The Poor: The Last Untapped Market

When it comes to innovating for the poor, the leading technology companies of the world have either failed or simply aren’t interested. Aside from a handful, like Nokia, most aren’t even trying. So it makes since that the new wave of innovation targeted at bottom of the pyramid markets is coming from the bottom itself.

Indian companies, long dependent on hand-me-down technology from developed nations, are becoming cutting-edge innovators as they target one of the world’s last untapped markets: the poor. India’s many engineers, whose best-known role is to help Western companies expand or cut costs, are now turning their attention to the purchasing potential of the nation’s own 1.1-billion population. The trend that surfaced when Tata Motors’ tiny $2,200 car, the Nano, hit Indian roads in July, has resulted in a slew of new products for people with little money who aspire to a taste of a better life.

From the Wall Street Journal