For a few years now, WayFinder Access (WFA) has been a popular and the most reliable navigational tool that had allowed persons with visual challenge to learn more about routes to different neighbourhoods and locate businesses and utilities in many of the major cities.
However, the company that had developed the software was bought over by Vodafone a couple of years ago and -following the popularity of the free solutions- is found to be unviable in marketing terms by the global mobile service provider, who decided to close down the product.
Many access technology users now believe that WFA would breathe its last on April 2011.
"WFA is the best available solution for the blind, for whom reliability matters more than anything," said Akhilesh Malani, a visually challenged working for a leading IT company in Bangalore and an avid technology user.
For nearly a month now, several visually challenged persons in India are signing an online petition along with their peers worldwide (found at: www.talknav.com/protest) asking Vodafone the reasons for retiring WFA and a request to either continue it until a suitable alternative product is developed or entrust further development of WFA to a third party.
"This is particularly a blow for the blind in India and in the developing countries since there are no credible alternatives to fall back on," said Pranav Lal, a Delhi-based access technology expert who is leading the campaign for WFA in India.
Pranav said WFA is the only service that provides a price benefit as it is available on commonly used devices and -by extending the mainstream WayFinder Navigator software to the blind through an interface- gives blind users all that able-bodied users can get.
So far 2000 users from across the world have said to have signed the online petition, including nearly hundred from India, which is said to have brought Vodafone to the negotiation table.
"Vodafone cannot make a profit on the overall Wayfinder platform that it runs on. So Access, to coin the phrase, is the baby being thrown out with the bath water," wrote Neil Barnfather, Tim in 't Veld and Paul Hopkins, who lead the international campaign, in an Email sent recently to the supporters.
Vodafone is believed to be considering full or prorated refund to existing WFA life-time license holders or exchange their licenses in return for an accessible alternative, the details of which remains hazy.
Without any action from the global mobile giant to protect the user's interest, campaigners are vowing to continue their protest in the coming days.