Former president Bill Clinton lauded mobile technology at the close of the CTIA Wireless conference Thursday.
“Wireless technology has done more to lift people out of poverty than any technology,” said Clinton in a speech at the annual gathering put on by the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association. One example he gave came from when he was in South East Asian countries after a tsunami there, working with widows of fishermen in the country. “If we gave every one of them a cell phone, they could immediately find out what the cost of fish was and increase their income 30-50% over a year,” he said. He also spoke on the impact that mobile technology has had in healthcare and banking, providing services that might have not otherwise been available.“Diverse options are healthy and disagreement is good,” Clinton said. “What works in real life are creative networks of cooperation.” Clinton added that people need to take advantage of their differences to move forward with challenges, and that party lines shouldn’t get in the way of innovation. “Cooperation in the modern world works better than conflict…if our goal is creative cooperation, we’re going to be fine.”
This year marked Clinton’s second trip to CTIA. His first visit came in 2007, when he traveled to the show with former president George Bush. That year, Clinton says, he toured the show floor in a golf cart and left with “the biggest goodie bag” he had ever received at any convention — full of new technology his daughter explained to him when got home.
What impact do you think mobile technology is having on the world around us?
Posted by Janine E. Mooney, Editor
May 11, 2012
