Delineating Necessity from Luxury in Emerging Markets

Google is a model of innovation, constantly developing and designing solutions to problems most individuals didn't know they had. In creating a system of cloud based apps designed to satisfy most people's basic online needs--email, calendar and organization, document storage-- they have given customers an efficient and streamlined system that was not necessarily asked for, yet has become indispensable to many. But this habit of providing products that address an unspoken--or at least not loudly voiced--demand isn't necessarily a good model for offering services to developing countries.

I'm referencing, of course, Google's Project Loon: a lofty and seemingly insane idea to provide internet access to unconnected corners of the globe via solar powered balloons. The company has developed a fleet of futuristic balloon devices that they hope to deploy around the globe in order to bring connectivity to the billions of individuals who are currently without it. Although the creativity and innovation demonstrated through the project is laudable, to be sure, and the aim to serve an underserved market is respectable, I couldn't help but question the necessity of the project.

Project Loon has often been presented as a means of providing internet service to developing countries, enabling their citizens to join the "connected world". But this begs the question: is wi-fi access really critical in nations where the majority of the population lacks even the most basic goods and services--critical needs such as water, food and shelter? In places where the economic infrastructure is not merely lacking but in fact non-existent, and where a steady income is a luxury most only dream of, how beneficial could wi-fi access really be?

An article from Wired describing the efforts behind the project asserted that "high-speed Internet is the electricity of the 21st century"--a statement that definitely gave me pause. Even if we will one day attribute substantial improvements in quality of life to wi-fi as we currently do with electricity, we can't talk realistically about providing internet access to countries where the majority of the population lacks electricity. Improving quality of life in developing countries is an incremental process, and it appears to me that Google's Project Loon bypasses several critical steps in that process.

Not that I"m saying Google should be condemned for their efforts to greaten broadband access, particularly in developing countries. I just have to question whether it is an efficient use of resources at this point. In marketing this endeavor as a social venture to address needs in emerging markets, I believe the line between necessity and luxury is being blurred. Wouldn't a more prudent use of time and intellectual capacity be to develop products that enable individuals to overcome a lack of electrical infrastructure? A company such as Google could innovate some truly life-altering products if they really wanted to make an impact around the globe. I only hope that they realize their potential, and shift resources from their X lab to a division more inclined to address the actual needs of the global population. 

Source:
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/08/googlex-project-loon/