Africa is on the brink of a smartphone revolution with renewed mass market penetration into the African and South African market already underway thanks to a host of new entry level models from well-known brands like Samsung, Nokia, Blackberry and others as well as numerous “unknowns” from China.
Starcom MediaVest Group’s digital division Liquid Thread, under the stewardship of strategist Eric van Rookhuyzen, explains why: “The local market for smartphones is diversifying. Whereas before it was a purely high end segment there are now also distinct middle and entry level brands. This means the price of smartphones is definitely dropping, in fact they’re becoming so ubiquitous that consumers can now even buy them on their clothing account.”
Van Rookhuyzen says another driver of smartphone uptake is the development of a data pricing war amongst most of the local mobile operators MTN, Vodacom, Cell C and 8.ta/Telkom mobile and with products like FNB Connect.
Source: Liquid Thread, Starcom MediaVest’s digital division
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