eTech: The Case for Africa as a Mobile Development Hothouse

Joel Selanikio (DataDyne.org), MD pediatrics
Just saw a really great talk by Joel Selanikio from www.DataDyne.org at Etech2008 about the need to focus ICT development in Africa on mobile devices first versus browser based desktop.

Also check out this mobile partnership between MIT and Nairobi University: http://eprom.mit.edu/ - EPROM, part of the Program for Developmental Entrepreneurship within the MIT Design Laboratory, aims to foster mobile phone-related research and entrepreneurship.
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The Case for Africa as a Mobile Development Hothouse, Joel Selanikio (DataDyne.org)
http://en.oreilly.com/et2008/public/schedule/detail/1310

Whats happening in africa with cell phones and the interent
why different
need to increase capacilty in Africa (ablity to develop, etc.)

1994-2004, 58% subscriber growth - itu 2006 report (americas 23%)
reasons: starting at a low point

cell phones becoming ubiquitoius, UN and everyone else missed it, the market responded and created made this hapen
they are using unlocked iPhones as well

Cell phone and internet expansion
2004 - 82 millions people using cell phones
2007 - 4.7 internet users
- completely different way of communications occurring
- need to use the infrastructure they have in place
- people assume they eventually will go desktop browser base
- 2 fiber lines down the coast of Africa's + satellite is the access to Internet
- Africa needs more fiber

Access will continue to be different for US and Africa, Cell phone versus US-Internet

- low bandwidth cell phones is the most likely route to the internet for the foreseeable future

what can you do with slow processors and low-bandwidth?

Nathan, MIT has a collaborative program with Nairobi University, they end up working to troubleshoot Windows/Vista, etc. Need to get them to develop technology for their countries versus picking up after Windows

For Example:
How to 'text internet' via SMS, give special groups (doctors, etc.) to get drug dosage, etc.
Managing your medical record via SIM cards (shot records, etc.).
Send reminders to parents to get vaccinated

text messages are cheap, if you can drop say polio huge savings and life saved can occur.
help them develop their own applications

Application in Senegal fishermen buy insurance via SMS before they go out

Mo Ibrahem, Sudanese, runs one of the biggest cell network in Africa

Mobile banking . M-Pesa in Kenya. Cell phones in Africa are mostly prepaid, this has become a market by using cell phone minutes for money. Enables people without access to a bank to access what a bank gives you, the ability to move small amounts of money around.
South Africa called mizit (?)

International development want to make things better in developing countries but don't want to make money, They also focus too much on the desktop browser experience versus other means of comm's

DataDyne (non-profit) started to move data collection to PDA's, uses mobile programmers in Nairobi versus US.
Working with the Vodaphone Group Foundation and the UN Foundation to setup/support programs  to increase development capacity for mobile phones
- http://eprom.mit.edu/ as a model and potential partner (Nairobi)
- setting up a dev center in africa to support public health programming needs

Need to open up the market

Joel Selanikio
[email protected]

The Case for Africa as a Mobile Development Hothouse
Joel Selanikio (DataDyne.org)
8:45am - 9:30am Thursday, 03/06/2008
General Marina Ballroom F

Africa is leading the world in year-over-year growth in mobile penetration, and other parts of the developing world are close behind. Most of the people who are now gaining access to cell communications and Internet via cell phones have no other method to access the Internet: their paradigm for Internet use involves mobile devices and small screens, unlike developed country users that generally use cell phones for voice calling, with Internet access being an occasional activity.

This dependence on mobile devices for Internet access means that developers in Africa and elsewhere in the developing world can see the mobile device with fresh eyes: not as a replacement for a desktop, or an imitation of a laptop, but as a platform in its own right. There is a very high chance that they will “see” possibilities that we, with our long history of computing, are blinded to.

By helping to foster a community of developers in developing countries, I believe we can reap tremendous dividends, with new perspectives being applied to old problems, and with the potential for as-yet-unimagined applications.