Slideshow from The Five Dollar Comparison on Flickr

This week my former bossman, Rhys Newman, presented the "Five Dollars Comparision" in New York and Toronto during a Nokia Design roadshow. It seems a good occasion to join Rhys, Jan and Julian and follow-up on my presentation at Design Engaged 08.

Since the mid-80's, a handful of companies have manufactured and sold more than 3 billion mobile phones from the Nokia 1010 to the StarTAC (first clamshell) to the Nokia 5110 (simplex UI) to the Ericsson T68 (first colour display) to Vertu (first luxury phone) to the BlackBerry (first corporate digital leash) to the iPhone, but the only product that actually matters and has made a difference is the Nokia 1100. Since its introduction in 2003, 200 million have been sold, providing affordable communication throughout the world.

The desire to communicate personally and conveniently is as relevant to a banker in New York as it is to a farmer on the outskirts of New Delhi. In November 2007, the total number of mobile phone subscriptions worldwide had reached 3.3 billion, which also makes the mobile phone the most widely spread technology and the most common electronic device in the world. ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré announced in September 2008 that worldwide mobile phone subscriptions are likely to reach the 4 billion mark before the end of this year.

However, handset cost remains the biggest barrier to accessing mobile connectivity for the world's remaining 3 billion people. Ongoing service costs, whilst significant, can be paid in smaller increments - as little as a few cents in some parts of the world. Today, advances in technology and manufacturing allow us to envision a world where the price of a mobile phone is dramatically lower than today.

Photo © Julian Bleecker, Montreal, 2008

As discussed with Aaron Straup Cope in the back of a taxi in Montreal with Julian Bleecker in the front seat, the global spread of low cost personal communication will have a profound impact on the world around us. It will change our perception of distance and time and affect our notions of community, authority and trust. In some communities, lower costs will introduce services such as personal banking for the very first time. With a phone number and the inherent credit identity it affords, access to financial services will be opened to the previously un-banked, and business opportunities will arise. In some emerging countries an increase of ten mobile phones per 100 people translates into approximately 0.6% growth in GDP, which directly converts into food on the table, a decrease in child mortality, and better education and health. In other communities the phone will become an object that is bought and disposed of on a whim, like a pen or a book. These changes challenge what and how we manufacture, and place a greater emphasis on sustainability.

Fivedollarcomparison.org is a small step to broaden the discussion, and explore the relative value of five dollars and how the impact of a truly connected planet might vary across cultures and contexts by asking a simple question: What can you buy for five dollars?

Recent submissions reveal that one can get a bowl of pork ramen in Shibuya, one porter to haul up to 25 kilos for half-a-day on the Inca Trail, a taxi with English speaking driver in Kabul, a cappuccino & 3 cookies at Blue Bottle Coffee in San Francisco, a set of customised rickshaw mud flaps in Ahmedabad, a live hen for supper in Kabale, a Motorola StarTAC on eBay, and a day labour at a farm in Thailand.

Please let us know what kind of object or service one can buy for five dollars in your neck of the woods by emailing your submissions to add@fivedollarcomparison.org or adding them to the five dollar comparison group at Flickr. Please read through the guidelines on Fivedollarcomparison.org/participate.

The fivedollarcomparison.org site is put together by Tom Arbisi, BJ Bandy, Julian Bleecker, Duncan Burns, Jan Chipchase, John Evans, Johan Frossen, Andrew Gartrell, Josephine Gianni, Raphael Grignani, Simon James, Phillip Lindberg, Rhys Newman, Pawena Thimaporn, Kurt Walecki and Pascal Wever.