People who don't realize this should not bother commenting on the smartphone/tablet market. Not only are there enormously disruptive and empowering aspects to mobile platforms, especially in the developing world, but those aspects will also make such platforms enormously desirable. The potential worldwide market for mobile devices is staggering, even in the short-term. As poorer countries develop that market will just get larger, establishing a presence and a brand reputation today will pay huge dividends down the road.
Selling smartphones to rich people in rich countries today is certainly a good business, but ultimately it's the worldwide business and the volume business which will bring in the biggest share of revenue.
Meanwhile, imagine how these devices will change the world? How many people in the world have never made even a single phone call? How many people are illiterate? How will things change when they have the access to devices which are powerful portable computers, communication devices, and libraries? We think ebooks are important to us in the developed world, imagine how transformative they will be in a country without much pre-existing book ownership?
>Meanwhile, imagine how these devices will change the world?
you know, man, i want to believe it. Yet, i've just browsed Russian news and with Russia being much more further than Kenya down the road of technology penetration into everyday life there are some things that i sometimes think is impossible to change
http://top.rbc.ru/incidents/16/08/2011/610779.shtml ( google translate http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&h... ) - in Kaluga (near the Moscow, so it isn't deep wild undeveloped far Russia) 5 teenagers (with a girl among them), while drinking, tortured a homeless with cigarette butts and ultimately burned him alive. Before jumping to the conclusion that these 5 are exception, note that only the one who doused and set the homeless on fire was charged. This situation got the attention only because the victim died, otherwise nobody would make any fuss at all.
Barbarism is the natural state of the world, we shouldn't be shocked that it continues to exist. Nor should we slack our efforts to roll it back and fight against it at every turn.
Selling smartphones to rich people in rich countries today is certainly a good business, but ultimately it's the worldwide business and the volume business which will bring in the biggest share of revenue.
Meanwhile, imagine how these devices will change the world? How many people in the world have never made even a single phone call? How many people are illiterate? How will things change when they have the access to devices which are powerful portable computers, communication devices, and libraries? We think ebooks are important to us in the developed world, imagine how transformative they will be in a country without much pre-existing book ownership?