Anyhow, I joined this article wondering if my next phone would be Android or Symbian. Glad I found you, and the answer!

when 90% of the world doesnt have the infrastructure or resources to support the “full web experience” of the top end smartphones, it makes the international strategies of smartphone manufacturers like iphone and htc look rather introverted and insular.

just recently, nokia announced a new cheap range of smartphones which will do very well in the emerging markets. These markets will shape the world in this coming century… if you do not accept this, then focussing on providing the “full web experience” will see you feeling left out at the end of it all.

It is not about dumbing down your work, its about making it more efficient. In countries where they have less resources than the US, they just make the most out of the little they have. In the US its much easier to just use/buy more bandwith or powerful equipment as its all readily available. There is not such a need for effeciency and there is less of a need to achieve it.

However, with the growth in the emerging markets you will actually end up at a disadvantge when compared to your third world counterparts as they will be more effecient than you, achieving much more, with much less.

Using heavy data networks and paying extra for new and powerful equipment is not actually innovative. Using limited euipment and resources to achieve the same thing however, is.

Great article

That's why Nokia is a big winner in emerging markets, they give basic phones to the masses who cannot even think of having a data plan, they just buy prepaid, which is also very popular here with the low class people which accounts for 50% of the population.

On the other hand the medium class which is like 40% of the population can pay some services like wifi, and then buy some phones that may be able to connect to it, the 5530 comes to mind here: cheap, and very well equiped. Still data plans are out of reach for most of this class.

Either, Nokia phones are the best option always, they are cheap and most important, there are many choices that can please almost anybody. If you want a cheap touchscreen, but have no wifi, there's the 5230, or if you want something cheap but very well equiped theres the 5800. Or if you want the most basic, the 1100 is for you!

If you want everything, you have the high end phones like the N900, N97, N86 and so on… Americans and europeans tend to forget that the wifi isnt as ubiquitious on other countries like in theirs, and that their cheap plans can be very expensive and out of reach for most people on other countries, even when some data services are from the stone age.

Cheers