When you read the history of the cell phone in the United States what stands out is the exponential growth of the technology.
The business model is very technological driven. Improvements in cell phone capacity and ability continue to rise along the Moore’s Law curve.
Most consumers, especially younger ones, love new technology and they’re encouraged with upfront costs buffeted by cell phone companies. You know how it works; buy your new smart phone at a deep discount but sign for a two-year service plan in order to operate it.
You can buy a new 4S iPhone in China but the carriers there don’t operate on the same business model. In China iPhones are going for about $800. Ironic when you consider that the phone is made in China at Foxx Industries.
People rarely use a phone all the way to the end of its designed lifetime. Most are getting new phones about every one to two years when their contract allows for an upgrade to the newest and latest.
So what happens to all those old cell phones? I bet you have one or two lying around your house somewhere in a drawer. There is personal data on that phone and you probably don’t feel comfortable throwing it away. So you don’t. Now, multiply that story by 300 million contracts and users. Then multiply that by 20 years (when the cell phone business evolved more into selling contracts than selling phones, luring in existing and new customers with the “latest” technology) and you ‘ve amassed a colossal number of old cell phones.
The industry has an estimate on the number of old phones — they say about 500 million cell phones are just sitting around, no longer being used. Ninety-percent of the phones sold in America, in the last 25 years, are still out there somewhere. That is half a billion unused phones, just in the United States and it’s also a lot of precious metal and plastic.
Source: CBSDFW
By Jeff Ray