MobileActive's Blog

ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré announced in New York that worldwide mobile subscribers are likely to reach the 4 billion mark before the end of this year. Touré was speaking in New York where he attended the UN Private Sector Forums addressing the global food crisis and the role of technological innovation in meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

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We are pleased and proud to welcome and thank the sponsors and supporters of MobileActive08.  We are very grateful for the generous and amazing funding from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Canada which is a major supporter of the event. IDRC has also been instrumental in the mobile-for-social-impact field with extraordinary research and support, so we are very pleased that IDRC staff and grantees will be contributing their expertise and innovations to MobileActive08.

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The Knight News Challenge 2008, a worldwide contest, reopened again for a new round. There is $5 million in funding available for digital media experiments to innovate news and communication - including mobile! The deadline is November 1, 2008. 

The contest is open to community-minded innovators worldwide, from software designers to journalists to citizens and students of any age. Winning entries must have three elements:

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More news on mobile banking for the world's poorest.  The University of California, Irvine has announced a $1.7 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for a research institute focused on the growing use of mobile technology in providing banking and financial services to individuals in developing countries.

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Forum Nokia has announced a new global contest: "Calling All Innovators" for developers to create mobile applications that will help to better society.  Nokia will award up to USD 150,000 in cash and prizes, in addition to helping the winning developers distribute their mobile applications.

In its announcement of the contest, Nokia notes that

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**Update***

Bill Clinton is announcing the commitment from a group of members of the Clinton Global Initiative to provide access to financial services to millions of people currently unbanked and living under $2 a day. Some of the people on the stage are Elizabeth Littlefield from CGAP, Dawn Haig Thomas from the GSMA Development Fund, and the Sosas from MPower Ventures, Brian Richardson from Wizzit, and others who are committing more than $100 million to mobile fincancial services for the poor.  

*****

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CNN recently reported on mobiles in election  monitoring -- providing real-time data from the polling stations transmitted via mobiles. The article asserts:  "The humble mobile phone is driving a new revolution which some experts hope could bring fairer elections and democracy to some African states. During the 2006 local government elections in Senegal, Radio Sud used reporters and correspondents with cell phones to call in what they saw. Many African countries have struggled against rigged elections and authoritarian rule since gaining independence last century.

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What does it take for smaller organizations to adde a mobile strategy to advance the work?  What are some ways in which small organizations can get started in mobile, and get what they need for free or at very low cost to try the mobile medium for their work?

We were recently at the Institute for Nonprofits organized by the Bay Area Video Coalition to help a select group of organizations develop their social media strategy.

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We have written a lot about providing consumers with just-in-tine information about products on their mobile.  Shoppers can receive an SMS about sustainable fish or climate impact of products already.  This is the idea of the new GoodGuide, a new start-up spun out of the University of Berkeley. Good Guide provides 'green' consumer information for shoppers who want to buy products in line with their values.

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One India reports on how mobile phones are used after the devastating floods in Bihar, India. While relief and aid have been very slow to get to Bihar, mobiles are proving to be a life saver.  According to One India,

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