A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to interview Younghee Jung, the globetrotting Nokia ethnographer whose job is to research how people use their mobile phones all over the world. While doing preparatory research, I came across footage of Jung doing a presentation where she explained how an Indian girl from an impoverished rural region used her phone: "The mobile phone is the only electronic device in her house," Jung explained, "and she records TV or radio from outside with her phone so she can replay them at home."
If a cell phone manufacturer tried to sell us "rich-world" folk on using our phones to record other people's TVs to watch back in our apartments, we'd probably scoff; similarly, though Vladimir Pavlenko's Aylampa concept has been decried as "impractical" by the TUAW blog and others, I actually think it's a great idea for developing countries.
Pavlenko's concept is a flexible phone holder that plugs into power and turns your phone into a lamp. While that's not practical for the vast majority of you reading this blog, for those in this world for whom a mobile phone is their only electronic appliance, I think this makes perfect sense, pre-supposing a power supply (and admittedly using a not-so-high-end phone).
Pavlenko, if you're reading this, please do drop us a line; apparently your name is common and I was unable to locate your main portfolio site.