Ubiquitous

Small, affordable and easy to use.

Cell phones have revolutionized how information is disseminated, especially in developing nations.

African nations, for example, have fast-growing and highly competitive cell phone markets even though only 60% of people living in (most) African nations are within reach of a signal. 

Computers are still too large, complicated and expensive to proliferate in the same way that cell phones have - the  information revolution is hand-held for the global south.

Repressive regimes have found the cell phone to be problematic, their control of information is far less complete when access to the outside world is so readily available. Thus, some nations - like North Korea - instituted cell phone bans in an effort to rescrict information flow, proving that the technology is threatenting to 

Military operations conducted by first world nations have also come under the scrutiny of the cell phone, with video and audio being leaked from war zones telling a different tale than the embedded reporters.

For the developed world, the proliferation of the cell phone has changed the balance of power in domestic reporting as well. When everyone has immediate access to a recording device the way news stories are told changes dramatically.