Considering the Social Mobile Long Tail

I was recently reminded of Ken Banks' blog post from 2008, where he introduces the idea of the social mobile long tail.  The idea is intimately associated with his pioneering work on FrontlineSMS and as a social entrepreneur who has been a tireless promoter of low cost ICTs and local innovation, particularly in the developing world.

Ken Banks' depiction of the social mobile long tail

Our project is situated in the green area on the social mobile Long Tail with our emphasis on low cost, low complexity deployments that are relatively easy to replicate.  Making the technology accessible and finding ways to give users the confidence to experiment and innovate on their own is a central objective of our work.