One in six cell phones have fecal bacteria growing on them.
In an effort to combat the filth growing on cell phones, BYU and UVU students have teamed up to develop a device that would clean cell phones.
The device is called PhoneSoap, and works by emitting UV rays that kill harmful bacteria that accumulates on cell phones.
While watching TV and hearing a report that cell phones have 18 times more harmful bacteria than a public bathroom, Jordan Monroe, a junior from Idaho studying entrepreneurship, was inspired to come up with a device that would eliminate this threat.
“I’m a bit of a germaphobe, and so I started to wonder how I could fix this,” Monroe said. “I originally wanted to develop a wipe, but people didn’t want their phones to get wet.”
The idea seems practical as students do not clean their phones very often.
“I never really clean my phone because if I do, I figure I will damage it,” said Leonard Yang, from Toronto, Canada.
The idea came as Monroe learned that UV light was often used at BYU to sterilize lab equipment.
“We looked into whether or not UV rays would ruin phones and discovered that they wouldn’t,” Monroe said. “Also, because we wanted to make the device something people would use every day, we added a phone charging feature so people would get into the habit of using it.”
The uniqueness of the idea also convinced others to get on board.
“When I heard about PhoneSoap, I got really excited. I definitely thought this could be something big and called Jordan wondering if I could get involved,” said Gabriel Villamizar, a senior from Venezuela studying marketing.
Intel chose Monroe, Villamizar and the rest of the PhoneSoap for a national competition which is giving away $100,000. In order to qualify for the finals, PhoneSoap needs to place fifth or better in the online voting process taking place of Facebook.
Voting ends Feb. 20, and Monroe encourages students wanting to support PhoneSoap to log onto Facebook and search for Intel Innovators. Once on the page, students will need to search for the Pitchroom and find the video for PhoneSoap. They can then click the application and invest up to 10,500 social capital points.
The product is due for sale in the BYU bookstore this September with retail prices estimated between $39 and $49.
