The $100 smartphone price barrier is broken! Nokia recently announced the 2730 Classic and Synchronica released the MessagePhone. Both mobile phones will retail for $100 or less across the developing world.

Price is also the major selling point for the Vodaphone 150, a self-proclaimed "world's cheapest mobile phone". Its only $15. But it only supports SMS and voice. Which brings us to an interesting question:

Which is better: price or functionality?

You could argue that its better to have something, even a stripped down $15 mobile phone, than nothing. But is price really the only factor? Even for the poorest, I would argue not. Consider the $35 Simu ya Solar which has its own solar panel, a perfect phone charging solution.

In addition, Ken Banks points out the "emerging market" handset trap with these low-end phones:

The prices may have changed, but functionality has largely stagnated. You couldn’t browse the web on the Motorola in 2005, nor the ZTE in 2008, and today you’d have the same problem on the Vodafone 150. You can’t download applications onto any of them, either. They all have monochrome screens and look pretty-much-the-same despite having a five year gap between them. Very little has changed other than price

More mobile phone functionality, please

Voice is the killer mobile phone application - bar none. Next up, SMS is the most popular application - bust should it continue to hold that title? For multiple reasons, I believe that Africa's mobile phone future is IP based, not SMS. To gain, IP needs data enabled phones. Handsets like the 2730 and the MessagePhone.

So while I applaud Vodaphone for cutting costs, might all this gone a bit too far? Could we have innovation on functionality at a higher price point? I could see a $50 smartphone having greater impact than a $15 voice/SMS phone.

A $50 smartphone would drive data usage out to rural areas now limited to SMS-only. It would also allow for much greater opportunities by all the actors involves - rural communities and the business and development organizations that want to reach them.

A $50 smartphone would also challenge the high costs of smartphones in the developed world. A South to North innovation we all could applaud.

Nokia has launched a global developer competition that challenges developers to create mobile phone applications and services worthy of a $1 million investment.

The Calling All Innovators 2010 Contest is focused on the following four categories: Eco/Being Green, Entertainment, Productivity, Life Improvement.

Also (and I can't tell if this is part of or in addition to the $1 million investment above), Nokia is launching a Growth Economy Venture Challenge with a $1 million investment grand prize.

Both contests are looking for submissions that:

• could truly change the way people use Nokia mobile devices.
• demonstrates how mobility improves the lives of millions of people in emerging markets worldwide.
• recognizes a good business opportunity can also contribute to "doing good" – and making a dramatic difference in the lives of people in developing nations.

So if you are a mobile phone applications developer, what are you waiting for? Check out the contest site today!

With Dambisa Moyo sounding off in Wired magazine that we should Cut Off Aid to Africa, that is favor investment over grants to government, its time we ask ourselves if information and communication technologies are a help or hindrance to development.

In our search for answers, or at least a in-depth discussion of ICT's impact on Africa, may I suggest that we start with this great Vox Africa interview with Tunde Adebayo, Ken Banks, Tim Unwin, and Samuel Burke:

In this video, Ken Banks has a provocative statement when he says:

I think we can argue that if mobile phones were a World bank or international aid project, we would be no where near where we are now

I wonder if he remembers that the IFC, the financing arm of the World Bank, helped found Celtel, one of Africa's largest mobile phone companies before it was bought by MTC? But he does have a point in the rapid spread of mobile phone being mainly free of international development influences.

Yet the bigger question around a second act. Are mobile phones a fluke, or can there be other private industry driven ICT's that have just as great, or even greater impact of the long-term development of Africa?

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With all the hype around the use of text messaging on mobile phones, like Google Trader or FrontlineSMS, it seems that the future of communication in Africa will be SMS.

Yet, Erik Hersman recently asked a great question: Should we be Building SMS or Internet Services for Africa?

David looking for an IP-based future

What a lot of people don’t realize is that for the first time, last year, mobile phones shipped to Africa with data service capabilities outnumbered the simple SMS-only phones that are so prevalent on the continent (Gartner 2009). Of course, this doesn’t mean that there will be a majority of IP accessible phone users immediately, but it is on its way.

Equally important to understand, and a point that increases the momentum of the mobile services over IP argument, is the fact that where there is mobile penetration, there is also available data services. This stands true in Uganda, where MTN says there is 92% GPRS coverage on their network. It’s even true in countries still trying to catch up, like Liberia, where though there are only islands of coverage, that coverage generally comes with data.

Expanding on Erik's observations, I see several trends that will have the next generation of African ICT solution developers crunching IP code, not developing SMS extensions:

High SMS costs

Currently, text messaging is one of the the most profitable activities for mobile network operators. An SMS costs them next to nothing to transport and deliver, yet those 140 characters are grossly expensive to the end user. Any type of automated SMS traffic (Twitter for example) would quickly bankrupt a company who attempted a large scale activity. This is stifling SMS creativity.

