World’s first Te Reo Maori smartphone

As part of a programme looking to incorporate Maori culture into modern technology, 2degrees and Huawei have launched the world's first Te Reo Maori smartphone.

The IDEOS X3 smartphone features menus in Te Reo, and will be available at 2degrees retail stores before Christmas.

2degrees is partly owned by the Hautaki Trust, and runs on the radio spectrum frequency the Maori group secured through a Treaty of Waitangi dispute in 2000.

Hautaki Trust board member and 2degrees director Bill Osborne says incorporating Te Reo Maori into mobile technology was a vision the trust had when it helped found the company.

"Our primary objective was to engage Maori in the telecommunications industry," Osborne says.

"A further aim was to ensure that the Maori culture and language were embraced by modern information and communications technology.

"The IDEOS X3 smartphone with Te Reo menu is testimony to the commitment to this goal by b2degrees and Maori.