Cell Phones From The Street

Finnish mobile-phone giant Nokia recently completed a year’s worth of market research in the shantytowns of three fast-growing cities—Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro, and Ghana’s Accra. The goal: to grasp the technology needs of this demographic. In each locale, Nokia set up booths and asked people to design their dream phones, unveiling the drawings in London on Apr. 29. Submissions included the multimedia phone at left, designed by an Accra resident, and a star-shaped model that houses several SIM cards—reflecting the need of many Africans to access more than one network operator to get reliable coverage. See the entries at businessweek.com/go/08/dreamphones. –Kerry Capell in London