The BGV team all got our Fairphones about a month ago and as you can see from the photo we were very excited. It’s the first physical product to come back from a BGV team and holding one in our hands was a very proud moment.
So Fairphone, many of you will have heard the buzz, but few of you will know that when they first approached us almost 2 years ago, we thought they were a little mad. How could a tiny company like them compete against the giants of the mobile world especially when the practices of those giants meant they could stretch their margins further than anyone else.
But we thought why not, we’d seen Blood in the Mobile, we’d read about the horrific practices at Foxconn factories and we knew something needed to change. We liked that this team had decided that a campaign was not enough – if they really wanted to change things they needed to prove that an ethical phone was possible, and the only way to do this was to make one.
They set themselves a difficult task: Finding ethical mines and factories. Managing the supply chains to make sure the tin and tantalum from the mines got to the right places. Ensuring worker welfare. Making a beautiful, useful phone. Final packaging and shipping. Getting it all done in time for Christmas (or not!) Sharing the story. Being open – free in the sense of speech, not just beer.
Two years later and they have proved not only the possibility of a fairphone but the fact that there is an undeniable appetite for it as well. In the autumn they pre-sold 25,000 fairphones and now have over 30,000 more people in the waiting list for their next batch.
Get your own fairphone here.
