Although LG, Samsung and a few others announced and showed solar based phones, the only phones that we could touch and feel are being designed and marketed by US and Taiwan based startup Commtiva Technology and Chinese major ZTE. Both companies are using Intivation’s chipset that essentially acts as a step up convertor.

If the solar cell on the phone is exposed to the sun for an hour – the customer should be able talk on the phone for 15 minutes or have it on standby for 15 hours. “A newer more integrated chipset is expected later in the year that should be 10%-15% more efficient than the existing chipset,” according to Frans W. Biegstraaten, VP Asia Pacific Region of  Intivation who until recently was the CEO of the company.

Intivation appears to be like a “classic” startup where value is created over a long period where management continues to find innovate approaches and the investor group has faith in the core technology and supports management.

DIGICEL VALUES THE TECHNOLOGY

Intivations’s technology gained true legitimacy when Digicel, headquartered in Ireland and operator of networks in the  Caribbean, Central America and  the South Pacific endorsed Intivations’s approach and placed an order for ZTE’s’s Coarl-Solar 200 .  This phone is ideal for market like Haiti where 25% of Digicel’s customer base does not have access to electricity. Solar-based cell phones are the obvious choice for these customers as the price differential between the Coral-Solar 200 and the phone with the exact same specifications (excluding the solar panel) is $10.

“Digicel had subsidized 400,000 solar chargers to its customers and noticed that average revenue per user (ARPU) increased,” according to Tom Bryant, Vice President of Digicel. Industry experts told us that it is possible to achieve ARPU increases in the 10%-15% range.

 Digicel/ZTE Coral-Solar 200

“The ZTE Coral-Solar” should be launched in June”, According to Mr. Eric Zhang, General Manager of ZTE, Central America and Caribbean. He believes the price of the phone will be $40. The company was not able to provide us with any detailed specifications of the phone.

COMMTIVA Siene Solar

Commtiva  Technology was started in late 2007 by veterans on Motorola.’s handset division.  The company is planning to ship product in 90 days and start sampling in 4 weeks. According to Mr. Jonathan Nattrass, Vice President of Marketing, “Commtiva’s Siene Solar is being tested by customers in Latin America & Africa.” Responding to our concern about the potential of the solar panel being damaged if the phone accidently dropped, Mr. Nattrass confidently mentioned  “the durability of the Siene Solar is similar to those of other devices in its non-solar category”.

We will not be surprised to see the company announce partnerships with operators in the coming months.

2010 and beyond should be the hyper-growth phase of solar integrated cell phones

The technology created by Intivation and integrated in the Commtiva Seine and ZTE Solar 200 is going to help consumers who do not have access to electricity. These customers will no longer have to travel long distances on a regular basis to “charging stations” and be victimized by “charge sharks” who demand exorbitant rates.

The market for solar-based phones is in early stages. We know there is considerable effort being undertaken at chip companies and handset manufacturers to provide products across different segments of the handset market.

We expect to test a couple of phones with built in solar panels in the next few months, Stay tuned for our experience.

For the mid to higher end segments of the market, we expect more announcements by major cell phone manufacturers in the coming months. Samsung and LG’s announcements are impressive and we are reasonably confident that these companies will ship devices in the coming year. Moreover, we expect a solar powered Andriod device ito be available later this year especially given Google’s commitment to green technology.

SUNTRICA

Suntrica is a Finland based company funded and by Juko Hayrynen, an executive with 25 years of wireless experience who has spent a significant part of his career at Nokia. Mr. Hayrynen recently became the CEO of the company. Suntrica provides:

Solar Strap: High end product to charge miscellaneous consumer devices

Solar Badge: Targeted to the developing world

According to the sanguine Mr. Hayrynen, “Suntrica’s solar devices contain highly efficient electronics and also the drainage of power is less when compared to competitive products.

We believe products like Suntrica and others can help the editor of our magazine who lives in a suburb of Delhi where there are 6 hours of scheduled power cuts daily. Jokingly, I wonder if we really want him to have his electronic devices working all the time – it may lead to more work for me.