SA is in for a wave of new smartphone arrivals, with Nokia's N8, Apple's iPhone 4, Samsung's Galaxy X and BlackBerry's Torch all expected to hit the market within the next month or two.
Due to the anticipation of the Nokia N8, Nokia will make 1 500 Nokia N8 devices available for online pre-order via Ringaz and a further 2 500 devices available in selected stores for pre-order.
The pre-order campaign is set to begin on 27 September and Nokia hopes to have the N8 in store by the second week of October, retailing at approximately R5 500. Market commentators have described Nokia's new smartphone as a possible iPhone rival, which South Africans will also have access to soon.
Yesterday, Vodacom confirmed that the iPhone 4 would be available by the end of September. The company also announced that Samsung's Galaxy X had just arrived in the country.
Add to this BlackBerry's recent offering, the BlackBerry Torch, which is running a new interface: BlackBerry 6. The company has kept mum regarding local availability of the device, however, Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys tweeted that the device should be arriving in SA in October.
Despite the recession pinning down the economy, the South African smartphone market is experiencing robust growth - as is the global market.
Global demand
The number of consumers planning to purchase smartphones has increased dramatically in the past year, reveals the latest Change Wave smartphone survey. It shows 16.4% of respondents plan on buying a smartphone in the next 90 days.
As the competition among smartphone manufacturers hots up, the survey indicates Apple and HTC were the major gainers in market share as they surpassed the sales made by Research in Motion and Motorola.
The report notes that the iPhone 4 and the iOS 4 have brought about a huge spike in demand for Apple. In addition, HTC has grabbed the lead in Android OS phones, based on the huge momentum of its Droid Incredible, and that of other HTC Android models, including the new EVO 4G.
Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx, says the smartphone industry in SA will certainly continue growing as business users find the broadband capabilities useful. “In a smartphone, we are literally seeing the foundations being laid for the company of the future.”
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