OT-209
When they first launched in the 1980s, mobiles were the size of a brick, cost several thousand pounds and were the preserve of businessmen who considered themselves the height of sophistication. Today you can pick up a mobile for less than the cost of a loaf bread.
Charles Dunstone, founder and chairman of Carphone Warehouse, yesterday heralded the arrival of the cheapest ever mobile phone - priced at just 99p. "It is the cheapest phone we have ever sold," Mr Dunstone said of the pre-pay Alcatel OT-209 which went on sale nationwide on Friday.
But Mr Dunstone warned that cheap "calls and texts" phone is unlikely to prove a big hit with the youth market this Christmas. "These days if you can't access Facebook [kids will say] 'Thanks very much Santa, but I want one of those [smartphones]," he said.
Customers can walk out of the store with the phone after paying 99pence (around RS 70 ) for handset and £10 on Virgin Mobile credit.
Mr Dunstone, who owns 32.5pc of Carphone, predicted that the overall pre-pay mobile market will "explode" this Christmas as the cost of sophisticated smartphones continues to drop.
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