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>Your hypothesis is going to be, at best, questionable there and exclusively dependent upon the rural population. Here's my personal experience I live in Afri

>Your hypothesis is going to be, at best, questionable there and exclusively dependent upon the rural population. Here's my personal experience I live in Africa. In my middle-class household, there are 10 adults - 4 Laptops, 14 smart phones and 9 TVs. In the few African countries I have lived, cyber cafe business/usage is rapidly declining because of a combination of cheaper smartphones and cheaper mobile data. A brand new dirt cheap smartphone costs approximately 1-2 months of minimum wage salary. It'll work 8 - 48 hours before needing a recharge. A small power bank can triple the hours. A brand new Core i3 laptop on the other hand costs at least 6 months salary. Battery life 4 - 6 hours. And needs a modem to get online.

TangoTrotFox 8y ago
Interesting! Yeah the reason your comment stuck out to me is because I enjoy traveling around Asia in particular, and over here in many places PCs are bigger than ever. You have entire multistory shopping centers dedicated to PCs and PC parts which you can pick up for dirt cheap. And even in rural[ish] areas there are internet cafes absolutely everywhere that are always loaded. People use them mostly for gaming, but every once in a blue moon some work gets done on them as well. In either case not really something smartphones are so great for. For what it's worth the smartphones are also very popular and start around $20, computers around $50. But they're certainly complimenting each other rather than cannibalizing. Why do you think the same might not be true in Africa?
- vezycash 8y ago
  >smartphones are also very popular and start around $20, computers around $50 I can't even get a used laptop for $50 in my place. >Why do you think the same might not be true in Africa? I can't speak for the whole of Africa. However I know two personally (Nigeria and Ghana). And a few others by acquaintances - togo, Benin... First reason: Earning power, salaries have remained relatively static for at least 10 years but the local currencies have depreciated at least 4 times within the same period. Second reason: Production. Computers and smartphones are produced in China and India. All components needed for these devices are available within the continent. Thus, the price would be dirt cheap there. To put the first point in context. I'm using a 5 year old HP Envy without touch screen. I bought it for N130,000 then. The equivalent of the same laptop should cost less right? Nope. It costs N250,000+ right now. Same thing in Ghana. 8 years ago, 1 cedi = 1usd. Now 1 cedi = 4.85 cedi. Salary for a government secondary school teacher was 800 cedi then. It's 800 cedi now. >But they're certainly complimenting each other rather than cannibalizing. Maybe in Asia. People who grow up using Macs find it difficult to use Windows right? It's easy for people who grew up with PCs to use smart phones. But the reverse isn't the case. I know many people who grew up with phones but now have laptops - it's easy to spot them - they use abbreviations excessively on chat. All they use their laptops for are movies and the occasional Microsoft word. Everything else - even gaming is done on their phones or tablets. I hope this partly answers your question.
  - TangoTrotFox 8y ago
    Interesting. Appreciate the insights!
    - vezycash 8y ago
      I made a slight edit. 1 cedi = $1 USD in 2012...

TangoTrotFox 8y ago

Interesting! Yeah the reason your comment stuck out to me is because I enjoy traveling around Asia in particular, and over here in many places PCs are bigger than ever. You have entire multistory shopping centers dedicated to PCs and PC parts which you can pick up for dirt cheap. And even in rural[ish] areas there are internet cafes absolutely everywhere that are always loaded. People use them mostly for gaming, but every once in a blue moon some work gets done on them as well. In either case not really something smartphones are so great for. For what it's worth the smartphones are also very popular and start around $20, computers around $50. But they're certainly complimenting each other rather than cannibalizing. Why do you think the same might not be true in Africa?

vezycash 8y ago
>smartphones are also very popular and start around $20, computers around $50 I can't even get a used laptop for $50 in my place. >Why do you think the same might not be true in Africa? I can't speak for the whole of Africa. However I know two personally (Nigeria and Ghana). And a few others by acquaintances - togo, Benin... First reason: Earning power, salaries have remained relatively static for at least 10 years but the local currencies have depreciated at least 4 times within the same period. Second reason: Production. Computers and smartphones are produced in China and India. All components needed for these devices are available within the continent. Thus, the price would be dirt cheap there. To put the first point in context. I'm using a 5 year old HP Envy without touch screen. I bought it for N130,000 then. The equivalent of the same laptop should cost less right? Nope. It costs N250,000+ right now. Same thing in Ghana. 8 years ago, 1 cedi = 1usd. Now 1 cedi = 4.85 cedi. Salary for a government secondary school teacher was 800 cedi then. It's 800 cedi now. >But they're certainly complimenting each other rather than cannibalizing. Maybe in Asia. People who grow up using Macs find it difficult to use Windows right? It's easy for people who grew up with PCs to use smart phones. But the reverse isn't the case. I know many people who grew up with phones but now have laptops - it's easy to spot them - they use abbreviations excessively on chat. All they use their laptops for are movies and the occasional Microsoft word. Everything else - even gaming is done on their phones or tablets. I hope this partly answers your question.
- TangoTrotFox 8y ago
  Interesting. Appreciate the insights!
  - vezycash 8y ago
    I made a slight edit. 1 cedi = $1 USD in 2012...