Why Mobile Phones Drive Economic Growth in the Developing World

The transformation of the mobile phone from yuppie plaything to a tool that drives economic growth in the developing world is arguably the biggest technology story of the first decade of the 21st century, according to Tom Standage, Digital Editor of The Economist magazine.

Speaking at the UK's Royal Academy of Engineering last month as part of the Vodafone lecture series, Tom echoed Jeffrey Sachs, Columbia University's Earth Institute development guru's statement that the humble mobile phone is "the single most transformative tool for development". He said: "In 2008, three quarters of mobile phones were in developing countries, marking a massive shift from when they were merely playthings for yuppies." While there are approximately six billion mobile devices used across the world, only a quarter are found in the developed world, which means that the mobile is predominantly a developing world story.