In this article we depart from studies on empowerment and its intersections with the informal economy and market women in the Global South and promises of the mobile phone in so-called developing regions. Conducting an explorative study among market women in Kampala, the aim is to examine what roles (if any) the mobile phone plays for them in terms of empowerment. Our findings resonate with studies from other parts of the world, suggesting that while pivotal for their business endeavors, mobile phone practices are also embedded in patriarchal structures. By discussing how these market women navigate the tensions between using the phone for their business and in relations to their partners, the article contributes a more nuanced and context-specific understanding of mobile phone practices and the empowerment of market women. We conclude the article by suggesting a situated approach to the study of empowerment.

This research project is situated within the area mobile technologies for development (M4D), i.e. that mobile communication technologies play a vital role in the livelihood of people in developing regions. Out of a larger explorative study of how market women in Kampala use their mobile phone(s), this article focuses on the transformation of the so-called informal economy, here in the form of Kampala street markets. Departing from stories of the women themselves, the article discusses the role of mobile telephony in this transformation. The street markets today have become hybridized as mobile money allows for non-street transactions. The appropriation of the mobile phone into these micro enterprises, we argue, has the potential to produce new regulatory spaces, considering that mobile services, located in the formal sector, are deeply embedded in Kampala's informal economic practices. To make sense of these results, we turn to science, technology and society studies (STS). STS helps us understand the mutual coproduction of mobile phone practices and the transformation of the street markets. The mobile phone represents a force for change in the market women's economic activities, at once challenging and reinforcing the informality of the Kampala markets.

There is no doubt that the proliferation of mobile phones in developing regions has opened up a range of possibilities and new avenues for individuals, governments, development agencies and civil society organisations. But we also know that development is a disputed concept and conveys a range of different connotations. Therefore in this chapter we examine the areas, where mobile phones are discussed as vehicles for development (i.e. M4D), and how mobile communication is related to the idea(s) of development today. To examine this, we have reviewed M4D articles in three major conference series and open source journals during 2008-2012. Three dominant areas of M4D emerge out of our sample: livelihood, health and civic participation. We find that M4D is largely based on an economic understanding of development and biased towards techno-determinism. We conclude this chapter by suggesting a future path for studying the impact of mobile communication in developing regions, something what we label as a dialectical approach.

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