Will Developing World Mobile Innovations Come Back to Developed Regions?

Innovation traditionally has taken established paths. New technology has been made available to people in developed nations, while the rest of the world getting access as markets scale and prices come down.

Likewise, technology has been developed in universities, commercialized for enterprises, then migrates into the mid-market, then small and medium business. Eventually, consumers might adopt, as well.

But those diffusion pathways are changing. These days, it is very likely that innovations are created in the universities, then popularized first in the consumer markets, before being adopted later by businesses of all sizes.

In similar fashion, technology innovations can be created in the developing regions and then find their way back to developed regions.

So Nokia looking to use Kenya to debut a free classifieds service (think a mobile-phone version of Craigslist), complete with a first-ever feature that lets people shop using voice commands to browse for goods.

In fact, the traditional model of developing new products is quietly reversing course. Call it "trickle-up innovation," where ideas take shape in developing markets first, then work their way back to the West.

"If it's radically innovative and reduces costs, it's going to get looked at and will accelerate," says Michael Chui, McKinsey Technology analyst. Consider almost anything related to mobile phones.

For the average developing market mobile user, a mobile feature phone costs a few months’ salary. Using the devices can represent over 10 percent of their monthly income, UNICEF believes.

Batteries can be hard to recharge locally, so long battery life is necessary. Handset cost and low recurring costs, including apps that require very little bandwidth, also are necessary. All of those innovations would be helpful in developed markets as well, though.