Orange’s decision to partner with Google to provide Google’s Gmail SMS Chat to the subscribers of its operating companies in the Middle East and Africa is an acknowledgement by both parties that those who live in emerging markets are just as interested in accessing Internet services as those who live in developed markets. By enabling Gmail Chat via SMS, Orange and Google are also acknowledging that SMS is a key delivery channel for internet services in emerging markets, where there is low penetration of internet-enabled PCs and of internet-enabled mobile devices.

In Telenor Norway’s recent announcement about the changes to the way in which it offers mobile phone plans, the mobile operator referred to internal research it recently conducted, where it canvassed 3,000 mobile users about their mobile communications requirements. The research was carried out in order to tailor the two new bundled price plans that Telenor Norway will introduce on Apr. 11, 2011. One of the findings of the research was that, for the first time in Norwegian history, according to Telenor, mobile users are saying that surfing the Internet using a mobile phone is more important to them than sending SMSs.

The earthquake that hit Haiti on Jan. 12 is a tragedy of devastating proportions. The official death toll stood at 111,500 as of January 24, according to the Haitian government officials, with another 200,000 people reported injured. Just 132 people were pulled alive from collapsed buildings in the past two weeks. In addition to losing their loved ones and their homes, millions of Haitians also lack the basic necessities of life: food, water and clothing among them. It is a desperate situation.