Israel’s mobile technologies for disabled find mass market appeal

By Tova Cohen TEL AVIV (Reuters) – Israeli technology firms catering to the country’s disabled war veterans are exploring ways to bring their innovations to the mass market with applications that make mobile phones easier to use. Israel, with its thriving start-up scene and large number of military veterans, is a natural incubator of technology for the disabled, some of which is proving useful to able bodied users as well. “That’s the secret sauce to go to scale,” said Andrew Johnson, an analyst with market research firm Gartner Inc. A phone for the blind developed by Project Ray also allows drivers to operate a device without taking their eyes off the road, while Sesame Enable’s hands-free phone, crucial for paralysed users, offers convenience to all. Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone grew out of work on hearing and speech products for the deaf, while Thomas Edison envisaged the phonograph as a means of recording books for the blind.
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