Last Week in Global Mobile | March 25, 2011

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:

  • The State Department’s blog explained how traditional radio, combined with innovation in mobile technologies, continues to empower people of rural Pakistan.
  • Crisis-mapping software Ushahidi’s creator Patrick Meier reflected on the how technology could be used to counter SMS-based rumors during crises in Kazakhstan.
  • Sudan’s ruling party warned that its “cyber jihadists” are prepared to crush Internet dissent following an increase in anti-government social media campaigns.
  • Google teamed up with a few other companies to launch Missing.net, a social mapping platform designed to help people find each other after a humanitarian crisis.
  • Worldwide fixed broadband subscribers surpassed 500 million by the end of 2010, gaining nearly 48 million in the fourth quarter alone, reported ABI Research.
  • A new directive granted the government of Uzbekistan the power to ask mobile operators to identify suspicious customers and shut down all mobile services at any time.
  • On the company blog, Google posted an interactive map of broadband speeds around the world based on 300 terabytes of data collected from 2009-onwards.
  • Search giant Google accused China of interfering with its Gmail service by disguising a  “government blockage” as an error on Google’s part.
  • Washington Post’s Cecilia Kang explained why telecoms’ success in the United States depends on mobile Web access, arguing for an expanded mobile network.
  • Mobile operator AT&T announced plans to acquire T-Mobile USA for $39bn, merging into the largest mobile services provider in the United States -- and some parties aren’t pleased.
  • Research and analytics firm ComScore reported that mobile Internet soared nearly 200 percent in Japan in the hours after the earthquake struck.
  • NY Times reported on China’s tightening of electronic censorship in recent days, including cutting off phone calls at the very mention of the word “protest.”
  • Amazon launched its own app store for Android devices, introducing several new features such as the ability to test-drive an app in the browser before installing it.
  • Google launched a new tech incubator, Umbono, which will help raise funds for innovators and start-ups throughout Africa.
  • McGraw-Hill and Pearson, two of the world’s largest textbook manufacturers, injected millions of dollars into a San Francisco-based e-textbook company to create “interactive books” for learning.
  • Egypt’s 3G offerings are expected to increase five times by 2012 to five million users, reported market research firm RNCOS.
  • A French tech company announced a fascinating new technology that uses a translucent solar film, placed over a phone’s screen, to charge the device while using it.