Working for Apple, watching the latest iPhone 3GS hit the market to throngs of wealthy Los Gatos consumers, it is easy to forget the days when payphones were the only way to make calls outside of the office or home.
Imagine what it must be like in an African village.
As technology reaches into some of the more remote corners of the third world, it needn't go through the evolutionary stages of telephone wires strung up across the savannah, nor of heavyset phone equipment. When a third world country is looking to adopt a form of technology, it can learn from our successes and mistakes, just as we would hope others would benefit from our biographies, however marred or illuminated.
Uganda, like many such countries, is looking to improve its ability to communicate, and leverage cellphone applications just like its latte swilling, Beemer driving counterparts here in Los Gatos. But rather than applications which track stock quotations, or find the best sushi bar within five miles, these are more germane to the needs and social necessities of sub-Saharan Africa.
In an article entitled "New SMS Services in Uganda from Grameen & Google," an author going only by the name of HASH cites some new applications being launched in Uganda as Apple launches its new cellphone.
Grameen Foundation’s AppLab has released a new suite of mobile phone applications developed in Uganda, using Google SMS Search and in partnership with MTN Uganda as the mobile operator. The services include:
- Farmer’s Friend: a searchable database with both agricultural advice and targeted weather forecasts
- Health Tips: provides sexual and reproductive health information
- Clinic Finder: helps locate nearby health clinics and their services
- Google Trader: matches buyers and sellers of agricultural produce and commodities as well as other products. Local buyers and sellers, such as small-holder farmers, are able to broaden their trading networks and reduce their transaction costs.
As excited as I get over the new iPhone, particularly from my crow's nest view of the product launch, I am just as thrilled to hear of these developments in Uganda, and what they may portend for its people.
The complete article may be found at the following address.
http://whiteafrican.com/2009/06/29/new-sms-services-in-ugand a-from-grameen-google/
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