Kizmo

The New York Times ran an article last month about some very intense user research. “User Anthropologists” travel cross continents for Nokia to determine how the design of phones can be informed by the needs of people who live anywhere from mud huts to tin roofs and beyond.

Cell phones typically conjure up images of gab and high-energy (annoying) commercials. An except from this article provides a much more wholesome take, one that highlights in-country development and women’s empowerment:

“After Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel-winning founder of Grameen Bank, began making microloans to women in poor countries so that they could buy revenue-producing assets like cows and goats, he was approached by a Bangladeshi expat living in the U.S. named Iqbal Quadir. Quadir posed a simple question to Yunus — If a woman can invest in a cow, why can’t she invest in a phone? — that led to the 1996 creation of Grameen Phone Ltd. and has since started the careers of more than 250,000 “phone ladies” in Bangladesh, which is considered one of the world’s poorest countries. Women use microcredit to buy specially designed cellphone kits costing about $150, each equipped with a long-lasting battery. They then set up shop as their village phone operator, charging a small commission for people to make and receive calls.”