Cell Phones

As you all should be aware of by now, I am really excited about mobile devices. I think they are the future and I think that the future is now! Ahem. More reasonably, I think that mobile computers have the potential to replace quite a few of the things we carry around in our pockets, and in certain limited applications they already have.

What we forget sometimes as we look at our shiny, new smartphones is that in many ways the developing world is way ahead of us. Since many countries in the developing world do not have access to the robust types of banking that we do and are often so spread out (and dangerous) that lugging around a pile of bills to pay for next season’s crops could be a very bad ideas, they have for years been early adopters of a whole host of mobile payment schemes. You might be surprised at how many peasant farmers in the developing world have cell phones, not for playing Angry Birds but as a safer, more efficient way to pay their bills.

The question becomes, why have we been so slow to follow the trail that the developing world has blazed for us. This article from the BBC looks at just that idea.

Why has the developed world been so slow to adopt the mobile wallet?

Think of the developing world, and the first thing that springs to mind probably isn’t cutting edge technology.

But since 2007, Kenya has been leading the way with an innovative mobile phone technology that has transformed the lives of millions of people and businesses.

Mobile money transfer allows those without a bank account to transfer funds as quickly and easily as sending a text message.

The most successful of these systems, and the first to operate on a large scale, is M-Pesa, a joint venture between mobile phone giant Vodafone and Kenya’s Safaricom. The M stands for mobile, and Pesa is Swahili for money.

Read M-Pesa: Kenya’s mobile wallet revolution (Via BBC) (Images)

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