The first "truly global" phone?

Yesterday at the TechCrunch40 conference, Irish startup Cubic Telecom showed off what it claimed was the first "truly global" mobile handset, the Cubic Mobile(image [1]). The handset is a dual-band GSM/WiFi device that makes use of the MAXroam SIM card. The SIM claims to be "universal" and includes favorable country-to-country phone rates anywhere in the world. Cubic said the SIM is the product of years of negotiations with GSM carriers. The phone also boasts full PBX functionality, which allows the user to create up to 50 permanent local phone numbers.

"We are living in a world where more and more people need to make phone calls across borders and while traveling. Our mantra is 'all global calls should be local calls', and we have built a product that can do that," said Cubic CEO and co-founder Pat Phelan.

For more on Cubic's phone:
- read this press release [2]