Israeli Company Develops $20,000 Secure Cell Phone

TEL AVIV – The latest player in the mobile arena is a $20,000 cellphone made by Israeli-founded Sirin Labs AG.

Set to be released at the end of this month, the high-end handset claims to be the closest thing there is to an unhackable phone, offering “the most secure phone in the commercial market.”

The company, which is Swiss-incorporated, harnessed Israel’s prowess in the field of cyber-security to develop the phone.

Sirin CEO Tal Cohen told ISRAEL21c that the phone is intended for a niche market, namely members of the business community who require a phone that can securely store sensitive data and the super-rich.

According to Cohen’s estimate, about 60 million people would be interested in Sirin’s phone. Nothing like it, he says, is currently on the market.

“We’re selling a solution. And we are not trying to gain a huge market share. We’ve developed a product that meets the needs of specific clients. We’re in no rush to sell millions of phones,” he said, adding that the company has no interest in creating a “bling phone with diamonds on its back.”

“We’re making a phone with specific technologies and we’re pricing it as it costs us to build and distribute,” Cohen added.

“The business community has very specific needs. If you look at the Fortune 500 companies or the FTSE 250, the heads of these companies carry extremely sensitive business information. So we’re looking at thousands of business corporations that have between half a dozen to a dozen people who need to have very secure communication. This market would easily reach hundreds of thousands of business people with a clear need to protect their information and would be happy to get the right device to do that,” said Cohen.

Cohen, who is also a former McKinsey consultant, claims that selling 10,000 phones by year’s end would be considered “a phenomenal success” for the company.

“Unlike mainstream technology companies where price is paramount, Sirin Labs doesn’t need to wait a couple of years before bringing the most advanced technology to its customers. We can offer them tomorrow’s technology, today. Cost doesn’t influence our decision-making; optimal functionality and quality do,” he said.