Shannon McGregor  - AHN Special Categories Editor

The world’s smallest and lightest cell phone, developed by an Israeli company, will be available in stores on Wednesday.

Weighing in at 40 grams, the phone has already been registered in the Guinness Book of Records as the lightest phone in the world.

The phone, developed by the Israeli company Modu, is set to go on sale in Israel for the local equivalent of $130 U.S. and shortly thereafter in Southeast Asia. There is no date for when the phone will be available in North America and Europe. 

Modu officials said the aim was to create a streamlined product, easy to use and carry, which features only essential functions such as making calls and sending messages.
 
“We have eliminated 80 percent of what people say they don’t need” Modu spokesperson Oded Todoros told The Media Line regarding why the company decided to make such a small phone.

Multimedia functionality such as listening to music, viewing photos or mounting the phone on bicycle handlebars can be added to the phone by plugging it into a ‘jacket’ purchased separately.

Reactions to the phone’s launch have been mixed. “It will be great to see what this phone is like,” a blogger wrote on Geeky-Gadgets.com. “It certainly looks very interesting and different from the mobile phones currently on the market.”

“Giving a nod to the variety of different situations faced by mobile phone users, we particularly like the bike concept,” wrote Stuart Miles on Pocket-Lint.com. “You can cycle and have your phone mounted on the handlebars.”

Others, however, were unimpressed.

“Personally, as I sit here today with my multitasking iPhone 3G laying lovingly at my side, I'm having a hard time getting worked up over the snub.” Wrote Jack Loftus on Gizmundo.com 

“I think if this phone had been released a couple of years ago it may have done well, but now it just seems like a complicated phone that requires multiple jackets to be of any real use,” Matthew Humphries wrote on Geek.com.