Technology diffusion in emerging economies

'The question is how much this unevenness matters. It is tempting to say, not much. What really counts, say techno-optimists, is that technology should get a toehold. Once it does, its grip will strengthen. So although only 6% of India's rural poor have phones, urban folk were at the same stage in 1998—and look what happened. Optimism about diffusion seems all the more plausible because of leapfrogging. Technologies such as mobile phones can be dropped into developing countries without the slog of building expensive infrastructure (such as land lines) and can circumvent the failings of old 19th- and 20th-technology. Poor countries will leapfrog into the next generation.'

Read the complete Economist article here.