what would be the recourse to getting your coins if your phone was lost? i imagine this would be the first or second big worry. the other being getting people to accept trading their tangible goods for something seemingly intangible.
Thats a very generic worry about Bitcoins. Could you be more specific in regards to worries of "needy places"?
I'm not too familiar with gaps of technology understanding in more needy places, but I was just surmising that people of needy countries aren't as readily equipped with the sort of background it takes to understand why and how to secure bitcoins
I think they are more proficient in those things then many people tend to think. If the average Joe (or Simba?) doesnt know how to secure it, he only has to ask someone who does (like the guy in the internet cafe down the road). When he learns, that his money is save even if he looses his phone or it is stolen and all he has to remember is a self chosen passphrase, a lot of people will see the merrits. At least for day to day transactions a simple mobile client should be fine for smaller amounts.
Gotta wonder how scripted they are, though. Check out Bamazon on History Channel for a seemingly more realistic depiction of a bunch of newbies mining gold in a jungle environment. 
