Tonight my sister-in-law suggested an idea that I’d probably never really thought about before until this evening. Although I’m not sure about the widespread use I can see the benefits for some users.
My sister-in-law’s idea is that she would like a smaller, non-hi-tech device that shared the same number as her larger smartphone. Yep, she’s looking for a device that’s JUST a phone. She doesn’t need it to do anything other than ring when someone calls her cellphone number.
Sometimes she doesn’t want to be bothered or have the distraction of everything that’s available on the smart phone. The other use was for when she was out running and jogging she could be “available” by phone, but without the weight or bulk of the larger, more feature rich device.
The challenge is having two devices share the same phone number. I’m not sure what the better solution would be, a cloned SIM card or the ability to assign the same number to two different SIM cards.
What do you think of this functionality? A waste, or do you see the potential benefit and value for some users?
Image: stefan on flickr