I agree there are some strong upsides, but phones make it difficult to participate in a meaningful way at the higher levels of the information economy. They're consumption-oriented devices. Here in Vietnam I see a lot of people that have blown their entire computing budget on a high-end mobile phone and I worry that they may have stunted the growth of some of their talent as a developer, writer, artist etc.

I realize that developers are rare but the money my grandfather invested in a C64 in 1983 has been repaid many, many times over. I'm not sure I would have the same incentive or opportunity to learn now.