Is Information Powerful?

I always wondered whether information is really powerful?Is every one of us really able to enjoy the fruits of advances in technology?Are developing countries able to take the advantage of internet?Certainly No.There are no.of reasons but i think primary could be following.

Lack of Internet and PC penetration.But i don't think this alone solves the problem and there needs to be right kind of training for people who use it and the user interface should be as simple as Television(Easiest to use and even a house wife adopts) and there is also lack of availability of natural language content at disposal .This lack of push button computing technologies and technology for the sake of technology approach of many High-Tech companies making consumers increasingly loosers.

Lack of internet penetration always makes life difficult for internet start ups(google,skype wannables) in developing countries and you end up loosing even if you got great idea and market.For example in india,internet is mostly used by Corporate workers,College Students and these two categories almost represent more than 90% total internet user base in india. But many of these users again uses Cyber cafes,Offices to surf net and very few surf internet from home.The question is can you build digital life around cyber cafes and offices?

In this case possible solution could be Mobile phone 'coz that's like a poor man's computer in a country like India.In 2006 alone more than 1bn Mobile phones sold around the world and countries like India and China representing major portion in that.But the closed game of Handset manufacturer-Service provider severly denting the chances of exploting innovative services in this market.For example in india most of the WAP services are locked to service provider.There needs to be a open and flexible platform in Mobile Phone market which can enable entrepreneurs to take advantage and create innovative services to empower the new way of information distribution.