While out shopping today in Tesco (UK Supermarket selling many things including food) I spotted a very small mobile been sold sim-free for £18. The board advertising this explained that it makes an ideal 2nd emergency mobile phone that is sim-free, unlocked and is to be used when your super smart (but battery intensive) Smart phone (read iphone, Android) runs out of juice.
It was a surprise hit over the holiday period in fact, selling in excess of 20,000 in a two week period and you can see why:
- Very cheap to buy
- Very long battery life
- Simple to operate (you call people – how retro is that)
- Slim line – fits in pocket easy.
- No major problem if you loose it while drunk.
Further, As skinny jeans are becoming more and more fashionable, 69% of Brits — apparently — find it uncomfortable to squeeze a stupidly large mobile phone in their pocket.
I would like to point out that the iPhone is pretty skinny. But if you assume an average total 18-month cost of an iPhone as £800, you could buy about 44 Party Phones for the same price. The Party phone is unlocked so it’ll work on any network (apart from 3).
