Mobile phones and development | Calling an end to poverty | Economist.com

Mobile phones and development | Calling an end to poverty | Economist.com: "Handset-makers earn most of their profits from fancy phones sold to consumers in rich countries, where on average a handset costs around $200 (before operator subsidies). But as markets have become saturated in the rich world, manufacturers have started to realise that their future growth depends on catering to the needs of developing nations. As a result, they have been working with operators to develop new extremely cheap handsets and to boost adoption in the poor world . . .
As handset-makers respond to this new market, prices will continue to fall. “We will give you the volumes so that you can continue to drive down prices,” promised Sunil Mittal, boss of Bharti, a big Indian operator, at a recent industry conference. On June 29th Philips, a Dutch electronics firm, announced a new range of chips designed to take handset costs below $20. "