a farmer from Pagsanjan in the Philippines’ Laguna province told me that mobile phones were “no longer a luxury, but a necessity,” and added that “even the lowliest of farmers riding on a carabao (water buffalo) owns one,” I couldn’t agree more….
The farmer, Noel Aspras, has been regularly texting and receiving replies from a call center which manages the NM (Nutrient Manager) Rice Mobile program of the Department of Agriculture in partnership with the International Rice Research Institute. Aspras is all praises for the reliable information he gets on fertilizer use which has helped increase his harvest, and which is all ‘just a text message away.
M-Government Mobile Technologies for Responsive Governments and Connected Societies
I missed this when it was published… has some good examples of governments using mobile services
Neiman Marcus App Provides Sales Staff With Customers’ Preferences [Future Of Retail] - PSFK
(Neiman Marcus) has developed a location-aware iPhone application called NM Service that adds a heightened level of personalization to its in-store shopping experience. The opt-in service allows a customer to program the app’s preferences to automatically alert sales associates when they walk into the store, providing staff with instant access to their shopping history and Facebook profile image, and if a customer prefers to browse on their own when first entering the store, they can simply “check-in” whenever they are ready for assistance
Farmers will from now get fertilisers and seed allocation through their mobile phones, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, has said….
The minister said the old system whereby government bought and distributed fertilisers was laden with corruption and inefficiency and also led to rent seeking and exploitation of farmers.
He said the new scheme was designed to get seeds and fertilisers to small holder farmers using their phones and biometrics to ensure authenticity.
Via OFCOM’s International Communications Market report, published mid Dec. (I’m catching up on reading, finally!)
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/cmr/cmr11/icmr/ICMR2011.pdf
(via A mobile phone from 1922? Not quite. | Paleofuture) … it’s a crystal radio apparently although they called them wireless phones at hte time. I love though how they used umbrellas as antennas :)
Some 62 million Turks own a mobile phone, a startling statistic given that an estimated 40% do not have a bank account.
Samsung “Next Big Thing” Galaxy S II Commercial (by skovach85)
GoodMobilePhones.co.uk surveyed 1,937 mobile users over 18 and found that 31% of respondents have damaged their mobiles with water or another liquid…
The number one destination for mobile damage is the toilet, claiming 47% of damage incidents.
Africa is the fastest growing mobile phone market in the world…. the continent is also the world’s second largest mobile market by connections, after Asia
We don’t know if the mobile economy will become as dynamic as the late-1800s railroad economy, if it will employ as many people as the 1920s auto industry, or improve productivity as much as the 1990s Internet revolution. We simply have no idea. But what smartphones and tablets have done is to put something more powerful than radio or television into the hands of consumers at an even faster rate radio and television penetrated the market. That is cause, I think, for some excitement, and even optimism.
Dual SIM phones have been on the market for the past decade and have become increasingly popular in India. Now, Indian mobile manufacturer Micromax have recently released a new model with three-way axis motion sensors — called the X395 Convertible — which allows users to switch network simply by shaking the phone.
More people have cell signals (85%) than access to the electrical grid (80%) (VIA mary meeker preso)
