Chris lodged into my head the thought introducing the Internet to the developing world via the mobile phone. I've been preaching simple SMS- and browser-based services for the mass market, but then Chris pointed out emerging markets, where the next billion phone users are coming from*.
After that, when I was in San Francisco, talking to some great companies about mobile, I realized that everyone was thinking about how to extend their services via mobile to their existing customers. Heck, what about extending their services to new customers that they would never have since they will never own a computer.
Thanks, Chris, for sticking that thought so deep into my head that I can't get it out.
Link: MobHappy: The Mobile is the PC of the Developing World.
As we sit with our broadband connected computers, surfing the web, rattling off email and IMs, Skyping Intercontinentally and publishing our ideas and opinions all over the world with blogging software, it's easy to forget that much of the world just isn't like that. Broadband connections (or even dear old dial up connections) are a rarity in much of the developing world, including (but not limited) to the massive populations of China, India and Africa.
*An interesting tid-bit: Nokia's billionth phone was sold in Nigeria. The phone was the lowest-end phone Nokia had, the Nokia 1100. Telling, isn't it?
