Hacker News Reader

Comment by okal | Hacker News Reader

You have personal experience with "Africa"? African countries have much less in common with each other than non-Africans tend to imagine. That being said, I agree with you regarding computer adoption.

A new, low end Droid can be had for roughly $50 contract-free in my city, Nairobi.

View on HN

Awesome, I am developing mobile software in Cape Town and wish Android phones had a higher adoption rate so I could build gps enabled apps for medical workers. Nairobi has a reputation for being the most tech forward city in Africa and hearing you can buy android phones for $50 there adds to that.

For the record I'm not African. I've been in rsa for only three months.

That sounds interesting. Are you building on SMS/USSD or J2ME?

For now just web and SMS. I am not sure which platform to use if my cohorts and I decide expand our project outside of Cape Town. Shoot me an email at me@davecro.com if you would like to talk more about it. I'd be interested in hearing about your work in Nairobi. Cheers, David

What percentage of the populace could afford such a device and the data plan? For what percentage would that be true for with a $25 device?

I think most people in cape town will spend up to $100 for a phone. It's by far the most important possession here. Data plans are prepaid.

To add to what davycro said, entry level Android devices are becoming price competitive with feature phones. Phones are seen as a long term investment, so poorer families often make sacrifices to acquire them. It wouldn't be unheard of for one to spend up to half their monthly income on the purchase.

Mobile data costs KSH. 8/MB, about 10 US cents at its most expensive. This is still out of reach for a sizeable portion of the working population, but the situation is rapidly improving.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com