In mobile phone journalism, Africa is ahead of the west - Guardian.co.uk

In areas where net-connected computers are not common, the mobile phone is becoming a vital tool for news.

Thanks to the iPhone and other smart phones, in the western worldmobile phones are getting increasingly important for journalism. But in Africa, the phone has been used as a broadcast device for quite a while.

In fact, the use of mobiles in Africa is in many ways ahead of the west.

No need for an app, though, as bandwidth is still rather small. Headlines are simply sent out as text messages, and texting is used to report the news in as well. Although the mobile phone penetration is far behind Europe or Asia, it is rapidly growing. In Africa, four in 10 people now have a mobile phone.

The mobile phone is in some ways the PC of Africa, and creative ways of using it are emerging. Read more at Guardian.co.uk...