In some parts of the world, a cellphone is still cutting edge

What if, globally speaking, the iPad is not the next big thing? What if the next big thing is small, cheap and not American?. Anand Giridhardas explores these areas on NYTimes – Where a Cellphone Is Still Cutting Edge:

America went into a frenzy last weekend with the iPad’s release. But even as hundreds of thousands here unwrap their iPads, another future entirely may be unfolding overseas on the cellphone.

Forgotten in the American tumult is a global flowering of innovation on the simple cellphone. From Brazil to India to South Korea and even Afghanistan, people are seeking work via text message; borrowing, lending, and receiving salaries on cellphones; employing their phones as flashlights, televisions and radios.

And many do all this for peanuts. In India, Reliance Communications sells handsets for less than $25, with one-cent-a-minute phone calls across India and one-cent text messages and no monthly charge — while earning fat profits. Compare that to iPad buyers in the United States, who pay $499 for the basic version, who might also have a $1,000-plus computer and a $100-plus smart cellphone, and who could pay $100 or more each month to connect these many devices to the ether.

Related posts:

1. Pew Report: Teens & Mobile Phones Amanda Lenhart, Rich Ling, Scott Campbell, Kristen Purcell on Pew...
2. Digital power and its discontents, an Edge conversation between Morozov & Shirky Recently, Edge.org  invited Evgeny Morozov (blog | twitter) and Clay...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.