The New York Times has published this amazing article, “Can the Cellphone Help End Global Poverty?” (April 13, 2008) on Jan Chipchase, Nokia’s globe hopping industrial designer. It is truly an insight in to the global phenomenon of cell phones. This is a long, yet tremendous article that gives a perspective of globalization few have seen.

Today, there are more than 3.3 billion mobile-phone subscriptions worldwide, which means that there are at least three billion people who don’t own cellphones, the bulk of them to be found in Africa and Asia.

And when will the other three billion be networked?

According to statistics from the market database Wireless Intelligence, it took about 20 years for the first billion mobile phones to sell worldwide. The second billion sold in four years, and the third billion sold in two. Eighty percent of the world’s population now lives within range of a cellular network[.]

But it is the sheer economic possibilities for people in rural, isolated places that the cell phones bring. Poor (making a few dollars a day) know the investment in a cell phone brings ICT to their existence and with it opportunities for increased profit margins. Information is power, especially when your advantage is just-in-time commuication vs no communication.

Read the article. And read Future Perfect, Jan’s blog.