Lava

Saw the latest advertisement from Lava Mobiles. First could not understand what was so special about the keypad and why were they focussing on a Qwerty Keypad while every tom, dick and harry is having one. But then it dawned that it is not a Qwerty Keypad. It is a ABCDE Keypad - called Alpha Keypad. Instead of copying a computer keyboard, they have done it differently. 

The first reaction, however is "Silly". The argument being that everyone today has a computer and is accustomed to typing on a Qwerty keyboard, so ideally the mobile should also have that.  

But it may not be that silly actually. Many people do have computers but everyone may not be an expert in typing on high speeds on that. Even if one is quite adept at it, doing it on a mobile is a different ball game, specially if you are shifting from a normal mobile keypad where you have to press the same button 3 times to go to a "C" and where the alphabets are not jumbled up but in order. 

I myself took sometime to adapt to a qwerty keypad on mobile despite using a computer for 6 hours almost everyday for the past 10 years. 

Only the keypad may not be the reason for the success or failure of the model but it would be interesting to follow the user comments on this experiment. 

P.S: Lava has two research labs so good thought must have gone behind the move. Also read recently that the new rupee symbol has also been incorporated on the kepypad.