NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, December 14, 2012

As much disruption and upheaval as the Internet age has brought to far-flung industries like education, energy and finance, the emergence of mobile computing has a much greater potential for change on a global scale, a group of experts said on Thursday.

Speaking at a mobile summit hosted by the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, industry and nonprofit leaders suggested that the near ubiquity of mobile devices, particularly in the developing world, could be the most far-reaching technological agent for change ever invented.

“A lot of people talk about mobile as an enabler. But it’s more than that. It’s really a multiplier. At its heart, it’s really a game changer,” says Shawn Covell, vice president of government affairs at Qualcomm. “You name a sector and mobile is not just enabling it; it’s transforming it.”