Fairphone is marking the public release of Android 10 for the Fairphone 2 with a question: “Why are we the only phone manufacturer to provide software support for an Android phone that’s only seven years old?”

We’re convening a panel of experts to explore the underlying forces that drive the continuing decline in the longevity of phones and other electronics.

Dr. Daniel Köster Is a senior software developer for IABG, a technical consulting firm based in Munich, Germany with a strong focus on Security and Defense. He works on Android development in his spare time and uses the FP3 in his daily life. He is the official LineageOS maintainer for the Fairphone 3 for around two years now and is currently interested in also supporting the Fairphone 4 LineageOS effort.

Erik Poppe works in the field of Transdisciplinary Sustainability Research in Electronics at the Technical University Berlin and Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration. He conducts research on product lifetimes and is part of several studies related to software-induced obsolescence of products. Erik is an active member of the Round Table Repair Germany and will be representing the Right to Repair.

Agnes Crepet is involved in projects that make IT a great tool to help people and serve projects with societal and environmental impacts. She’s currently the Head of IT and Software Longevity at Fairphone. She co-founded the French company Ninja Squad, she also co-founded the MiXiT conference and has been leading Duchess France for 10 years.

Erik Albers is Digital Sustainability Programme Manager and Communication Senior at the Free Software Foundation Europe, a charity that empowers users to control technology. Erik runs the "Upcycling Android" initiative that helps people keep using their phones with Free Software. He helped shape the idea of an environmental label “Blue Angel” for energy-efficient software products together with federal environmental actors in Germany. Erik publishes studies and articles on the sustainability of Free Software.

Host - Miquel Ballester is one of the Founders of Fairphone, currently Product Management Lead at Fairphone.

At a panel discussion which will be live-streamed on 15 March we’ll explore what rights and responsibilities consumers, companies, and regulators have in addressing the issue of digital longevity, and what new ideas might incentivize hardware and software designers to start thinking of disposability as a design flaw.

Encouraging smartphone longevity is key to Fairphone’s mission. But how long should a phone last? That’s only partially a question of hardware. We believe in modular design: durable, sustainable, and built to be easily repaired and upgraded. But the lifeblood of a phone is its operating system. When software manufacturers support only the most recently released hardware models, they condemn perfectly functional phones to the scrap heap, at massive human and environmental costs.

Join us, 15 March, for our exclusive live webinar and panel discussion on Sustainable Software.

Tickets are available today. They are free but limited to 200 participants. Please reserve your spot in advance.

Looking forward to seeing you on 15 March 2022 at 14:00 - 15:30 CET