered phone as early
as next week. While there are no pricing details right now, the new phone is
expected to be under Rs 2,000 to better suit the demands of rural buyers.
According to a media report, Micromax co-founder Rahul
Sharma said, “We have been at the forefront of innovation. We were the
first to launch long battery life phones, dual SIM phones and many more. Our
next innovation is to get rid of the mobile phone charger by including a solar
panel in our next phone.”
It is not the first time that we are hearing about a phone with solar charging
capability; telecom operator Vodafone and Korean manufacturer Samsung have also
released solar charging phones in the past.
Micromax has recently jolted the low-cost tablet market with the launch of
Funbook, which is priced at Rs. 6499. This offering will intensify the price
war in the fast-growing Indian tablet PC market. Recently, WishTel announced
its tablet for the education sector.
Furthermore, at the tablet launch Deepak Mehrotra, CEO at
Micromax told Telecomlead that Micromax is looking to grab 10 percent of the
total Indian mobile market share by 2013. The company will expand its dual-SIM
phone in coming days.
