Mobile phones can fight poverty
- Posted: May 08, 2007 at 9:37 AM
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Mobile phones are arguably the ultimate gadget, and as a gadget they sometimes get a bad rap as distractions or time wasters. To realign your appreciation for mobiles however, you simply need to spend fifteen minutes with Iqbal Quadir’s TED Talk: The power of the mobile phone to end poverty. Throughout history technological advances have enabled the masses to upgrade their abilities and quality of life, and Iqbal argues that the connectivity that comes from mobiles (like the Motorola MOTOFONE you see here) can help to empower citizens to bring themselves out of poverty. The whole thing makes us wonder; is there a ‘Sponsor a mobile customer’ program out there?
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Seriously.. 50$ a month is crippling not empowering.
This is really great! I'm always for empowering people to help themselves. Awesome!
In Iqbal's talk he looks at the typical system for purchasing a car in the developed world. Most people put down some lump some of money, and then make payments on their car. Because the car enables them to reach a job that pays well, the car, in escence, pays for itself through it's application.
The same logic has been applied to mobiles, which I think makes them far from crippling.
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