Computer giant Acer is talking to SA's main telecommunications players in a bid to grow its market share.
Speaking yesterday at his introduction to the media, Acer's new country manager, Graham Braum, said products to cross the digital divide are available, but the big telecommunications companies now need to "come to the party".
"Only about 10 million South Africans have access to the Internet, and we have a population of about 48 million," he says. "There has to be some kind of infrastructure and tariff moves in order to address this."
Braum explained that, for Acer to extend its reach, it needs people to access connectivity affordably, as this will automatically drive PC and notebook sales.
To this end, it will launch the Aspire One in SA later this year. It describes the notebook-like product as a "mobile Internet device".
The product weighs 927g, has a 95% full-size keyboard, offers single mail and messaging applications, and runs on the Linpus Linux Lite operating system.
The company is also engaging all the major telecommunications players in SA - such as Vodacom, Telkom and MTN - to not only address the issue, but also to lobby government to intervene in the cost of connectivity, he added.
"This is bigger than us - we need government on board."
In addition, Braum noted "the Intels and Microsofts of the world" will have to join Acer's drive.
"We need some kind of industry consortium to drive this process."
Acer SA hopes to register growth of between 25% and 30% this year, despite a general crunch on consumers with rising interest rates, food prices and fuel costs.
The Middle East, Turkey and Africa region achieved 35% growth for Acer last year.
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