Can the world’s poor text their way out of poverty?

“The starting point is always mobile devices”, said Google’s Eric Schmidt on the first day of the conference. “They are the lifeline for information for many of the people in the world.” Once people get online, he said, they can start businesses, advertise and connect with each other - driving economic growth.

Mobile phones can “create commerce for people who in many cases haven’t had an opportunity to have a job before”, said former T-Mobile USA chief John Stanton.

Can the world’s poor text their way out of poverty? Read and decide...