Monday, January 14, 2008

Nokia to drive mobile industry's green agenda



"Going green" has been popular for some time now, but it would appear we are now arriving at the inflection point for the mobile industry.

Nokia's CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallusvuo, has committed the company to drive trends in this area, calling for increased environmental sustainability in the industry. The company announced moves to continue reducing the amount of packaging used and is introducing more efficient phone chargers to its new handset models.It is also committing to include higher percentages of recycled materials in handset manufacture (part of your old car will soon be incorporated as steel casing for new handsets!)

Nokia's Eco-Sensor concept (pictured above)launched last December may be more of a gimmick than a response to actual consumer demand, but it does encourage an awareness of the local environment and pollutant levels (such as carbon monoxide).


Quite how the issue of environmental sustainability will be dealt with at next month's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona (MWC)remains to be seen, but signs are that operators will follow Nokia's lead and begin to raise awareness of the green footprint of mobile usage. Initiatives like mobile handset recycling are also likely to take a more prominent role at the MWC.

As "green awareness" builds up, new opportunities will also emerge for start-ups able to capitalise on increasing consumer demand for "green" mobile products and services. Is it realistic to expect a mobile platform for trading carbon offset credits to come to our mobile portal sometime soon?

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