Mobile Asia 2006 kicks off in India  

NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Shivraj V Patil has inaugurated “Mobile Asia
2006” — an international exhibition of mobile phones, where thousands of
youngsters thronged to buy the latest models of their favorite cell phones.

Inaugurating the exhibition, Patil said that the vision of the industry
should be to make available “two cellphones for every Indian.” The Home
Minister was responding to a comment of Pankaj Mohindroo, President, Indian
Cellular Association, that one out of every two Indians will have mobile phone
in the next few years. 

“Being connected,” Patil said, “is extremely important to help grow the
economy of the country”. Skeptics always raise alarm when a new technology is
introduced or evolved in the country, the Minister said, pointing out that they
have proved wrong when they opposed the computerization in country some time
back. 

Patil asked the industry to pool resources to make India a great R&D
centre for new technologies. 

The most popular attraction was the Mobile Shopping Street where the major
cellphone companies and service providers sold mobile phones at concessional
rates as compared to the MRP in the market. The cheapest handset available for
sale was for Rs 1,700 and the high-end set was at Rs 45,000. 

Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu was the star attraction when
he launched i-mate JAQ, the world's first touch screen messaging PDA phone
priced Rs 25,000. 

Vendors and service providers like Airtel, AOL, Haier, I-mate, LG, Motorola,
Molife, Nokia, Reliance Communications, Sagem, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Tata
Teleservices displayed their new and mobile sets and other applications. Tata
Teleservices also launched a slim version of walkie (landline) phone.