The Nugget Archive

In a Recession, Will Mature-Market Consumers Follow Emerging-Market Behavior?
11-19-08
Virgin Mobile appears to be faring well in spite of the recent economic downturn, beating analyst expectations and gaining subscribers. The results of a commissioned survey on spending priorities have Virgin Mobile USA executives cautiously optimistic.  more...

The Devil is in the Data 11-6-08
If you aren’t living in a developing country, you may have missed the release of an interesting study by MasterCard Worldwide ranking the top 65 emerging-market cities that drive economic growth more...

More Mobile Functions Lead to Greater Privacy, Security Concerns 10-30-08 
Over 350 telecommunications industry, public-sector and development-community leaders congregated in Johannesburg, South Africa October 13-15 for the 3rd "MobileActive" conference more...

Cloud Computing - No Borders but Different Rules 10-22-08
Vital Wave Consulting provides services to large technology companies, capital investors, and foundations, but we have a typical Silicon Valley soft spot for hopeful start-ups. Earlier this week came the news of an Australian couple, John and Jeanne Nicholls, who emerged from their garage with a $100 palm-sized device that relies on "cloud computing" for processing and storage more...

M-Pesa is our Hippo! 10-16-08
Safaricom’s mobile money transfer program, M-Pesa, received additional praise last week, but more emphasis was placed on how the service is causing grief to Kenya’s traditional banks more...

Governments and the Development Community Warming to Private Sector 10-09-08
Nearly everyone in the development community (and a growing list of business executives) is familiar with the "MDGs." The term is short-hand for the UN's Millennium Development Goals – a list of eight ambitious objectives that, if achieved, would provide better education, healthcare, nutrition, gender equality, and communications technology to a far greater percentage of the world's poor more...

For Your Information 10-2-08
How much do you pay to call information (411) from your home phone? How much from your cell phone? How would you find the nearest Italian restaurant on the fly? It might surprise many that dialing information from a cell phone is free and easy, thanks to Microsoft’s Tellme, Google’s GOOG-411 and several other services more...