Visafone Communications Ltd is the leading African CDMA mobile network operator. The company recently agreed to a $67 billion infrastructure sharing deal with a Nigerian company as part of a long-term strategy of monetizing Visafone towers to improve operational income. The partnership will enable Visafone to keep focused on its main areas of operations which should lead to improved efficiency and better quality mobile service for customers.

The Nigerian company, I H S Nigeria PLC, will benefit from the agreement by providing it with an infrastructure platform for consolidation, which should give a boost to its market position in Nigeria. This type of joint agreement has become common in the global mobile telecom industry in recent years and has achieved major synergies between mobile operators. Operators can gain efficiencies from the sale and leaseback of towers, and this has enabled increased growth in the telecom industry in Africa.

The tablet really presents a welcome addition in the spectrum of our personal electronic devices. As shown in this video about Fatsarazzi using the Samsung Galaxy Tab, a tablet can be used as a nexus for our media activity and instruments. This can really increase the range of artistic or other endeavors. Devices that give greater ease of use can spur greater inspiration. That means inovations as well as more people feeling free to explore what they can do. For example, my office gave a tablet to our boss who was retiring. He loves it and is really using it many ways that is enhancing his life. Recently widowed, he's really glad to have videocalling on his tablet and the freedom of movement with it. He can more easily take it with him, around his house or garden, or out and about, than he could his laptop. He also uses it to listen to music. A really wonderful development is that he has decided to write his memoirs, and is using his tablet to combine his notes and images for the project. I half wonder if the idea for the memoirs might have been prompted by the possibilities that the tablet opened up for him!

Having ease of use, control, and access of our media can be really freeing. I will always love and respect paper and pen, actual books made with paper, and movies in cinema houses…but the freedoms that arise from a device like the tablet are truly amazing and inspiring. What do the possibilities inspire you to explore or create? I hope you enjoy finding out! After all, the history of portable electronics itself demonstrates how possibilities build on themselves.

The average mobile phone today is already much more powerful then the PCs of the past, and they are outselling PCs this year as well. The number of apps is exploding, so that mobile phones continue to acquire greater everyday functionality.

For instance, there are specialized apps for diabetics like Glucose Buddy, which allow them to take readings anywhere. These are uploaded to the Internet, so they can be accessed at any time. The app also provides alarms to remind when to take a reading, plus advice on diet. Millions of people around the world now own mobile phones, and half of all mobile phones sold in western Europe are now mobile phones. Worldwide, they represent 24% of all mobiles sold, and the tipping point when they make up 50% globally may be only a year away. Since people are using them to connect to the internet, hold data, run programs and organize lives, they are fast replacing the PC for many people.