| Why the Apple iPhone will fail miserably in Africa (and maybe elsewhere too!) |
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Tuesday, 12 June 2007 12:46
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 Apple are lining up for an end of June launch of the much touted and discussed Apple iPhone. I don't believe it will be a success in Africa. Here's why:It was just yesterday that they announced final details of how third party applications will be integrated into the iPhone without "compromising security". Their solution: use AJAX in a standard web browser operating on the phone, with a custom phone look-and-feel instead of the "browser feel". What a cop-out. What they're really saying is 'You're gonna have to be online to use custom applications on the iPhone'. There's just one small problem. Online all the time is not possible in Africa!!. For starters the coverage generally sucks. I have just returned from Mozambique where I couldn't even roam on my own home provider's network (MTN), despite all the necessary roaming activations being in place. Strangely enough I could roam on an opposition network! With cellular data the price is also prohibitive. In order to get the cheapest data rates you need to spend over R1000 ($125) a month and you pay R0.20 ($0.02) per megabyte. (P.S. Steve Jobs - some people only earn R1000 a month) That's the absolute cheapest for the highest end users. It may not seem like much but the cost will add up very quickly when you're checking contact details, updating your todo list or schedule, sending and receiving email, checking google maps, or using the "killer-app" Youtube integration. So cellular is not really a viable option for connectivity. What's more, the iPhone does not have 3G. So you have to access your custom phone apps off the internet using a slow-ass GPRS/EDGE solution. Apple of course will claim that you can use the WiFi capability instead of EDGE, but the general lack of public WiFi access points means you'll end up checking your mail or updating your schedule once a week while travelling - if you're lucky. In another strange move, the iPhone only has a 2 Megapixel camera. What good is that? When we send pictures of our starving children to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation we need really high resolution pictures. Oh, perhaps it's to save on that scarce African bandwidth. How should Apple fix this? Simple. It should be an open platform that is customisable with third party apps able to run and store data on the phone. 3G is a must - this is 2007 for heaven's sake! A 5 megapixel camera is possible. Keep the cool browser and the WiFi and add a GPS - Africa's an easy place to get lost. Oh wait, I've almost completely described the Nokia N95! All in all the iPhone is a pretty rubbish, expensive deal for anyone in Africa with its price tag of around R8000. It's below industry spec, short on features and really not what one would expect from Apple. It's only coming to South Africa at the end of November so we won't hold our breath waiting, that's for sure.
Comments (10)
  written by Duan, June 12, 2007
Shaun, interesting take you have on AJAX and the browser approach. As far as I know, there is no need to be "online" to use your web browser or for that matter AJAX, since you could have a local web server running.
“Ajax, or AJAX, is a web development technique used for creating interactive web applications. The intent is to make web pages feel more responsive by exchanging small amounts of data with the server behind the scenes, so that the entire web page does not have to be reloaded each time the user requests a change. This is intended to increase the web page's interactivity, speed, functionality, and usability.” - Wikipedia It would in fact be quite possible to have a local web server (they do state the iPhone will run OS X – a BSD (UNIX) derivative) running that serves AJAX based content, presenting it as an app rather than a page. I may be wrong, but you do not provide any links that states that a permanent internet connection is required and as we know a*sumption is rather dangerous. Personally I don’t want an iPhone, I am happy with my Windows Mobile based Pocket PC Phone. I use my phone for business purposes and for me the integration with outlook and the QWERTY keyboard is priceless. Furthermore, just like not every person in the street has an iPod (because they only earn R 1000) Apple certainly won't be targeting that kind of audience when it comes to the iPhone. I am convinced that their target market will be the young and trendy upper-cla*s and not your blue collar worker or business person. In that market they can charge their premium price and they will most likely have huge success.
written by Lun, June 12, 2007
Duan
Nice point but I doubt that iPhone will have APACHE installed in order to server interactive content via AJAX ... or any small http server for that mater I'm backing Shaun on this one ... phone without 3G is DEAD PHONE ... GPRS/EDGE is far to slow to do anything 
written by Duan, June 12, 2007
I guess we will have to wait and see... But I must agree any high end phone without 3G is pretty silly.
If it does not have 3G and only GPRS/EDGE does it not make more sense that it would not require a permanent connection?
written by Townboy, June 13, 2007
Hey Dewberry, once you go Blackberry...you never go back... :eek
written by Shaun Dewberry, June 15, 2007
Aaargh, the inevitable lure of the Crackberry... I fear that evil!!!
written by bruno G, June 17, 2007
to answer it te question also could be why would it be 8000 ZAR for a phone you'll buy 500 USD in US ( + VAT of course. once again a good rip-off in South Africa compare to worlwide price.
written by iPhone Sceptic, June 18, 2007
I agree with many of the comments. However, doing a google on "iphone 3G europe" turns up a number of rumours that the European model will shop with 3G as 3G is more prevalent there than in the US.
written by Mart, June 27, 2007
Shaun...young man...have you ever even seen an apple imac in real life? It oozes sophistication, elegance and most importantly exclusivity. Thats why the iphone is going to be a great success....and who gives a s**t about people earning R1000 a monrh...this is apple we talking about...a premium brand...not ace maize meal or something. I think Manto could do your job better than you can!
written by Shaun Dewberry, June 29, 2007
Hi Mart,
I have indeed seen all or most of Apple's products IRL. I also own some of them. Yes they are slick and sophisticated. Yes they are exclusive. But with the dumbed down capabilities how "premium" will you feel when friends mock your inability to send or receive MMS or load MP3s as ringtones? Manto do my job? I'm currently a Senior Unix System Administrator Mart, I should think not!
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Hmmm. Apple are simply not going to do that. Maybe its time we moved on to a Linux-based phone. See:
http://tuxmobil.org/phones_linux.html
http://trolltech.com/products/qtopia/greenphone
(also Googele for Neo1973)