Armenia’s First Smartphone Goes on Sale

YEREVAN (EurasiaNet) — Armenia’s first-ever smart phone arrived in stores on June 6, as the latest result of the country’s ongoing ambition to become the South Caucasus’ high-tech capital.

The debut of Armphone, a touchscreen, Android cell phone, made Armenia the second ex-Soviet republic after Russia to foray into the smartphone-manufacturing industry. The maker, a joint American-Armenian venture, Technology & Science Dynamics (TSD), has created an Android-run tablet, too, called Armpad.

Armphone features a 5.1-inch, full HD-screen and a price for between $100-$300, depending on features, according to one news report. (TSD itself does not specify a retail price.)

The combination of an affordable price and national pride makes the manufaturers confident of sales success. TSD used the motto “It is time for Armenian products” in its promotion for the phones, which, it claims, “will satisfy the pickiest of customers.”

“The buyers will be pleasantly surprised by the choice of ringtones based on music pieces by famous Armenian composers,” the company said.

A country of some 3.3 million, Armenia has been banking heavily on developing a high-tech industry to jumpstart its modest, predominantly agricultural-and-service-based, $10-billion economy.

Between 2008 and 2013, EurasiaNet.org found, Armenia’s IT industry grew at a rapid, 22-percent-per-year rate, to account for roughly five percent of the national economy in 2015, RFE/RL reported. Supported by the government, donor aid and private investment, the $550 million industry features both subsidiaries of international corporations and local startups.