Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2019-06-10)

education,genderequality,economicdevel­

opment,andlotsofothergoalswell­financed

nonprofitsstruggletoachieve.Boostinga

poorcountry’smobileinternetuseby10%

correlateswithanaverage 2 percentage­point

increasein grossdomesticproduct,andelec­

tronicchannelshaveprovedcapableofmak­

inggovernmentsmoreresponsive tocivic

complaints,too.Bycontrast,womenandpeo­

plelivinginruralareaslagbehindinonline

use,whichlimitstheiraccesstogovernment

services,banking,andjobopportunities.

Nowhere isthat clearerthan inAfrica,

whichhastheworld’slowestshareofpeo­

pleusingtheinternet,under25%.Thecohort

of 800 millionofflinepeoplespreadacross

thecontinent’s 54 countriesisyoungerand

growingfasterthanmost,butincomesare

loweranda largershareofresidentslivein

ruralareasthataretoughtowireforinter­

netaccess—or,forthatmatter,electricity.

Now,however,a handfulofphonepurvey­

orsaretryingingreaterearnesttonudge

internet­readyupgradesintoAfricanmar­

kets, with models designed with an eye

towardruralpriorities(firstthoseofrural

India,wherethey’realreadyhits),ratherthan

batteredthirdhandflipphonesfromthehey­

dayoftheSpiceGirls.

Twoofthebiggestmobilephoneoperators

inAfrica,MTNGroupLtd.ofSouthAfricaand

France’sOrangeSA,thisyearstartedsell­

ingquasismartphonesforaslittleas$20.

Previouslythefloorhadbeenaround$40,

welloutofreachformanypeople.These

devices,whichhavea smartphonebrainin

thebodyof1990scandybarphones,arepow­

eredbysoftwarefromKaiOSTechnologies

Ltd.,a three­year­oldspinoffofa Chinese

electronicsgiantthatpickedupthepieces

froma failedefforttoproducecheapinter­

netdevices.

Most companies are trying to make

internet­connecteddevicesevermorepower­

fulandcapable,butKaiOSwenttheother

way. It rethoughteverything tokeep the

essentialcapabilitiesofsmartphones but

stripoutcostsandpreservebatterylifefor

peoplewholikelyhavespottyaccesstoelec­

tricity.MTNsaidina statementthatitsKaiOS

phonesaredesignedtopulldownbarriersto

theinternet’sbenefits.BertrandGouze,a vice

presidentforOrange’soperationin Africaand

theMiddleEast,saystheKaiOSdevicesoffer

analternativetothemoreexpensivephones

thatremain“outofreachtomanyAfricans

andcontributetothedigitaldivide.”

Thebodyofa KaiOSphoneisasbasicas

it gets.There’snotouchscreen,whichtends

to bethepriciestsmartphonecomponent

anda batteryhog.ThemodelsthatOrange

sells—namedSanza,aftera handheldmusical

instrumenttypicallyfoundin centralandeast­

ernAfrica—havea screenthat’slessthanhalf

thesizeofthelatestiPhone’sandcontrolled

withanold­schoolkeypad.Thekeysaremade

fromtheleastexpensiveplasticpossible.In

Nigeria,Rwanda,andothercountrieswhere

MTNhasjuststartedsellingKaiOSphones,

they’redesignedfor3Gnetworks,because

4G coverage doesn’treach two­thirdsof

MTN’s 230 millionregionalcustomers.

Tosavemoney, KaiOSalso shrankthe

memorytoaboutone­quarterorlessthat

ofthecheapestAndroidsmartphone.That

meansthephonescanhandleonlyonetask

ata time—nohoppingbackandforthfrom

yourgrouptexttolookupstuffontheweb.

For some KaiOS models, Qualcomm Inc.

refashioned anoldversionof its proces­

sor,thephone’sbrain,atanestimatedcost

ofabout$3,comparedwiththeroughly$50

versionfoundintop­endsmartphones.In

total,KaiOS­poweredphonesaremadefrom

about$15worthofparts,estimatesWayne

Lam,ananalystwithresearcherIHSMarkit

Ltd.Materialsforthenext­cheapestcompa­

rablephonescostatleasttwiceasmuch,and

AppleInc.’stop­of­the­lineiPhonehas$390

worthofstuff.

Thatdoesn’t meanthesescaled­down

phonesaren’tcapable.Allthecutcorners

resultina devicethatusessolittlepower,

Orangesays,it canlastaslongasfivedays

ona singlecharge.Thelackofa touchscreen

alsomakesvoicecommandsmorevaluable,

sothere’sa giantbuttoninthemiddleofthe

phone thatactivatesa versionof Google

Assistantadaptedforlocalmarkets.Google

invested$22millioninKaiOSlastyearand

contributed toa fresh$50millionfunding

roundannouncedonMay22.

In ways both high­techand low­tech,

internetprovidersareputtingintheeffort

tomakegettingonlinefeasibleinconditions

that tendtobeat up on silicon.Nairobi’s

BRCKInc.buildscomputerswithcheapoff­

the­shelf parts to beam out connectivity from

Bloomberg Businessweek | Sooner Than You Think June 10, 2019

All the cut

corners result

in a device that

uses so little

power, Orange

says, it can

last as long as

five days on a

single charge

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