South Africa’s Internet Users Projected to Double in 5 Years

Kato Mivule January 20, 2010

Though the projections look promising on the side of PC Connectivity, much focus could be placed on smartphones and Notebooks. Personally I do not think that PC Connectivity is the future. The number of Cell Phone subscribers is 300 Million and beyond currently in Africa. Therefore smartphones and Notebooks have a far brighter future in Africa. Education could be focused on how best to utilize smartphones to solve a number of problems in Africa…

Web: SA’s internet users could double by
2015
SA Business Report January 15, 2010 By Thabiso Mochiko

South Africa’s internet users could double to 10 million by 2015
as the the cost of telecommunications falls and the number of personal computers
and smartphones connected to the Internet grows, Arthur Goldstuck, the managing
director of World Wide Worx, said on Friday.

The firm announced
this week that internet users in the country rose by 15 percent to 5.3 million
at the end of 2009 and could reach 6 million by the end of
2010.

Goldstuck said the growth to 10 million users would come from
a combination of an estimated 8 million computers with a internet connection by
2015 and increase in the number of consumers owning smartphones that have access
the internet.

“It will take a couple more years before mobile
internet users outnumber PC-based internet users,” he
said.

Goldstuck added that for internet usage to increase limits on
internet use needed to disappear completely or at least be made far less
restrictive.

“One of the areas of most dramatic usage growth
worldwide right now is in video material online, but South Africa’s data
restrictions mean we are kept from becoming part of that trend. It will take
several years for online video to take off to the same extent in South Africa,
but lifting data restrictions will open that market immediately,” he
said.

Barriers to entry should also be lowered including the cost
of access to asymmetric digital subscriber line or ADSL, which is dominated by
Telkom.

“A stronger push needs to be made for computer literacy,
starting in schools, but also extending to adult education in disadvantaged
communities,” he concluded. – I-Net Bridge

MS Office 2010 in Africa is a Waste of Time

Kato Mivule | January 6, 2010

Microsoft is set to release the new Office 2010 Suit sometime soon and has already dictated prices for the new product that range from 99 to 499 US Dollars.

I find the ‘Price Release’ strategy a little arrogant and outrageous given the current state of the global economy, especially when it comes to Africa. Millions of Clients around the world are expected to migrate from Office 2007 or 2003 for that matter and get onboard with Office 2010 at Microsoft’s terms.

Microsoft sets prices for forthcoming Office 2010 – Washington Post
“SEATTLE — Microsoft Corp. will sell four versions of its forthcoming Office 2010 software, due out in June, for prices ranging from $99 to $499. The company said Tuesday it will sell Office Home and Student edition, which comes with four core programs, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, for $149 as boxed software that can, as with previous versions, be installed on three computers in the home. A “Product Key Card,” which has a code to unlock one copy of Office 2010 pre-loaded on new PCs, costs $119. Microsoft will sell an education-only version, Office Professional Academic, through campus book stores and some retailers for $99. Besides the core programs, the academic version comes with the Outlook e-mail program, Publisher for desktop publishing and the Access database software…”

Some critics are giving Microsoft high marks because of the successful “flawless” launching of Windows 7 late last year. Though it might be true that Windows 7 had a successful début, many of Microsoft’s Clients had been waiting for almost a decade for a new operating system to replace Windows XP.

Clients were more than willing to put up with the flaws of Windows XP than purchase a bulky and disgusting Windows Vista Operating System. Yet the successful “flawless” launching of Windows 7 and almost simultaneous release of MS Office 2010 will not catapult the sales for Microsoft.

Already many in the corporate world are transitioning to OpenOffice.org and taking full advantage of Google’s version of online office products that seem to be getting better.

For one thing in Africa, Office 2010 will sit on shelves and OpenOffice and Google will make inroads at almost no costs apart from training and support.

Rather than pay 499 US Dollars for new MS Office 2010 professional, African IT heads would rather invest in training, support, and Internet Access at lower costs for OpenOffice and Google web office products.

Many in Africa still utilize MS Office 2003 and I do not think they see it fit to waste resources to purchase a new MS Office 2010 professional for 499 US Dollars.