Mobile Application Ideas for Africa

I saw a post on LinkedIn recently from somebody asking about what might be a good idea for a social networking application or service for Africa. Not quite sure if he meant good in the sense of being financially-successful, or good in the sense of being beneficial to everyday folks. Ideally, such a thing would be good at both. Here was my contribution:

A Twitter-like social networking service may be a good idea, just adapted to the differences of the local market and culture, and optimized for having mobile devices be the dominant client.

Also, a Craigslist-like service.

And some sort of discussion forums, organized by topic or region.

I think really simple services like this would be useful in every culture. Again, in this case, probably especially important to make sure that the enduser UI is optimized for mobile devices, particularly low-end cellphones rather than iPhones. The lower the device hardware capability requirements for the UI & data communication, the cheaper devices can run it, the more people can afford to access it, the more popular it will be, and the greater the benefit to African society.

Not truly a social networking application, but one thought I had would be that it could be really useful to have mobile applications that make it really easy to connect employers with job seekers, or to buy & sell items on an Ebay-like auction market. My understanding is that the power infrastructure and transportation networks in Africa are not as pervasive or as reliable as in the US, making it harder to travel and commute. And that not as many have full-blown desktop computers, so instead mobile devices like cellphones are really popular precisely because they allow individuals to get around that weakness. And cellphones are increasingly popular there for mobile banking, not just telephony. So jobs and markets/auctions could be the next logical step and have synergy with the mobile banking services and use cases.

If you enable online job markets and auction markets, it should make it easier for individuals and small businesses to find employment, and sell products & services -- without being limited to dealing only with who is in the local village or neighborhood. It should also amplify people's ability to leverage the advantages that come from differentiation and specialization, by being able to consume the fruits of the best provider of a given thing from a much larger region than before, or for someone who provides an esoteric skill or product to be able to sell that to a much larger region geographically, making an increasing breadth of job types financially viable. Diverse economies tend to be more efficient, and more resilient.

Open Letter to Congress on Health Care Reform

I strongly think you need to add the public plan option back into whatever bill you pass.

Also, any reform bill would have as it's most beneficial features the notions that insurance companies could not deny coverage due to so-called pre-existing conditions, and, once someone has coverage and is sick and therefore is using the coverage that they cannot be dropped. If the public plan is created, then those latter 2 elements are not as important, but if it does not, and only the private health insurance industry option remains then adding those restrictions is crucial to fix the system. Currently the private health insurance industry is effectively acting as a parasite on Americans, trying to extract as much profit as they can out of people, by looking for every excuse to charge them for things, while also looking for every excuse to deny or minimize the delivery of actual health care service. That to me is a broken system, and worse than that, predatory and evil.

One compromise variant on reform would be to say, fine, we won't add any additional regulations to the private health industry, but, in return, we will add a new public health program that (a) does have the qualities Americans want (can't deny, can't drop, no profit motive, with success measured by effectiveness which is in turn measured by health outcomes -- saving lives & improving health -- not by huge private profits for the fat cats at the top and their investor allies), and (b) is optional -- therefore, nobody is forced into it, and they can still choose the private insurance route, and the private industry would still be free to run their operation as they are today. In that scenario, let consumers & citizens decide which they prefer, and may the best offering win. Free market choice is a good thing, right? Republicans should love that, if they truly believe in the philosophy they advocate.

Also, if you pass a bill that requires everyone to buy private insurance, and yet at the same time you do not also pass strong enforceable measures to ensure that the private industry can't deny, can't drop, and doesn't game the system to maximize profits, then really what you are doing is passing a bill which is a big handout to the private health insurance industry and actually rewarding their current system, and increasing their revenue and profits by effectively giving them more customers -- forced customers, the best kind for monopolists, the worst for providing actual good service. Therefore, if you can't get enough votes to pass a bill that has the core elements Americans want (public plan option, and/or a new law that says can't deny and can't drop) then it's better to pass no bill at all. Better if you truly want to benefit your constituents: the American public, the little guy, the voter.