Notebooks' affordability, compared with traditional PCs, will help improve SA's Internet penetration.
So says iBurst CEO, Jannie van Zyl. “Netbooks offer an appealing combination of affordability, portability and style that will see them positively impacting on the country's Internet penetration levels.”
According to Van Zyl, iBurst is targeting this space and has brought to market the Samsung N140 netbook. The N140 weighs 1.27kg with a 10.1-inch LED screen and 11 hours of extended battery life. The netbook is bundled with an extended warranty, and payment and broadband connectivity options such as HSDPA or iBurst wireless broadband.
He adds that netbooks are suited to the mobile workforce as well as students and first-time job market entrants.
Van Zyl, says: “South Africans have spent the better part of a decade listening to various stakeholders put forward grand schemes for bridging the digital divide when, as this latest bundled offering illustrates, the market is best suited to solving issues of supply and demand.
“It is encouraging that we are seeing private sector Internet service providers doing their bit to bring more South Africans into the information age.”
According to ABI Research, almost 35 million netbooks will be shipped worldwide by manufacturers this year. Some 74% of 2008 netbook shipments came from Acer, Asus and Samsung.
The research company predicts the rapid growth of netbooks as a second computer in the developed market will be surpassed in coming years by vendors targeting developing nations.
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