Vodafone to showcase how mobile can help women

Rating: Summit will help publicise thing like the TecSOS handset

To illustrate how mobile phones can be put to good purposes – especially to help womenVodafone Group, and Sir Andrew the London Business School are organising a Mobile for Good Summit .It will be held later this month December 10th 2012 in London but is invitation only. Shame because some of the speakers are pretty well-know. The list includes Ex- UK Prime Minister’s wife, Cherie Blair; ex-Autonomy boss, Dr Mike Lynch; and Yafang Sun who is chairwoman of the board with Huawei. Vodafone also appears to have created an online app to publicise Mobile for Good. There’s also something called a TecSOS handset for women in danger from domestic violence.The organisers say the summit will provide a platform for announcing new research and partnerships, showcasing innovative solutions using mobile technology.

An showcase example of technology in action is the TecSOS handset developed by the Vodafone Spain Foundation in collaboration with the Spanish Red Cross.

Aimed at women who have previously suffered from domestic violence, the handset enables a user to push a central button and activate immediate contact with the emergency services.

Thanks to mobile technology, of course, it can then provide instant details of location. Plus it automatically starts recording all activity in the immediate vicinity.

To date, the handsets have been used by 20,543 women in five European countries.

As Vodafone’s CEO, Vittorio Colao, observes, “”This [mobile] is one of the most transformative technologies in human history, leading people in emerging markets out of poverty and changing the way businesses operate everywhere.”

GoMobile News discovered there is a ‘Mobile for Good Player’ on the summit’s web site. It is intended to enable users to watch mp4 style videos made to promote the Vodafone Foundation’s activities.

Sadly, Vodafone doesn’t provide any information about the player. It’s no an app, so GoMobile News suspects its an HTLM5 based online app.

Scan the barcode (below) and see for yourselves.