MobileActive's Blog

SMS, Social Justice Style, in Africa
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Oct. 13, 2005

Justin over at Personal Democracy has a great article on MobileActive participant Becky, Firoze, and Patrick from Fahamu and their cell phone petition:  SMS, Social Justice Style, in Africa - I had the pleasure of meeting with three representatives of Fahamu while at the MobileActive convergence in Toronto, one of which was the groups director Firoze M anji.... [Live from the conference:]

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Mobile Democracy
Posted by KatrinVerclas on Jun. 05, 2005

Donga.com, the Korean news site on technology and the internet, has this little tidbit of an article:

21st Century's Democracy Comes From Citizens

The democratic movement in the Middle East, the democratic revolution in Central Asia, and China;s anti-Japanese protests. These events are weighty incidents that have shaken the world this year. Behind all these incidents are mobile phones and the Internet. In other words,mobile power; and Internet power; made people power.

If the print media led a modern revolution and TV pulled down the Berlin Wall, the thumb revolution,represented by text messages from mobile phones and the Internet, is currently destroying the wall of a controlled society after emerging as a new kind of political power.

Experiencing the recent candlelight protest around Gwanghwamun organized by high school freshmen, the rally against the impeachment of President Roh, and the group of extremely supporters of President Roh in the 2002 presidential election, Korea is already a developed country in terms of mobile phone demonstrations.

mobile democracy sms and politics thumb revolution

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$25 cellular handset?
Posted by Eric Gundersen on Jun. 06, 2005
Cell phones need to be cheaper so that more people in developing countries can plug in. Lower cost communication options can help in so many aspects of poor people’s lives, from facilitating the finding of more accurate information on market prices to organizing to speak out against a government that often neglects them.

Bringing cell phones to the masses around the world is also a huge market place for producers to tap. But right now the price of handsets is still prohibitive for may poor people. Cellular-News recently published the article, $25 cellular handset achievable within two years (http://www.cellular-news.com/story/13029.php), looking at industry expectations for lower prices over the next several years.

“Among respondents to the survey, 80% reported a belief that a low-end GSM handset with a total bill-of-materials cost of US$25 can be achieved within two years or less, while 51% believe this level can be reached within one year or less. In addition to electronic and mechanical components, the cost of the handset as presented in the survey was defined to include battery, testing, final assembly, software and IP licensing, and product packaging.”
bop cell phone

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