Dramatic cell phone growth in Congo and Iraq

From the New York Times today, Damian Cave writes in an article (Must haves: Cell phones top Iraqi cool list) about the growth of cell phones over the past two years from 1.4 to 7.1 million. While this might be taken as a sign of progress, Cave notes:

One of the most popular messages making the rounds appears onscreen with the image of a skeleton. “Your call cannot be completed,” it says, “because the subscriber has been bombed or kidnapped.”

This reminds me significantly of the Washington Post article last month (In war-torn Congo, going wireless to reach home) on cell phone growth in the Congo, a country which just recently went through a successful election after years of civil war and a less-than-speedy demilitarization.

Dramatic cell phone growth in Congo and IraqDramatic cell phone growth in Congo and Iraq

An altogether different approach is found in Rich Ling’s The Mobile Connection: The Cell Phone’s Impact on Society, a book I reviewed for the ACM journal interactions, a copy of the book review is available.

Related posts:

  1. Augmented reality on a mobile phone
  2. Online education growth and opportunity
  3. Time Horizon

August 7, 2006 • Posted in: Uncategorized

Leave a Reply