This Week in Global Mobile | February 11, 2011

Submitted by Samhir Vasdev on 2/11/11

At times it's difficult to keep pace with the latest global mobile developments. I hope this selection of news stories from the past week will help you navigate the growing global network of connectivity:

  • Ushahidi founder Patrick Meier released a draft chapter correlating the impact of ICT access in anti-government protests between 1990 and 2007.
  • A Nigerian start-up launched Traffic.com.ng, a “complete Web, Mobile Web, SMS, and mobile application” that aggregates and reports updated traffic information from across the country.
  • The NY Times heralded Egypt’s largest dissident Facebook page as a catalyst which spurred the massive protests in the country.
  • PBS released a report on media and technology use in the classroom indicating that 75% of teachers downloaded video content in 2010, compared with 55% in 2007.
  • The U.S. has the tools to bring Internet access to blacked-out regions of the world using specially equipped airplanes in times of distress, reported Wired.
  • Sryian announced plans to lift its five-year ban on websites like Facebook and Youtube, with the latter already being reported as unblocked on some I.S.P.’s.
  • Tex4Baby, a maternal information network that sends tips to pregnant women via SMS, announced its intentions to register one million users by next year.
  • The FDA approved the first remote diagnostics mobile app, which allows doctors to make medical diagnoses based on images transmitted to their iPhones or iPads.
  • One forecast by a screen glass-making company expected 180 million tablet devices to enter the market by 2014, versus just 20 million in 2010.
  • Nigerian telecom giant Bharti Airtel launched a new initiative to build six “ultra-modern” classrooms in a downtown school in order to improve education in the region.
  • Morocco reached 100% mobile penetration in 2010, rising 20 points from the year before, reported telecommunications regulator ANRT.
  • Guinea-based Global Voice Group committed to building five cyber centers in the Conakry district to help bridge the digital divide and increase cyber literacy.
  • Major UK mobile operator O2 announced plans to launch a commercial wireless-based payment service by the second half of 2011.
  • 1.6 billion mobile devices were shipped world-wide in 2010, while smart phone sales grew 72 percent, reported Gartner.
  • Smart phones outsold PCs for the first time ever last quarter, rising  87% from the year before, according to IDC.
  • The Chinese government announced plans to convert all its unused telephone booths into wi-fi hotspots.
  • The U.S. State Department launched a Twitter feed in Arabic to “support the formal interface between the U.S. and Arab media.”
  • At a speech in Michigan, President Obama called for installation of “the next generation of high-speed wireless coverage to 98 percent of all Americans.”
  • Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer, partnered with Microsoft’s operating system to compete with Android and iPhone smart phones.