I've just spent the past week in India. I travelled from Mumbai to Cochin & Trivandrum in the southern state of Kerala. India is one of the most exciting places i've ever been to. It has a rich and vibrant culture with fantastic food and very friendly people. What struck me about India from a technological perspective though is that the technology is everywhere - and the people are using it. A couple of examples:- We took a autorickshaw from my hotel to a nearby restaurant. Nothing unusual in that. But the driver wouldn't accept payment on the outward journey instead opting to get paid on the way back - very trusting I thought. But how will we find him? Simple! "Phone me on my mobile!" and he promptly gave us his mobile number to call him on and tell him where to pick us up. Now this was no normal 2 year old mobile but a brand new Nokia. By my basic calculations, the driver was earning less than £5 per day on a good day. But he was able to afford a brand new Nokia mobile and get on a price plan for less than 500 rupees per month (~£5 per month). Calls were less than 10 rupees (~10p) and texts 1 rupee (~1p). His mobile was empowering him to generate repeat business that he wasn't able to only a couple of years ago. Then there are the technoparks. These are great expanses of land which are set aside for technology business parks with all of the amenities and infrastructure you would find in the UK for example. We were over there during the tail end of the monsoon season and the roads were in a fairly poor state (the heavy rains were battering them no end) but the techno parks operated throughout with their UPS generators etc.. The hotel we stayed in was still somewhat behind the times. They only had a 28.8k connection, but I'm sure they will soon be upgrading to broadband 🙂 Internet cafes are all over the place - even on the beach. Everyone in India is doing business. From road side stalls, to Internet cafes to the latest shopping malls - everyone wants to improve their life and they are using whatever technology they have to hand to make it happen. It made me think about globalisation. I firmly believe it is opening up a whole set of opportunities for everyone who is participating. Thomas Friedman wrote an interesting book (The World is Flat) about the subject and I would recommend you read it. There is no turning back now. Regards Dean
