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I just spent the last three months developing a mobile app for the South African market and I disagree. In South Africa, Android phones cost USD $200 and higher. I bought a Nokia X2-01 for USD $50. Android phones must drop into the USD $50 range before they will have traction and I am not sure this will be possible.

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I'm not an expert on South African carrier economics but decent to good Android phones do exist in the 70-100 dollar range on prepaid carriers like MetroPCS and Cricket. I'm pretty sure that means a $50 USD android/other smart phone (maybe Firefox OS) wouldn't be too hard to produce. I'm under the assumption that these carriers do provide a small subsidy (even though they're contract free) which may or may not make sense for your country's carriers.

When I first arrived I thought that Android would be the dominant upcoming phone. But for reasons I do not understand, the devices are marked up. An iPhone 4 in South Africa will cost $800. I would like to see more android phones in the developing world, because developing for Nokia is a pain.

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