NIC HARALAMBOUS

View Original

Wordpress goes mobile but misses the poi...

Wordpress goes mobile but misses the point.Mashable! today reports that Wordpress has launched two new mobile themes. But "mobile" here refers to iPhones and Android handsets not to the mobile market that we, in Africa, are referring to.I'm interested to know how many 3rd world (low broadband) countries have Wordpress blogs. What is the number? Is it ten thousand, fifty thousand, more or less?The reason I ask is because I have a feeling that if Wordpress was to start focusing on lower-end handset models in the mobile market they would open themselves up to a massively neglected market. The market that can't afford "smartphones", the market that can't afford laptops, computers and fixed-line internet.It's interesting to think that in 1st world countries the term "mobile" refers to iPhone handsets or "smartphones". What of the rest of the world? What of the people who don't have these phones and can't view the content they are looking for because it costs too much.Meeting with Marc Smith this month was an eye-opener for many reasons. Firstly he told me that Obama winning a Nobel peace prize was not regarded in very high esteem by Americans. Why? Because if Europeans like their president there must be something wrong him. This seems to echo in the approach of many a large company playing in the online/mobile space.Why is Wordpress not going after the African market? Why are they not providing those without fixed-line broadband an outlet for their mobile phones to read and write blogs?To me it feels like a lack of insight and foresight.