Cell phones save poverty?

The gap between rich and poor always exists in this world. However, in the near future, the gap might get bigger due to the advancement of the Internet. Richer people who can access to the network will gain more information and poorer people who cannot access to the network will fall apart.

When I was talking about this issue today, a guy told me very interesting opinion. He said that cell phones will solve this problem. People will be able to connect to the network via cell phones, and cell phones are much cheaper than computers. Therefore, most of people in the world will be connected to the network soon.

I am kind of impressed by this opinion. Because the cell phone technology to connect to the Internet has been most developed in Japan. Nowadays younger Japanese people do not use computer but only cell phones.

Japan should be aware of the possibility that their bigger chance on the network business exists in developing poor countries but not in the States or other advanced countries.