Who Needs a Banana Phone?

Thought you had seen every kind of smartphone out there? Think again. A crowdfunding campaign is gathering support to launch...a banana-shaped phone.

You can order this novelty phone right now for just forty dollars, although it won't replace your current phone. Instead, the banana phone pairs with your existing device, forwarding calls to it. What can it do? Make calls and hold a conversation for up to 10 hours before requiring a recharge.

If you think a banana phone sounds less than groundbreaking, you're not wrong. The phone's developers admit they're not reinventing the wheel. "It's just fun," they say. "The goal of the banana phone is to make people smile and help you strike up conversations." Really, who wouldn't want to chat into a banana-shaped device?

If bananas remind you of monkeys, that's intentional. The campaign creators promise to donate one percent of the proceeds from phone sales to a nonprofit working to conserve the 'rare mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park' in Congo, Africa.

Whether it's the humor of the design or the cause of the gorillas that appeals to potential backers, it seems likely they'll have plenty of supporters. The entrepreneurs are close to reaching their $30,000 goal, after which they'll kick off production—aiming to get these phoney bananas to market by September 2017.