When the expectations of wireless experts are realized everyone will have his own pocket telephone and may be called wherever he happens to be…When that invention is perfected, we shall have a new series of daily miracles [from Jim Rasenberger, 1908, in Smithsonian, credited to an article in Hampton's Magazine, 1908].
One hundred years later, Tomi Ahonen updates and contextualizes the mobile phone stats at Communities Dominate Brands.
- Worldwide there are about 800 million registered automobiles.
- 850 million people use PCs.
- 1.1 billion people around the world access the internet.
- Today there are 1.3 billion fixed landline phones.
- 1.4 billion people carry at least one credit card.
- There are about 1.5 billion TV sets in use.
- Last year the total worldwide mobile subscriber base grew from 2.1 billion to 2.7 billion.
Whatever its precise form, this new device would have the potential to transform the poor woman's life. It could become her constant friend, philosopher, guide, business consultant, health, education and marketing consultant, trainer - her link to the larger world, her digital Aladdin's lamp. She'll touch the lamp or utter a magic word of her choice, and the digital genie will emerge from this lamp, ready to help her find the solution she is looking for. With the help of this technological friend, she'll come out of her shell, step by step, discover her talents, and lift her family out of poverty. Her children, in turn, will grow up with the IT genie as their best friend and mentor [Muhammad Yunus].
What have you done that is mobile today - or for tomorrow?
Artwork from Ellis Parker Butler.
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