Reinventing the payphone is not only about a sleeker design or a digital display, it is about radically re-imagining a public service.
Recently in the U.S. there were numerous interesting designs at the New York City's Reinvent Payphones competition, and NYFi was selected in the NYC's Payphones challenge.
NYFi is an interactive portal to public information, goods, and services, a hub for free wireless internet access, and an open infrastructure for future applications. Even if each NYFi hub would dish out free WiFi and off load off of the cellular network, display ads in a convenient way and works as bus ticket machines, Muni Meters, MetroCard distributors…
Who needs a payphone in NYC today, when the global cellular penetration reached 91% and mobile subscriptions is around 6.4 billion?