A smartphone developed specifically for Côte d’Ivoire citizens who cannot read or write has gone on sale in the country.

According to Reuters, the Open G smartphone understands voice commands in 16 of the country’s approximately 60 languages. It is also the first smartphone to be fully assembled in Côte d’Ivoire.

Company founder, Alain Capo-Chichi, says the phone was created to enable people like his parents, who are illiterate, to send messages or transfer money.

‘In Africa the problem we have … is that reading and writing is not accessible to everyone,’ he says. ‘People can use their smartphones much more easily by simply speaking to them.’

Thousands of the units have been sold since the smartphone went on sale last month.

30 August 2022
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