A smarter, simpler phone - can this Australian team invent one?

A smarter, simpler phone - can this Australian team invent one?

• In: Blog
• By: maxine
• August 27th, 2008

Interesting story in today’s SMH technology section. Queensland based company Orange Dot are on a mission to design a mobile phone for adults with intellectual disabilities, many of whom find modern phones too complex and difficult to use.

That was the experience of a 34-year-old man with Down’s Syndrome, who having missed his bus connection was left stranded without any form of communication. He was eventually located after police and bus operators were alerted, just two kilometres from his home, having waited more than seven hours.

Cooper, who has been involved with a not-for-profit organisation that supports intellectually disabled adults in Brisbane, realised that many disabled people find modern phones too complex and difficult to use.

With the irritating feature-itus of so many mobile handsets, I’d be surprised if a product like this, if it’s designed well, didn’t find a much broader market.

Read the full story here.

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