A very interesting post from LunchoverIP reporting on Nokia anthropologist Younghee Jung's conference this morning at Geneva's LIFT 08 event.

"As part of Nokia's research, they ran a community design competition called "Nokia Open Studio" in three neighborhoods in Mumbai (Dharavi), Rio (Jacarezinho) and Accra (Buduburam).

They asked participants to design the cell phone they would like. Not surprising, most of the suggestions reflected local concerns and conditions

-- The woman who won in Mumbai wanted a device that she could just point to the sky to get the weather forecast (the community is heavily influenced by weather pattern)

-- In Rio, the winner suggested a phone that measures air pollution and ozone concentrations

-- In Accra, a waterproof phone capable of hosting 4 SIM cards, one per operator (using multiple SIM cards is common in Africa, to profit from specific rates).

Another original suggestion:

-- a built-in loudspeaker to make announcements at fairs and religious fairs