January 8, 2005
‘Made in Saudi Arabia' mobile phones
A new breed of mobile phones will come out of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the end of January—the Islamic Saudi Mobile Phone, reports GMR News
"The first ‘Made in Saudi Arabia' mobile phone is manufactured by KSA-based Saudi Television Manufacturing Company (STMC). The technology that was developed to be able to manufacture the phones has reportedly cost as much as $9 million.
“The product is made without collaboration with any foreign manufacturer,” said Ghazi Saleh Al-Shalhoub, chairman of STMC as quoted in Arab News.
The new phone supposedly has a high memory capacity, has the ability to save incoming and outgoing numbers and record calls lasting more than fifteen minutes. The phone is also equipped with a battery that is supposed to last twelve hours of use.
Qibla direction and prayer times in over 5,000 cities worldwide are also provided within the phone, which will be available in a variety of languages including Arabic, English, French, Urdu, Persian and Bahasa Indonesia.
Related:
-- «Islamic» cell phone - Ilkone Mobile Telecommunications based in Dubai has announced the launch of a new mobile phone for the Islamic community, with built in electronic device & special software to give automatic direction to Mecca, complete English translation for the Holy Quran meaning, complete azan voice for prayer calls and Hijri and Gregorian calendar displays.
-- Compass Mobile Phone for Muslims - LG Electronics (LGE) has developped a GPRS mobile phone equipped with a compass and programmed to indicate direction
-- digital muezzin - Muslim Faithful have used a short messaging service for years as a digital muezzin, texting them to prayer five times a day from the cellular towers instead of minarets.
-- Saudia Arabia and Camera phones - Links to articles related to Saudi Arabia's ban on camera phones (recently overturned).
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