Leapfrogging. 
Leapfrogging is an interesting concept that is highly influential on the growth of the mobile phone market right now.
Wordchanging explains:
"Leapfrogging" is the notion that areas which have
poorly-developed technology or economic bases can move themselves
forward rapidly through the adoption of modern systems without going
through intermediary steps. We see this happening all around us: you
don't need a 20th century industrial base to build a 21st century
bio/nano/information economy.
Rather than following the already-developed nations in the same
course of "progress," leapfrogging means that developing regions can
experiment with emerging tools, models and ideas for building their
societies. Leapfrogging can happen accidentally (such as when the only
systems around for adoption are better than legacy systems elsewhere),
situationally (such as the adoption of decentralized communication for
a sprawling, rural countryside), or intentionally (such as policies
promoting the installation of WiFi and free computers in poor urban
areas).
The best-known example of leapfrogging is the adoption of mobile
phones in the developing world. It's easier and faster to put in
cellular towers in rural and remote areas than to put in land lines,
and as a result, cellular use is exploding. As we've noted, mobile
phone use already exceeds land line use in India, and by 2007, 150
million out of the 200 million phone lines there will be cellular.
There are similar examples from all over the world.
Of course, that's only really half the story - the cause, not the effect,
if you like. The effect is that that phones will have a far higher
penetration than PC's in these countries. And ultimately, internet
access by phone will be far greater than by PC, on a worldwide basis.
Who knows what radical changes this is going to spark off?
For instance, there's a real need to find better ways of keying in
data to phones if the mobile is going to replace the PC, which is
certainly my theory.
Leave a comment if you have any ideas. Hell, just leave a comment to say Hi!
Link spotted on Moore's Law. [The Mobile Technology Weblog]
12:30:18 PM 
|
