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Which religion has the best cell phone?

April 18, 2008, 09:56 AM —  Computerworld — 

Religious devotees around the world enjoy expressing their faith with customized
religious cell phones, which may play religious ringtones, carry scripture or
provide guidance, content filtering and other services specific to each religion.
These phones are customized and marketed directly to religious communities in
various parts of the world.

Which of the world's greatest religions, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism,
Sikhism and Judaism (listed in order of size), has the world's greatest cell
phone?

While researching this article, I was unable to find a single Christian, Hindu
or Sikh cell phone. I'm not saying they're not out there somewhere, just that
I'm "agnostic" on the point. I just don't know.

That there is no Christian cell phone may surprise you. In fact, Christians
lead the world in cell phone accessories and software, including cell phone
stickers and cases, ringtones and Bible-related content specific to phones.
So it's easy for Christians to assemble their own faith-based cell phones from
widely available "parts." But, to the best of my knowledge, nobody
is selling a pre-packaged "Christian cell phone" designed to be marketed
to Christians.

Also note that, although the Apple
iPhone
is sometimes referred to as the "Jesus phone," it's not
a Christian cell phone per se, and thus cannot be included in this little contest
of mine.

That leaves us with the top three contenders: Islam, Buddhism and Judaism.
So here they are, listed in reverse order: The top three religious cell phones.

No. 3: The Jewish cell phone

A few years ago, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi approached Abrasha Burstyn, the CEO
of Mirs Communications Ltd., an Israeli subsidiary of Motorola
Inc.
, with a proposed cell phone concept. The result is a phone that fulfills
what the rabbi saw as a need to block objectionable content from the eyes and
ears of other ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel, which by some accounts represent
about 7% of the Israeli population.

The phone is inaccurately referred to in the Israeli press as the "Kosher
Phone." A gadget can't actually be "Kosher," but it does come
with the approval of what is, essentially, a censorship board called the Rabbinical
Committee for Communications.

While most religious cell phones start out as regular cell phones, and are
augmented with additional religious "stuff," the "Kosher phone"
has less, not more. It has been stripped of functionality, and simply makes
and receives calls. It can't text or access the Internet. There's no camera.
And more than 10,000 phone numbers for dating services and sex hotlines have
been blocked.

Here's the best part. The "Kosher phone" offers steeply discounted
per-minute charges when calling another "Kosher phone." But it will
cost

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