November 2006

Become an environmentally smart user

As mobile technology evolves, we are beginning to see the replacement of traditional business methods such as the production and transportation of goods with digital counterparts. Known as immaterialization, the replacement can significantly reduce the need for travel, paper consumption, and so forth, which has the potential to lower societal use of fossil fuels. Activities that currently use large amounts of energy and raw materials now have the potential to be transferred into digital space.

Mobile devices are getting smaller and digital functionalities and services such as games, shopping, email, fax, and internet access are becoming available to consumers on a single multimedia device. By minimizing the need for physical materials — known as dematerialization - consumers and companies can reduce their overall environmental impacts.

We do however understand that there is an increased need for more efficient products and services, pushing development towards ever-shorter mobile device use. Our lifecycle focus aids in reducing the total environmental impacts of our products by targeting products holistically in various phases of use and non-use. Continued exploration of dematerialization and immaterialization concepts help us to minimize the impacts stemming from increased mobile technology expectations from consumers.

Even the smallest of actions count

Remember to unplug

Did you know you can further save energy by unplugging the phone when it isn’t charging? While it sounds simple, basic ideas such as this translate into significant energy savings. We are looking into tools, such as adding visual reminders on phone screens, to raise consumer awareness of this issue.

We appreciate that we have a certain responsibility towards the environment and try to meet these responsibilities in our day to day actions. Our consumers share in this responsibility as well. Recycling a phone and its packaging or simply writing a shopping list in digital space rather than on a notepad — these actions can all be seen as positive steps towards a greener lifestyle.