For example, the fastest growing mobile phone market in the world is Africa, where some phone manufacturers are now flocking.  Most people, who don't have access to PCs and the internet, are now using mobile phones to check e-mail, make bank transfers, buy and sell products, and check sports scores.  

Mobile phone adoption is much higher than internet use, especially in rural locations, though broadband is on the way.  Until then, the use of phones will remain a popular tool for communication, especially with many homes in rural African nations lacking electricity to continually power a PC.

Until several undersea cables are successfully connected and installed to offer support to nations in Africa, phone-based communication is expected to remain high throughout the massive continent.

"I don't think the development being done now for mobile phones is going to stop," said Jon Gossier, president of Appfrica, a technology company operating in Uganda.  "But I think we'll see a whole new generation of applications coming out of Africa, including mobile applications that utilize the Web."

Free and open source software, such as Java, continues to be extremely popular in Africa, with the number of paid app downloads also slowly increasing.  Companies that hope to work in Africa, however, routinely must provide their own infrastructure -- a fact that has led some companies away from Uganda, Congo, and other countries where it could possibly cash in.