Applab Uganda

Article

In 2009, Google partnered with the Grameen Foundation and mobile operator MTN to launch AppLab in Uganda, an SMS-based information service giving users access to health advice, agricultural tips and local trading services from a basic mobile handset. Users texted questions on subjects such as HIV/AIDS, nearby clinics, weather forecasts and market prices, and received answers by return SMS in a search-engine-like exchange. With around a third of Ugandans owning a mobile phone — and many more sharing handsets through village phone operators — the project aimed to extend the reach of vital information to some of the country’s poorest communities.