SA is a technological afterthought

Imagine your older sister reaching up and grabbing sweets off a high shelf, while you hang around waiting for someone to remember you should also get some. By the time they get to you, she is already reaching out for a new, tastier one. All because she reached a certain height first.

It could be argued that SA is the younger sibling, with big techno sisters, the US and the UK, always getting everything before us. All because they achieved a technologically-advanced height first.

SA, then, just becomes an afterthought when it comes to technology and new gadgets.

It's not too difficult to picture how it happens. A new gadget is shipped off, and about 10 months later (if we're lucky) someone says: “Oh, we should probably send some to SA. What did we do with all those dented boxes?”

Nationwide (alright, not so nationwide) excitement for new technologies isn't enough. We usually wait for at least a couple of months after the US has had a gadget before we receive it.

Examples of this are the much-hyped iPad and iPhone. The iPhone launched in the US in June 2007 and only hit SA in late September 2008. It took over a year before tech lovers, with cupped hands before them, had a few smartphones thrown their way.

The iPad launched in the US this past weekend, with plans to reach nine other countries later this month. And SA? “iPad will ship in additional countries later this year,” is the official word.

Some of the nine countries to receive iPads later this month are the UK, Japan and Spain. Most of the countries on that list are understandable, but Spain? Come on. How did it beat us up the techno ladder?

But wait, there's more.

There's also the Amazon Kindle, which took about two years after international release to hit SA.

I get why companies, like Apple and Microsoft, would ship more units to countries like America and the UK, but not why they ship there first.

Farzana Rasool, journalist, ITWeb

The Google Nexus smartphone, unveiled in January, is available to US customers and those with US credit cards, and can be shipped to the UK, Hong Kong or Singapore. No official carriers or resellers have been announced for SA yet. No surprise!

Now, the Xbox story is a special one. The original Xbox console, launched in 2004, didn't even arrive in SA. Ever.

Only two years later was SA graced with its successor's presence, the Xbox 360. Even this was several months after the US got it earlier in 2006.

I get why companies, like Apple and Microsoft, would ship more units to countries like America and the UK, but not why they ship there first.

It seems there's no other reason than to satisfy a sense of superiority and avoid a tantrum.

When discussing why companies make SA a low priority in the case of e-book readers, like the Kindle or the iPad, it is understandable when considering the digital divide and low literacy levels in SA.

It's not difficult to foresee only a small demand for these gadgets since a lot of people in SA can not read, will not have the skills to operate such products, and above all, will not be able to afford it.

Despite the large mobile market in SA, which far exceeds the number of PC owners, the same goes for smartphones. Not many people in SA can afford an R8 000 phone, which is only for “have-to-have” for status sake.

These are by no means huge volume items in SA, but rather differentiator items that only a few can afford to want.

But none of the above reasons point to why SA receives products late. None of them justify or explain the delayed arrival of smartphones and e-books in SA.

As stated earlier, these reasons would justify fewer units being shipped here in total, because there may not be a big enough market given the socio-economic climate in SA, but not why they're shipped at a later stage.

Whether the small market in SA for these goods receives the gadgets with the rest of the world (for example the US), or a year or two later, what difference does it make to the producers' costs or business?

People who can afford and operate these devices should be able to get one near the launch date, without having to use a contact in the US or other such tedious methods.

Only one conclusion makes some sense. The US is the ruling elite and countries like Japan and Spain (oddly enough) are the bourgeoisies, which means SA and other “additional countries” become the paupers. Someone has to be last in the game where staying ahead is the goal, keeping up is the minimal expectation and trying to catch up is the fail.

SA is victim of a global class system. That's all.