You’ll shortly be able to buy a one-time-use mobile handset complete with pre-installed SIM card with 60 minutes worth of traffic — extendable by top-up vouchers. So reports StrategyEye.
The deal is coming to us courtesy of everybody’s favourite maker of plastic pens, BIC. Yes! The mobile phone is now truly becoming a commodity. Alcatel-Lucent are knocking together the handset with BIC. Orange reckons the handset will retail for around 49 EURO. Or about, what, 35 quid?
The StrategyEye report mentions a possible launch date for the BIC Phone or “BICPhone” in France at the end of this coming summer. No news if we’ll get it in the UK or beyond.
So, disposable handsets? A good idea?
Well they’re already here — the Woolworths shopping chain, for example, routinely sells PAYG handsets for sub £20 pounds. They’re not BIC-pen-disposable though. At least, they’re not meant for that.
Case in point: Get yourself an Alcatel OT-S520 on Virgin for £19.99:
Or browse the best sellers:
Granted, these handsets don’t come with 60 minutes airtime — at best, they usually come with enough for a minute or two’s worth of chatting. It’ll be interesting to see if the BICPhone stands up to the existing PAYG favourites.
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Secondly, I predict that Friends of the Earth et al will come up with a carbon/toxic footprint for disposable mobiles quicker than you can say 'Offset Mobile Stupidity'. The gummint should be doing everything in its power to legislate stupid ideas like this off the face of the planet. The amount of toxic materials in the battery & PCB/screen of mobiles means they should be absolutely the LAST thing to be encouraged as 'Disposable'. Our waterways and landfills will bear the burden of all the nasties in these devices. And it's a given that anything made to this price point will be manufactured in a very dodgy, non-eco or socially responsible manner.
After all Orange's green loveliness around Glasto, and indeed their policy HERE this would be an act of corporate stupidity bordering on reckless. It's household mums who mostly decide which phones they & their children use, and it would be ever-so-easy for any number of green-leaning women's magazines to generate a wave of mumsy negativity toward Orange, or indeed any MNO pushing 'disposable' handsets.
Grrr.....
/m
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But even I can see that this is a bad idea, surely it wouldn't be too much to setup a recycling point in each Orange store and take back these BIC handsets for re-cycling in exchange for a £10 orange voucher or something. I suppose disposable cameras are good for this as they have to be sent back to have the film extracted and can be recycled at that point.
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I've heard of these on CSI (a great source of knowledge though!), but even so, I can't see the point in them. If you want a Pay as You Go phone, buy one. As highlighted, Woolworths sell a number of phones (which arn't locked, I've bought (in the past), phones from there and used them with a number of sim's.
I'll also point out that the "beloved" Carphone Warehouse are also selling a number of cheap phones, I think there is even one that is £15... I can't remember. But it has potential. Last time I was in there an elderly couple were browsing it up, and comparing it to to the £20 option.
As Mike said in the previous comment, ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES? What operator is going to want to associate themseleves with such unenvironmentally friendly phones and business?
I don't see it catching on here, and I don't see the point in it. If you want a phone you want to use for Pay as You Go, or for messing about with, or what-have-you, why not invest in a £15 or £20 option, which is reusable, and easily unlockable, which means you'll get an even better deal out of it?
Samantha.
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Wouldn't mind dropping one of this... (at around 12,000ft)
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I'm writing you in response to your article about the BIC ® Phone..
First of all, this mobile phone is not disposable. It can serve as a primary, or an emergency, mobile phone.. This device is rechargeable, comes with its own battery, and has a life span identical to any other mobile.No matter how affordable it is, the BIC ® Phone is not disposable.
That’s all for the details !
If you would like more information about this product, please visit www.bic-phone.com.
Thanks
Samuel
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