Niche Biz: Instant-Use Phone By BIC
BIC, the French purveyor of billions of lighters, pens and razors, recently launched the anti-iPhone.
No waiting in line, no activation, no costly plans and no frills whatsoever. BIC phones, which retail at EUR 49 and come in orange and green versions, are ready to go: the battery is charged, SIM card installed and the phone comes with 10 talk minutes that are valid without registering with network provider Orange.
Once the 10 minutes are up, customers can activate with Orange for a further 50 free minutes, and can buy top-up cards for more talk time.
BIC/Orange stress that this isn’t a disposable phone, more of a back-up phone for households to use when an extra, dedicated line might be useful—when selling a car or an apartment, for example.
We can also see these selling well at airports, for travellers who want a local phone to avoid roaming charges, and want to be able to use it immediately without first having to charge or activate.
Photo by BIC.
Angela on July 28th, 2008 1:08 pm
I use a prepay phone as my everyday phone, and love it.
The BIC phone idea sounds pretty exciting. I am curious how much money per minute it would average out to, though. I suppose that wouldn’t matter for a short term phone, but if this really isn’t intended as a throw-away phone, that could be very important to the customer.
cassy on August 2nd, 2008 9:26 pm
This is interesting, i hope they can elaborate more about this product.
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