Detailed outline of The limits of leapfrogging

· Mobile phones are substitute for travel,
· Allow price data to be distributed more quickly and easily,
· Enable traders to reach wider markets and generally make it easier to do business

The mobile phone is also a wonderful example of a “leapfrog” technology:

Has enabled developing countries to skip the fixed-line technology of the 20th century and move straight to the mobile technology of the 21st
Mobile phones use work using radio, so there is no need to rely on physical infrastructure such as roads and phone wires
Even Illiterate people can use and have acess to mobile phones

There are some other examples of leapfrog technologies that can promote development—moving straight to local, small-scale electricity generation based on solar panels or biomass, for example, rather than building a centralised power-transmission grid—but there may not be very many.

Computers and broadband links are not much use without a reliable electrical supply, for example, and the latest medical gear is not terribly helpful in a country that lacks basic sanitation and health-care facilities.

The World Bank's researchers looked at 28 examples of new technologies that achieved a market penetration of at least 5% in the developed world, and found that 23 of them went on to manage a penetration of over 50%.

Lavatories before laptops
The World Bank concludes that a country's capacity to absorb and benefit from new technology depends on the availability of more basic forms of infrastructure.

Building a fibre-optic backbone or putting plasma screens into schools may be much more glamorous than building electrical grids, sewerage systems, water pipelines, roads, railways and schools