SA company unveils localised tablets

South African company, Wise Tablets, is soon to release a low-cost tablet developed and customised for the local market.

The “Wise Touch 1” will be available in 7-inch and 9-inch formats, with capacitive multi-touch, running Android 2.3.

The 9-inch tablet will retail for less than R3 500, while the 7-inch 3G tablet will cost less than R2 500, and the entry-level 7-inch WiFi tablet will go for less than R1 500.

MD of Wise Tablets, Gian Shipton, says: “The problem with tablets available today is that all of them offer exactly the same thing; software markets.

“We found that most of the average South African consumers have a problem with the current high prices of the brand-named tablets, but apart from the pricing issue, it also relates to the fact that none of the tablets in the market, including the Apple iPad, present any form of local content.”

Shipton says the content on the new tablets will be what sets them apart. “What makes the Wise Touch SA's first South African tablet is what's on the inside.”

Apart from the regular Android apps, the tablets come preloaded with South African applications, developed specifically for the Wise Touch on behalf of local brands. The local content is categorised under the Wise Shopping Mall, Wise Business Park and Wise Education Centre.

According to Wise, there are already over 115 “tenants” on board for the Mall and Business Park. While Wise doesn't yet want to release the names of the tenants, the company says they include major local retailers, banks, broadcasters, media houses, food outlets and airlines.

Wise has its own team of full-time developers, as well as contract developers, who have been working on the project since the beginning of the year.

“We have not only created apps, but a full back-end with billing and updates - similar to Apple and Android.”

Speaking of the Wise Education Centre, the company says: “We have been inundated with many parties that have access to various pieces of education - from the public school syllabus to university departments and private schools.

“We then get the education content provider to develop their content and provide it in a certain format, which our tablets use.”

The company says it already has access to most of the public school syllabus and some university content.

“This education content will be supplied almost free of charge to students, but is limited to being used on our tablets due to encryption and DRM (digital right management) issues with the content owners.

“We are aiming to have most households of LSM7+ to have our tablets for education in their houses soon,” says Wise, adding that the main focus is a sponsorship programme with media partners that will sponsor devices with educational content for free for students.

MD of World Wide Worx Arthur Goldstuck says the Wise Touch tablets face two major challenges.

“The first is that it is not the first low-cost tablet in SA, and the second is that it's also not the first to offer localised content.

“The Colpad is currently available for R1 000, and also features some customised content for the local market - although not to the same extent as the Wise Touch, but it is still a step in that direction,” says Goldstuck.

“Major manufacturers have also started doing the same thing by offering local apps. So from that perspective, it's not a long-lasting differentiator for the Wise Touch.”

Goldstuck says it should be noted that the 9-inch tablet is still more expensive than the original iPad.

“Pricing is a key factor and anyone entering the market at this level must be wary of the fact that they will inevitably be competing with the iPad,” says Goldstuck.

“There's also lots of competition in the 7-inch tablet space, but on that front the Wise pricing seems to be really good.”

Wise Tablets says the size of the screen is of little influence to them. “We decided (although not finally) to have a 9-inch rather than 10-inch to avoid attracting negative patent wars from the larger players.

“There is currently a fine line between design look and feel, and we want to steer clear of following them with design. Apart from that, we will actually also offer an 8-inch tablet next year,” says Wise.

“Our Wise Touch 2 has already been placed on our roadmap and will actually include more hardware than even found in Apple and Samsung. At that stage, we might be seen as a serious competitor. We believe our content still is what makes us different, not the hardware.”

Goldstuck says the inclusion of educational materials on the Wise Touch is a very clever move on the part of the company.

“It will be attractive for parents and students to buy a low-cost tablet, which contains all the expensive textbooks needed for school,” says Goldstuck.

“Wise is perhaps a little bit too early, however, as I know schools have begun experimenting with tablets, but I'm not sure if they're ready for large-scale adoption as yet. It is a clever move though, and they could be the first to market with a low-cost tablet for schools.”

Goldstuck adds, however, that Wise Tablets will need to be cognisant of the fact that by the time they are ready to go on sale, many other tablets on the market will be offering a similar service.

“Apple is already in talks with schools about using iPads in the classroom,” says Goldstuck.

“They will need to get buy-in in advance. It's especially important for schools to see what's on the tablet, so for this to work they must have a sample. That said, I do believe that this model is the way of the future.”

The Wise Touch tablets are being manufactured in China. The company says that they are not a standard Chinese-boxed product, but made specifically to its specs and branding.

“Our hardware partners own their own manufacturing chain, and thus we have development control over them,” says Wise.

The company is expecting the first batch of tablets to arrive in December, but the official launch is planned for early next year.

Goldstuck says a danger of announcing a product months before its launch is that competitors will come up with rival products in the meantime.

“We have no doubt we are taking what Steve Jobs did and making it better. We will surely attract competitors in the market,” says Wise.

“We will continue to out supply, advertise and support our customers and we have a long list of functionality and usages that will be developed and introduced. Our aim is our customers and not our competitors. We hope they can keep up.”

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