Enlarge / 16 April 2020, Berlin: Unused mobile phones lie on the floor. In Germany, nearly 70 million people use a smartphone - and many of them still have one or more old devices lying unused in their drawers. Photo: Lisa Ducret/dpa (Photo by Lisa Ducret/picture alliance via Getty Images) (credit: Getty Images)
As many as a billion mobile phone owners around the world will be unable to use the smartphone-based system proposed by Apple and Google to track whether they have come into contact with people infected with the coronavirus, industry researchers estimate.
The figure includes many poorer and older people—who are also among the most vulnerable to COVID-19—demonstrating a “digital divide” within a system that the two tech firms have designed to reach the largest possible number of people while also protecting individuals’ privacy.
Apple’s iPhones and devices running on Google’s Android operating system now account for the vast majority of the 3.5 billion smartphones estimated to be in active use globally today. That provides a huge potential network to track infection, with surveys suggesting widespread public support for the idea.
Read 11 remaining paragraphs | Comments
https://ift.tt/2XQ2jeD
Comments
Post a Comment