With about 91 percent of the mobile phone market saturated in the United States, mobile manufacturers are targeting the approximately 1.7 billion remaining possible global mobile subscribers; 27 percent will be from India and China. In emerging nations how are these users affording mobile devices? Through a combination of rising incomes (disposable), less expensive technology, more efficiently run mobile networks, and mobile marketers seeking to reach every potential mobile user.
Dr Arthur Goldstuck of World Wide Worx states that “Mobile companies know that they will lose money marketing to customers in the more rural regions of emerging countries.” This is because one of the conditions for obtaining a mobile license is that the licensee make available services to everyone in the area it serves. For example, in South Africa mobile service is available almost everywhere, including some of the most remote locations. This widespread service requires pricing plans that sometimes don’t achieve the profit margins in more urban environments such as Johannesburg.
How do mobile companies in emerging countries market to the most remote areas they serve? While companies like Vodaphone in South Africa have well-established mobile device distribution offices, studies have shown that many people will travel from rural to urban areas to personally interact with a sales agent rather than using the internet or telephone. This way of making a purchase reminds me of the early internet days when people lacked the savvy, and trust, to buy things without physically being present at a store. 
The way many people still purchase goods and services in emerging countries is by haggling, closing a deal by shaking hands or physically going to a bazaar to see and touch an item before making a purchase.
Another way mobile devices and services are being marketed is organically through urban user evangelism. In this situation mobile marketing takes place by urban users communicating with their friends and family when they visit rural regions of an emerging country.
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