IT Adoption in developing world (David Kirkpatrick, FORTUNE Magazine)
This is very interesting from a number of perspectives. A few highlights:
> A new report by Forrester Research predicts there will be 2.25
> billion PCs in the world by 2015, up from 755 million today. The vast
> majority of that growth will come in places like China, India, Brazil
> and Eastern Europe.
> ..... the products that achieve volumes in the billions are likely to
> dominate the entire world's market.
> .... though we may exceed two billion PCs by 2015, what a PC will be
> then will in many cases look more like today's cell phones and PDAs,
> even though they will do all that today's PCs can do and more.
> [Microsoft's] Student Innovation Suite, announced in Beijing in
> April, includes versions of Windows and Office plus special software
> for math and e-mail, will cost governments only $3 when they buy it
> for students.
> .... the killer app - at least macroeconomically - for the next phase of
> developing world computing may be online education, and not just for
> kids. It could come from people learning English using their cell
> phone or portable Internet device while standing in line at a bus
> stop.....
I'll add that public sector investment is helping to pave the way. Here at the University of Oregon, for example, we have the Network Startup Resource Center, a long-term project to help developing countries get their network infrastructure in place. NSRC support comes mainly from the National Science Foundation.
We are also working with the Department of State to provide programs for language instructors worldwide, and with the Thai Royal Family to provide distance education to Southeast Asia.
> A new report by Forrester Research predicts there will be 2.25
> billion PCs in the world by 2015, up from 755 million today. The vast
> majority of that growth will come in places like China, India, Brazil
> and Eastern Europe.
> ..... the products that achieve volumes in the billions are likely to
> dominate the entire world's market.
> .... though we may exceed two billion PCs by 2015, what a PC will be
> then will in many cases look more like today's cell phones and PDAs,
> even though they will do all that today's PCs can do and more.
> [Microsoft's] Student Innovation Suite, announced in Beijing in
> April, includes versions of Windows and Office plus special software
> for math and e-mail, will cost governments only $3 when they buy it
> for students.
> .... the killer app - at least macroeconomically - for the next phase of
> developing world computing may be online education, and not just for
> kids. It could come from people learning English using their cell
> phone or portable Internet device while standing in line at a bus
> stop.....
I'll add that public sector investment is helping to pave the way. Here at the University of Oregon, for example, we have the Network Startup Resource Center, a long-term project to help developing countries get their network infrastructure in place. NSRC support comes mainly from the National Science Foundation.
We are also working with the Department of State to provide programs for language instructors worldwide, and with the Thai Royal Family to provide distance education to Southeast Asia.
posted by Andrew at 4:58 PM
1 Comments:
Some additional info from Leslie Opp-Beckman (American English Institute):
Interesting article, Andrew, thanks for sharing!
In fact, two other colleagues and I worked with UO's CASLS...
http://casls.uoregon.edu/
and the associated for-profit BELLS...
http://www.bells-us.com/bellsus/
...several years ago to develop news/English learning for Japanese business professionals and students along these lines. It's called the "Dow Jones Business English program." Kay Westerfield from AEI has continued to consult on this project and could give you more information if you like, I bet.
Best wishes,
--Leslie
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