I happened to be awake the other night at some unearthly hour and caught this interesting radio programme on the BBC World Service all about mobile phones. In the first of two programmes, Nick Rankin explores the history of this technology, how the mobile is changing the lives of the poor, and questions just how safe and secure our mobile phone conversations are.
It's well worth a listen. I particularly liked the security guy telling us how we shouldn't use any kind of telephone - mobile or otherwise - if we didn't want to be overheard. Unfortunately the programme is only available on BBC radio player rather than a podcast so I'm not sure how long it will be live so catch it now while you can.
helen,
ReplyDeleteheard the bbc program on the world service. the spooks advice was chilling. thought i would let you know about a local daily aftrenoon paper, the cape argus, here in cape town. they have been using sms comments to articles which they don't seem to maximise on.
the replies published the next day can degenerate into racial slurs too often. sad reminder how long an apartheid mentality will take to heal.
they also recently did a daily christmas gift competition the usual sms and win .... lunch with the editor etc. but i agree with your sms and lose theory. it's a great opportunity to be interactive and build that audience. as far as i know though the argus paper is the only south african paper soliciting sms story comments and owned by tony o'reilly of independent uk as well.
Thanks for the comments Andrew. I guess it's early days yet for South Africa for mobile marketing. I'm sure it will all come in town as mobile ownership increases and the technology becomes more familiar to the general public.
ReplyDeletemobile usage is already very high. currently 27 million phones and projected increase to 40 million in next 3-5 years out of a population of 45 million.
ReplyDeletebut then of course quantity doesn't equal quality!!! for many south africans it is a means of contact between urban and rural as well as a status symbol. there have also been interesting developments for mobile banking. with perhaps the worlds highest bank charges it's made sense to create mobile banking.
ReplyDelete