The bright eyed bushy tailed crowd (who apparently rode bikes up a mountain early in the morning of day 2) and the red eyed party bunch (need I say more) gathered for the last day of the symposium. Admittedly, the weather was much better than the day before and after the previous day’s socializing it was almost difficult to concentrate. Continue reading

I’ve been silent for quite a while, so today, I am breaking that silence with a few good articles. Here they are, in no particular order…

Continue reading

I read an interesting article this morning and discovered that the number of mobile phone users in the world soared to over 3.3 billion by the end of 2007. Based on the report by the International Telecommunications Union, these numbers are equivalent to a penetration rate of 49 percent.

What was truly interesting to me was that Africa showed the strongest gains over the past two years and more than two thirds of all mobile subscribers were from developing countries by the end of 2007.

Mobile subscription growth stood at 39 percent annually in Africa between 2005-2007 which is “a positive trend that suggests that developing countries are catching up”, the report said.

The report further highlighted that “Mobile phones are eclipsing traditional fixed lines” and that “in Africa they account for nearly 90 percent of all telephone subscribers”.

Fascinating stuff indeed. For me, that means that 9 out of 10 people who have a phone use mobile technology to communicate. Perhaps people in developing countries use a mobile phone mainly for phoning and keeping in touch, but just think about it, this remains a huge target market for online marketers to look at.

Mobile vs. Fixed Line
When comparing the growth in the mobile sector to fixed telephone penetration, it is not surprising that fixed-line usage is stagnating (based on the report). The report shows that growth is just under 20 percent globally for the last years and has been below one percent between 2005 and 2007″.

In the fast paced world of today, we are required to be available and stay connected, 24 hours a day. More people “connect” using mobile phones, mainly because it is more affordable and it means we can indeed be more “mobile”. The end result will be that the trend is going to continue and that mobile user numbers will continue to grow.

Is Mobile the way of the future?
Well, that seems to be a no-brainer! Past reports on such trends have already shown that, so nothing new there. But, does this mean that mobile is the only medium to look at? My opinion is no, but one can certainly not overlook the fact that as more and more people are making use of mobile phones, this market is wide open.

So, are you looking at mobile solutions and mobile marketing as part of your marketing strategy for your business?

Something to think about!

For more on this and also broadband penetration in high-income and low-income countries, read the full article at iafrica.com.