4 ms·
If you think a smart phone lasts 10 years in the hands of poor people, you are extremely optimistic. From what I can tell, even here in South Africa's township
by sgt 5y ago
If you think a smart phone lasts 10 years in the hands of poor people, you are extremely optimistic.
From what I can tell, even here in South Africa's townships they are using fairly new Samsung, Huawei etc smart phones (always with a broken screen - this happens without exception), albeit cheap ones.
Even my gardener has a Samsung 10 something. Not entirely sure how he can afford it, but I suspect he borrowed a lot of money to afford it. Having next to nothing, the smart phones becomes your communication channel and your media center, news and.. hopefully learning.
You'd be surprised how many poor smart phone users exists in all of Africa. And 3G or better is almost everywhere now.
The pricing has come down and that is truly bridging the digital divide.
- laumars 5y agoThere’s a lot of African countries where that isn’t the case. I recently did some work for a mobile based game targeting a number of African countries and we had to support WAP and SMS. India is another country where poorer regions wouldn’t have good cell coverage with most people without phones (let alone smart phones). If you live in a region that can have luxuries like a gardener, then you’re likely already more affluent than those who this project is targeting.
- sgt 5y agoMy point was that this project isn't even targetting my gardener or his neighbors. They all have smart phones with Internet access. One more physical asset is a liability to them. Something else that can be stolen.
- alienthrowaway 5y ago> Not entirely sure how he can afford it, but I suspect he borrowed a lot of money to afford it There's a gray/black market for second hand phones whose provenance is...questionable. As someone who involuntarily contributed a phone to this surprisingly international parallel supply chain, the sellers are probably not selling at Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price.
- roughly 5y agoHell, you don't even need theft to handle most of the supply problem. The MSRP of a 5 year old android phone is effectively $0.
- Scoundreller 5y agoIn this case, It's a Galaxy S10, a 2 year old phone that currently retails on Ebay for US$200-US$300.
- Scoundreller 5y ago> always with a broken screen - this happens without exception Are the devices super-low end? Users underestimate how sensitive they are to breakage? Regularly thrown? Broken units that are usable end up there for export or?
- sgt 5y agoIn such places, everything has a tough life. Possessions are not taken care of very well, due to a number of reasons. Phones are regularly dropped. If you are lucky enough to own a car, it will be full of dents within 3 months.