Movirtu – Cloud phone works just like email

The cost of owning a phone, the cost of owning a number and the cost of maintaining the phone/number through a service. Of the three, by far the cost of owning the phone is the biggest obstacle for telephone ownership. What if you don’t have to own a phone and yet can own a personal number? Movirtu’s cloud phone is trying to solve just that problem. A phone can work just like an email through a cloud based solution called cloud phone.

There is no extensive set-up or multiple steps involved in getting to your personal phone number. It has been simplified through some great user interface design. A user can log in using any phone and access his or her call history, browse through the missed call list, return back or make some calls and send text messages. Think of it as a very personal use on a very public system. The difference between this method and owning a SIM and inserting it into a borrowed phone is this : privacy. In the later method the contacts, messages are downloaded on to the host phone. Movirtu has averted that situation through their cloud phone and provided a personal way of making calls albeit on a public system.

Movirtu, with its cloud phone, solves the problems of privacy and affordability. It doesn’t yet solve the problem of synchronous communication needed for a phone which is extremely crucial for emergency situations. For some situations you have to receive the call yourself and not at some pre-determined time. It is not a one-size-fits-all situation and Movirtu alone cannot solve the problem of rural penetration. Cheap phones still continue to be the answer to most penetration problems. Until we get the cost of the phone down, cloud phones could bridge the divide between accessing and owning a phone number.

A combination of cloud phones and cheap handsets can solve the problem. They might converge at some point. With the dual, triple and quad SIM phones coming to market at cut throat prices, a two pronged approach wouldn’t hurt.

I don’t just see this as a tool for just the bottom of the pyramid. It can find many users in the urban areas too. A person who is really tired with being connected all the time can go really phone free and work with Movirtu. Ten minutes on a borrowed phone, of which there will be many, would be all that is needed.  Imagine spending only 10 minutes returning phone calls? With the very minimal volume of phone calls I get, I might be an ideal candidate to make that switch. That way I can cut down my phone bill too.

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