The Challenge: Laptop or Cellphone

Gates sees cellphones, not laptops, as way to help Third World.
(- USA Today – February 1, 2006)

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Gates believes that cellphones will be the communication device of choice. It seems that Gates is taking this position because the $100 laptop doesn’t run Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

If tens of millions of Microsoft-free laptops spread through the Third World, that kind of product base would lure developers to create more software for the machines. Major manufacturers, such as Sony and Dell, might decided to make better, competing supercheap non-Windows laptops.

If the United Nations and governments of nations, such as Egypt and Nigeria, want to get technology into villager’s hands quickly, why not focus on cellphones?

Gates says that laptops aren’t going to do much for the poor if they can’t get to the Internet and that most of the poorer regions don’t have Internet connections.

Lockheed Martin is working on geostationary blimps that could act as wireless Internet towers; thereby, serving a large area.

So, here’s a challenge to Bill Gates: Do it.


Biggest Challenge at first

Interest Rates – Some Economists expect increases to stop for a while. Incoming Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s biggest initial challenge will be to build consenus on interest rate policy.

Opportunities and Challenges
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