Former chief executive and co-founder of US technology giant Apple, Steve Jobs, has died yesterday aged 56, after losing his long running battle to pancreatic cancer. Apple said the company had “lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being”
One of the world’s best known business leaders Steve Jobs was responsible for revolutionising the technological world with the creation of the iMac, iPod, iPad and Iphone Jobs has changed the lives of many and the way we interact with the world.
Barack Obama praised Jobs work and contributions , “Steve was among the greatest of American innovators – brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it”.
Steve Jobs work significantly changed the world and everyday lives of many individuals and businesses. In a time of rapid technological progression consider how developing counties are experiencing their own revolution.
Technology continues to expand its markets into many developing countries around the world. Local people have benefited from the use of mobile phones in a number of ways, which are generally much cheaper and more widely available than landlines. More than half the world’s population now owns a paid mobile phone and nearly a quarter has access to the internet, and these numbers are still on the increase.
Most of the countries in the developing world have skipped fixed-line infrastructure and leapfrogged directly into mobile technology. Currently mobile technology is the predominant mode of communication in the developing world. Mobile phones help to strengthen social ties among communities and create opportunities for small local businesses to network to a larger market than previously.
Mobile phones have also created a change in the way that local and international organisations conduct their operations making communication easier, quicker and more accessible.
Consider the impact of mobile phone technology in developing countries:
- How much do mobile phones contribute to greater financial incomes and employment opportunities?
- How do mobile phones affect people in developing countries and our relationship with them?
- Does global communication through mobile technologies and internet access create a positive impact on the world?
- What problems can new technologies create in developing countries and what regulations need to be introduced?