Ability to innovate

Mobile network operators continue to run very closed systems, only allowing very few applications to run directly on their networks. They do allow IP-based services however, with data plans. And with an Internet presence, entrepreneurs can also get international attention and investment, and attract computer users too.

Demand for video

Already, market IT entrepreneurs are selling video compression services so movies can be played on phones. As soon as there is a critical mass of data service phones and plans, expect to have movie services start offering daily downloads. Churches will lead (a sermon a day), and commerce will follow closely behind. Services like this are impossible with SMS, but easy with IP.

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While there is an explosive growth of mobile phone usage in Africa, there has not been a corresponding growth in the national electric grid to support these phones. In Kenya, there are more than 17 million cell phone subscribers but only 1.3 million have access to constant electricity.

So how can entrepreneurs fill the gap between the demand for mobile phone recharging and the limited supply of grid electricity?

Battery-based mobile phone charging

At the most basic level, small-scale entrepreneurs have been devising ad hoc mobile phone recharging solutions that span the gamut from pedal-power electricity generation to many homemade dry cell battery powered systems.

The best are recharging stations that take the ubiquitous 12 Volt car battery and wire a number of phone chargers to it for community usage. Yet these stations are still ad hoc, with no standardization or scalability of the solution, which is a market opportunity.

Solar powered handset solutions

Big mobile phone operators are looking at that opportunity with solar powered handsets. Safaricom has just introduced solar powered cell phones that retail at only Kes. 2,999 ($40 USD).

While this phone is locked to the Safaricom network, one 8 hour charge lasts for a several days and as an added bonus, its made with all recycled materials.

Solar power business opportunity

It also gives me an idea for another business opportunity in Africa. I can see an African entrepreneur designing a simple yet durable solar power recharge station.

Imagine a solar panel and change controller designed specifically to sit atop and recharge a 12V battery under African conditions. Incorporating voltage meters and other electrical indicators it would be a distinct advantage over the current charge status guesswork.

Models for different countries would have alignment instructions just for their geo-solar conditions, and would come with ports for all the major mobile phones recharging adapters. The whole unit would be mall enough for a single person to carry - the entrepreneur who would sell charge time for 12V battery owners.

As everyone in Kenya knows, there's been explosive growth in voice and data usage, mainly through mobile phones. And while the vast majority of mobile phone usage is beneficial to Kenya's economy, the very ubiquity, ease, and anonymity of prepaid mobile phones that make them so attractive for positive uses, has also made them great tools for nefarious ones.

Can't wait to know you

In reaction to this trend of using prepaid accounts to facilitate crime - from petty to serious acts - the government of Kenya is now requiring mobile phone providers to identify all prepaid account holders, following similar acts by the governments of South Africa and Tanzania.

As The Nation reports, Kenyan mobile phone operators are not happy with this new government mandate:

Zain CEO Rene Meza said the move would not reduce crime. "Prepaid subscribers registration is a good initiative to identify mobile users. However, it does not prevent or reduce crimes as the criminals normally manage to get hold of stolen mobile phones or fake or stolen identity cards to get their own mobile connections," he said. This was based on his experience in Pakistan and Paraguay where the law required that prepaid subscribers be registered.

And who can blame them - establishing a prepaid phone line registry will do little to discourage or solve crime. Mobile phones are an enabler for sure, but just as much as any other communications device. And creating a registry for Kenya's 17.6 million mobile phone users will vastly increase paperwork for both customers and mobile line operators, with little impact on mobile phone usage in crimes or the ability to solve crimes after they happen. Worse, the mobile subscriber database, with all those personal records, would be a target in itself for criminals.

So while mobile phone operators fight this battle, Internet cafe owners should not think themselves immune. They could very well be the next registration target for the government. To combat cybercrime in Italy, Internet cafe owners are required to record the identification of anyone who uses their computers and worried African governments may not be far behind.

I'm surprised that there isn't already a call for Internet user registration in Nigeria, home of the famous "Yahoo Boys", to curtail 419 fraud.

Here's an interesting data point on the growth of mobile phones in Africa - they may already outnumber light bulbs in Uganda.

New Ugandan light blub

This idea started with the cNet article For Uganda's poor, a cellular connection, where Dara Karr notes that 10% of Ugandas have electricity but 30% have mobile phones, suggesting that mobile phones could outnumber light bulbs.

From there Paul Boutin who asked if this was really true, could mobile phones really outnumber light bulbs? The response from Jonathan Gosier at App+frica gives us more detail.

He points out that in 2007 only between 5% and 6% of Ugandans had electricity, with demand growing at roughly 6% per year. Yet mobile subscriptions stood at 13% in 2007, and demand is expected to double by 2012.

We can assume that people with electricity have more than one light bulb, but people also have more than one mobile phone, and most phone usage is by pre-paid cards, not subscriptions. So from these numbers, I'm confident that the original postulation is correct: there are more mobile phones than light bulbs in Uganda.

Of course, mobile phone companies may have already realized this, what with phones advertised as flashlights, in this photo by Ken Banks of kiwanja.net