It’s kawaii, it looks like a birth control pack, it comes in pink, paisley, and other “feminine” colours. Yes, new from DoCoMo (Japan’s largest provider of mobile phones) is the FOMA D702iF:
It also comes with a number of features designed to appeal exclusively to women: the “biorhythm memo” alerts you 3 days before, and on the day of, your ovulation (I’m NOT joking – click here); a recipe database that, I suppose, allows you to keep on top of all those recipes as you fritter away your time on your endless commute; and, best of all, it has a “camouflage melody” that allows you to press a subtly located button on the side of the phone in order to pretend that you’ve got a call coming in, so that you can avoid any pesky people who may want to talk to you in public (yes, Blanche DuBois, you can shake off all those unsuitable gentlemen suitors with the press of a button).
It’s also designed to “fit a woman’s hand” with a “round form” and a “feminine size”, which reminds me of the article I read in the Nikkei weekly several months ago about mobile phone manufacturers’ research into phone size relative to women’s hands. If I recall correctly, the result was that the phones should not be longer than 24 or 25mm in order to fit into a woman’s hand, which was supposedly much more comfortable than other phones which tend to be a full 3mm longer (yes, three millimetres).
While I am in the market for a new mobile, I think I’ll give this one a pass…
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… is this DoCoMo’s not-so-subtle way to aid the falling birthrate in Japan or what? the phones are certainly cute, and i’m all for smaller sizes, but a phone telling me when i’m ovulating…it’s BEYOND creepy.
Okay, that is hilarious. I wonder how well it is selling or will sell? I think if it was marketed in the states it would sell like hotcakes.
マリヤ, it’s true, there is some speculation about the motive behind this. Personally, with the birthrate so low, I’d look at it the other way: the memo could function as a reminder of when you shouldn’t do it. The phone was, after all, designed by a woman…
Weescunner, I know – too funny! You should get them for Rogers…!!
This is quite a up-to-date information. I’ll share it on Facebook.