Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Will Africa Be the First "Post-PC Continent?

Africa might become the first "post-PC" continent.

IDC, for example, estimates that in South Africa, 800,000 PCs were shipped in 2010 and the number is expected to decline by about four percent annually to reach 650,000 by 2015. Meanwhile, 1.3 million mobile handsets were shipped in 2010 and that rate is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of nine percent to reach two million annually by 2015.

In the rest of Africa, 3.7 million PCs were shipped in 2010 and annual shipments will rise to 6.9 million 2015. Still, the number of smartphones shipped is expected to rise at a higher rate.

In Nigeria, IDC projections show that 1.5 million smartphones and 17.2 million feature phones will be shipped in 2011. By 2015, both markets are expected to grow, reaching, respectively, 3.2 million and 21.3 million units shipped. For smartphones, that's a CAGR of 21.7 percent.

"In Kenya, 64 percent of users listen to digital music by mobile phones while 24 percent access via PCs, 45 percent prefer to chat via mobile and 25 percent use PCs; in Uganda, 48 percent listen to music via mobile while 26 percent use PCs and 40 percent chat via mobile compared to 23 percent who prefer PC," said Melissa Baker, CEO of TNS RMS East Africa.

Research indicates that in a typical sub-Saharan African country, a 10 percent increase in mobile penetration results to a corresponding 0.8 percent GDP growth," said Woon Peng, Nokia Head of Services in Middle East and Africa.

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