I’m not really a big fan of the focus on smartphones. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of a mobile device that has a significant level of intelligence above the models that I had in pocket half a decade ago. But, overall, a lot of the push for smartphones really just comes from carriers and their stakeholders who see the ARPU higher with smartphone owners than with feature phone owners. If you will, it literally costs you more to own a smartphone, and carriers are milking that for all its worth.

That’s why I look at this recent image about the top countries for smartphones with a bit of disdain (from Textually). No, not that it doesn’t make some sense, because it does. What happens is that much of the marketing and focus for smartphones and those using it are not towards those folks at the top of this listing – at least by proportion of activities, marketing and development.

When it comes to ministry, and even some recent affairs concerning it that I put myself for, there’s this unhealthy focus on what can be done with smartphones, what can be done with English-first users with smartphones. We aren’t always looking at the cultural dynamics that make up smartphone… mobile usage. And that’s a mistake. Yes, there’s something to be said about looking at mobile and its transitioning happening in those nations that have had a deeper history of communication technologies and behaviors. But those folks that skipped a few things… man, there’s something rich and valuable about what the faith looks like in the UAE, SK, and Saudi Arabia. Are we developing towards those perspectives too?

Or, is the lens of our smartphone just confined to whatever media is pushing? If its Google-based, then the perspective starts in Silicon Valley. If its iOS, then its one part California, another part China. If its BlackBerry, its Canadian with a heaping of Washington DC. If its Nokia, then there’s the Finnish experience, with a North American attitude. And that’s not even to talk about the lens if we went with the largest carriers instead.

I wear tinted glasses, but make sure to take them off or look around the edges. Sometimes, what the world offers has a better color than what I’m usually seeing.