India-Bound Cell Phone Costs $20, Does Nothing

Not everyone can afford a $400 Apple iPhone, let alone something like the $800 Nokia N96. Even so, not everyone needs all those crazy features and functions. Whether you fall in the former camp or the latter, there’s a reason why you may be interested in this latest development. A telecommunications corporation based out of India plans to release a $20 mobile phone aimed at developing nations like India and China. By keeping the price down, they hope to bring cell phone adoption up.

This goes even further than what Motorola attempted to do with the MOTOFONE, a handset that was already pretty inexpensive compared to most of its contemporaries. The handset has yet to receive an official model number, but it has been referred to as the people’s phone, largely because of its incredibly affordable nature. Your call center buddy won’t have to take too many calls before he can afford one of his own.

To keep the costs down as far as they are, the developers have packed absolutely nothing into the people’s phone. There’s no integrated camera, built-in MP3 player, or even a calendar function. Heck, this thing doesn’t even have a screen! All it can do is make and receive calls, just like the old rotary deals that your grandma used to use.

At least it won’t smell like mothballs.