Image: A woman uses a portable battery pack to charge her phone while playing the augmented reality mobile game “Pokemon Go” by Nintendo in New York City, U.S. July 11, 2016. REUTERS/Mark Kauzlarich
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A Mexican taxi driver has jumped on the Pokemon GO craze sweeping the world by driving smartphone-armed customers around in search of the augmented reality game’s target creatures.
The mobile phone game has become an instant hit with more users in the United States than Twitter a week after launch. Players are spending longer on the application than they do with some of the most popular social platforms such as Instagram or WhatsApp.
The Nintendo Co game is not yet available in Mexico, but some users have worked out how to access the game.
To play the augmented reality mobile phone game players must physically walk or drive around in the real world to capture Pokemon creatures.
Emilio Cacho, a 29-year-old cab driver from the city of Minatitlan in the eastern state of Veracruz, said he began offering services as a “Pokemon hunter” on Monday and has received more than 20 calls since the start of the week.
“I didn’t know about the game, but I heard a lot of talk about people going out to look for Pokemons, so I thought it was a good way to make money, now that the economic situation in Veracruz is so difficult,” he said by telephone.
He charges 130 pesos ($7.04) for the first hour to pursue Pokemons, then 100 pesos for each subsequent hour, he said.
(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz; Writing by Natalie Schachar)
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