OER ACHIEVEMENTS, CHALLENGES, AND NEW OPPORTUNITIES
a built-in UPS (battery back-up) and is introducing a low-priced PC in the $300 range. Microsoft is piloting a pay-as-you-go PC in Brazil that will allow low-income households to buy a computer on time, with financing provided by third parties over a year or more and continued operation of the computer tied to on-time payments.
But the more important trends are to be found in mobile phones and in new fixed wireless broadband networks. Mobile phones are already the dominant user platform in developing countries; it is expected there will be 2.5 billion users in those regions by 2010. By that time, if current trends continue, the typical mobile phone will have the processing power of today’s desktop PC. It will almost certainly have a powerful digital camera, capable of both still and video imagery, and the capability to receive and play digital video and audio files. It will likely have Bluetooth or other short-range wireless capability, such that voice and data (including video) can be transferred in real time to a separate projector, whether a pair of glasses that will display images, text, or spreadsheets in a “heads-up display” (a product already nearing commercial launch) or more conventional classroom projectors, or input from a separate wirelessly connected keyboard. It may well incorporate Wi-Fi chipsets (about $15 now, with prices dropping) so that the resulting multimode phone can also access broadband networks directly. More powerful voice recognition and voice synthesis chips may well substitute for a keyboard or a phone keypad for many uses, making it possible to listen to and dictate e-mail or instant messages. Many financial transactions are already being sent over mobile phones, especially in developing countries. Secure biometric ID capability in phones (via thumb-print readers or via server-based voice and face recognition, both already technically feasible) would help them become e-wallets and mobile bank accounts to a greater extent, which will allow the largely un-banked low-income populations to use them. And mobile phones will almost certainly offer broadband Internet access in many countries. Many mobile carriers in developing countries are already deploying 2.5G and 3G networks, just to keep up with the explosive demand for voice and (SMS) text messaging services, and for the same reason it is likely that such carriers, not those in the industrial countries, will drive the demand for 4G (next generation) wireless networks. Already, the collective buying power of developing world carriers has resulted in a contract (won by Motorola) to produce a basic GSM phone for about $30. Nokia has also developed a low-cost “entry” phone. Since the dominant market for new networks and new and replacement phones will be developing countries, the equipment providers are now paying close attention to their needs.
The bottom line is that, for the vast majority of people in developing countries, their “PC” and Internet access device will be a mobile phone, a handheld computer, or a hybrid of these devices. An example is the new Apple iPhone, whose introduction and design qualities are likely to drive impetus, competition,
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