VOA科学技术2024--Businesses Aim to Get More Africans Using Smartphones

Modern smart phones are still seen as a curiosity in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

Experts believe mobile internet service is an important tool for economic growth in places such as Ghana. However, only about 25 percent of adults in the area south of the Sahara Desert have a tool that provides internet service.

Anita Akpeere is one person who uses an internet-connected smart mobile phone in her food business in Ghana's capital, Accra. She makes rice and dumplings, a kind of local food. Her phone alerts her when a new order comes in.

Claire Sibthorpe is head of digital inclusion at the Britain-based mobile-phone manufacturers group GSMA. She said the cost of new phones is the main barrier to more Africans getting internet service. The lowest-priced smart phones still cost about 95 percent of monthly pay for the poorest 20 percent of the population.

Jenny Aker is a professor at Tufts University near Boston, Massachusetts. She said mobile technology is more important in Africa than in more developed parts of the world. She said the small programs that run on smart phones, called apps, are able to overcome a lack of infrastructure¹. That is why more people in Africa need phones that connect to the internet. She said people without bank accounts use their phones to send and receive mobile money. Other people can use apps that help with farming. Still others use apps that help them learn languages.

Uniti Networks has a "super app" that permits smart phone users in poor places to use lots of other apps. The business also has a payment plan that permits people in Ghana who do not have much money to get smart phones. Cyril Fianyo is a farmer who uses the plan. He is a 64-year-old farmer in the country's eastern Volta area. He paid about $25 to get his phone and will pay the remaining $66 in regular payments. The phone has an app called Cocoa Link that helps him learn planting methods for his cocoa crop.

In the past, Fianyo used his intuition to decide when to plant. However, now he thinks Cocoa Link will look at the upcoming weather and tell him the right time to plant. He hopes it will lead to a bigger crop.

Kami Dar is chief of Uniti Networks. He said mobile phones could also improve Africa's health care system. So far, he said, Uniti has 650 participants in its program that permits regular payments over time. The goal is to have 100,000 people taking part within five years.

Uniti, however, will only reach its customer goal if more people in Ghana learn how to use smart phones. But there is both a language barrier and a technology barrier. Although many people in Ghana speak English, some cannot read the language. In addition, many people do not know how to operate a smart phone. They will have to learn to read English and learn how to use the phone.

The barriers mean many people decide a smart phone is not worth the cost.

Alain Capo-Chichi is trying to fix that problem. He is the head of CERCO Group, a company that developed a smart phone that works with only voice commands. "If you buy a car, it's because you can drive it." The voice control, he said, will permit more people to "drive" their smart phone. His system supports 50 African languages, including Swahili, Yoruba and Wolof.

Aker, the professor near Boston, said it is unclear at this time how many apps will be able to improve life in Africa. She has looked at health and farming apps. She said the health apps mostly tell people when to take medicine or advise them of the need to be vaccinated². The farming apps, she noted³, do not clearly show evidence of producing more productive crops.

Capo-Chichi said one reason people are unsure about investing in smart phones is the lack of useful apps.

Dar from Uniti Networks said app makers⁴ are trying to do better. He gave the example of an app that helps cocoa farmers save money for retirement⁵. At first, the app was hard to use, so many farmers needed help or decided⁶ it was not worth their time. But the company that provided the savings⁷ service fixed⁸ some of the problems.

Over time, the apps improve. One example is a health app that helps women follow their reproductive, or menstrual, cycle to avoid pregnancy⁹. Another app helps people find medicinal plants.

Aker said more investment in public services is needed for Africa. But she also worried about a dependence¹⁰ on smart phones and said some people could lose personal data to criminals or hackers¹².

The expert noted that companies that make apps can only do well if they have more users. Companies that are creating payment plans for Africans can only make money if they get more customers.

In addition, Aker noted the phones can still make a difference for some. She noted that the United Nations says over 700 million people around the world are illiterate¹³, meaning they cannot read or write any language. Aker said smart phones can help people learn to read and write.

However, curiosity may still be the biggest driver of smart phone sales, especially if the cost is not so high.

Back in Fianyo's fields, his new smartphone has attracted interest. "This is something I would like to be part of," said neighboring farmer Godsway Kwamigah.

Words in This Story

curiosity -n. the state of mind of being interested in something and wanting to learn more about it

inclusion -n. the act of making a group out of many different things

infrastructure -n. things like roads, bridges, electricity lines and other structures that are associated with civilization

intuition -n. a sense of knowing something without proof or evidence

participant -n. a person who takes part in an activity with a group

hacker¹¹ -n. a person who gets inside a computer system to take information or to cause damage

attract -v. to cause someone to become interested in something

1 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

2 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

3 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

4 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

8 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

9 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

10 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

11 hacker   

n.能盗用或偷改电脑中信息的人，电脑黑客

参考例句：

• The computer hacker wrote that he was from Russia.这个计算机黑客自称他来自俄罗斯。
• This site was attacked by a hacker last week.上周这个网站被黑客攻击了。

12 hackers   

n.计算机迷( hacker的名词复数 )；私自存取或篡改电脑资料者，电脑“黑客”

参考例句：

• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Arranging a meeting with the hackers took weeks againoff-again email exchanges. 通过几星期电子邮件往来安排见面，他们最终同意了。 来自互联网

13 illiterate   

adj.文盲的；无知的；n.文盲

参考例句：

• There are still many illiterate people in our country.在我国还有许多文盲。
• I was an illiterate in the old society,but now I can read.我这个旧社会的文盲，今天也认字了。