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You should not underestimate the life changing effects (aka disruptive) the availability of cheap smartphones had for large groups of the population in Africa (
by fpp 14y ago
You should not underestimate the life changing effects (aka disruptive) the availability of cheap smartphones had for large groups of the population in Africa (where many still live on less than $2 a day).
Many for the first time could pay / receive money directly e.g. without a middleman who collects percentages - most people still don't have bank accounts and can now do their payments / get paid via smartphones.
They can now communicate (long distance - private, business, emergency, political), some started new businesses around these smartphones, some became rich (some even billionaires without the sleaze) and can now provide their families with a much more solid basis to survive. There are now more people with access to mobile phones than to electricity in many parts of Africa.
These smartphones are also having an impact on the daily lives of many in developed countries. Many of the smartphone payment systems that are available since recently / will become available soon have been field-tested in Africa.
- neumann_alfred 14y ago"life changing [..] (aka disruptive)" Nope. Everything disruptive is life changing, but not everything life changing is disruptive. 1. To throw into confusion or disorder 2. To interrupt or impede the progress, movement, or procedure of 3. To break or burst The rest of your post may be true, but is utterly besides that point.
- ZeroGravitas 14y agoIt comes from the term "disruptive innovation": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruptive_innovation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruptive_innovation "A disruptive innovation is an innovation that helps create a new market and value network, and eventually goes on to disrupt an existing market and value network (over a few years or decades), displacing an earlier technology. The term is used in business and technology literature to describe innovations that improve a product or service in ways that the market does not expect, typically first by designing for a different set of consumers in the new market and later by lowering prices in the existing market." So the thing being 'disrupted' is the old way of doing things, the old telcos, the old money markets etc.
- neumann_alfred 14y ago"So the thing being 'disrupted' is the old way of doing things, the old telcos, the old money markets etc." I know that. And that's why saying "disrupting Africa", instead of "disrupting old African telcos", is silly/stupid. Good we cleared that up.
- atirip 14y agoIsn't just about everything that's dirt cheap & available a "life changing effect" in Africa? But disruptive?