IBM is teaming up with Canonical to reduce the costs of netbooks. They plan to take advantage of web based applications and the cloud to reduce the cost of software and expensive hardware. The netbooks will come with basic email, word processing, spreadsheet, communication, and social networking capabilities. Triangle Business Journal reports:
Many businesses in Africa can’t afford to buy desktop personal computers for all of their employees. IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Canonical are seeking to change that – and stake claim to the African market – by offering netbooks that run on Ubuntu Linux – Canonical’s version of the open-source Linux operating system, which competes with the more expensive Windows operating system sold by Microsoft and used on the vast majority of personal computers worldwide.
Although the proliferation of cheap computers has been a boon for the continent, I’m not yet convinced that sub-Saharan Africa is ready to send all computing to the cloud. Sure, connectivity is getting cheaper, but it’s still quite expensive for average businesses and students. Even for those of us with connections in our offices, the connection is often unreliable and too slow to really take advantage of cloud-based applications.
Cheap second hand laptops, still more powerful than many of the new netbooks coming out are also an attractive option for small businesses. Often, upgrading the RAM is enough to make the laptop work as well as a new computer, but at less than half the cost. Smartphones that can tether to these netbooks is an alternative, but we’ll have to see a serious effort on the part of mobile operators to lower costs before it will make sense.
“Netbooks for Africa” is probably a winning business proposition, especially in places like South Africa and East Africa, where connectivity is growing by leaps and bounds. However, like in the States, they’re not substitutes for more powerful laptops, especially in locations where connectivity problems make depending on the cloud impossible.
About the author: Theresa Carpenter Sondjo is an entrepreneur and web developer. She lives in Cotonou, where she and her partner run
People Online. Their mission is simple:
la mise en ligne du Bénin. Follow her on Twitter at
@theresac.
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Netbooks for Africa: IBM and Canonical Team Up
Although the proliferation of cheap computers has been a boon for the continent, I’m not yet convinced that sub-Saharan Africa is ready to send all computing to the cloud. Sure, connectivity is getting cheaper, but it’s still quite expensive for average businesses and students. Even for those of us with connections in our offices, the connection is often unreliable and too slow to really take advantage of cloud-based applications.
Cheap second hand laptops, still more powerful than many of the new netbooks coming out are also an attractive option for small businesses. Often, upgrading the RAM is enough to make the laptop work as well as a new computer, but at less than half the cost. Smartphones that can tether to these netbooks is an alternative, but we’ll have to see a serious effort on the part of mobile operators to lower costs before it will make sense.
“Netbooks for Africa” is probably a winning business proposition, especially in places like South Africa and East Africa, where connectivity is growing by leaps and bounds. However, like in the States, they’re not substitutes for more powerful laptops, especially in locations where connectivity problems make depending on the cloud impossible.