In Rural Africa, a Fertile Market for Mobile Phones

In Rural Africa, a Fertile Market for Mobile Phones
By Sarah Arnquist

Jon Gossier, founder and president of Appfrica, a technology company with headquarters in Uganda stated in the article: "I don’t think the development being done now for mobile phones is going to stop, but I think we’ll see a whole new generation of applications coming out of Africa, including mobile applications that utilize the Web." The technological influence of cellphones is very strong across America and it is becoming strong in Africa. When I used to live in Zambia and from my brief stay in Kenya, I was able to determine that cell phones are significant to daily life and important in the activities of the people there. The dominant company in Africa is Nokia and with more and more people relying on cell phones to carry out business transactions in Africa, the market will continue to grow. This article demonstrates how "the mobile phone has revolutionized scientists’ ability to track this crop disease and communicate the latest scientific advances to remote farmers." What I want to point out here is the social influence of cell phones in Africa has now become a formal form of social control as people become reliant on them to relay information regarding farming practices and health issues. As companies seek to improve internet connections, they have high hopes that this technology will empower Africans.

This article can be found at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/science/06uganda.html?_r=1&ref=africa

Arlinda Smith, blog post #3