How affordability of smart devices drive innovation
It is a fact that innovation in technology is driven by the lasting marriage between smart hardware and sensible software. That is why manufacturers of hardware are always designing smart devices such as television, mobile phones, tablets, and wearables to be compatible with the ever-improving software.
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The affordable mobile devices market is worth about US$50 billion annually which popular brands are targeting. Research shows that there are over 7.7 billion mobile devices, running millions of consumer applications.
However, the cost of these devices have affected their adoption and stalled the growth of the technology sector. Countries such as India and China are working hard to make smart devices, especially mobile phones and tablets, more affordable. India took a bold step to launch Aakash (meaning “Sky” in Hindi), the world’s cheapest tablet computer, selling at only US$35 for students and US$60 for shops.
Typically, governments will tax anything, including devices that attract a large number of users. But to drive innovation powered by smart devices, there must be deliberate policy actions by governments not to tax the devices during the time of importation but at their time of usage.
How affordability of smart devices can drive innovation
When smart devices become affordable, they drive innovation in many ways such as:
1. Increase in consumer market: When smart devices become affordable and available, more people will use them to share contents, communicate with one another and do business. The more people can afford these devices, the faster the growth in the consumer market of people who can be reached on smart devices.
Retailers of devices will invest more money in selling smart devices which will be in demand because of affordability. Other brands of smart devices will be attracted to sell to the growing number of consumers.
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With a smart phone penetration of only 15 per cent and a total of 29.5 million mobile subscriptions, the government of Ghana must remove the 20 per cent tax imposed on the importation of these devices in order to increase the user base.
2. Increase in data usage: Smart devices drive the usage of data. The more people use smart devices, the more they will demand for fast and affordable Internet connectivity so they can get the best out of their smart devices. With these devices, they can check their emails, send messages, play video games, view videos or stream contents on the go.
It assures Internet Service Providers (ISO) of consistent demand for data by users of these smart devices. Since voice component of telecommunications services is saturated in some countries, including Ghana, the need to drive data usage is imperative. This should force telcos to invest in data.
3. Coverage expansion by Internet Service Providers: As users become mobile and active, there is the need for them to stay connected everywhere they go. This means they will need ISPs to stay connected on their smart devices.
Obviously, existing ISPs must expand their Internet coverage or partner with others to expand their connectivity to other areas. Businesses will also subscribe to Internet services so their customers can be attracted by the free or available Internet connectivity.
Internet Service Providers will have a huge market to serve continually within different regions as users increase.
4. Huge target consumers for app developers: More users of smart phones powered by the Internet also means huge target market for local developers of applications; it means there is the need to develop locally relevant applications for these smart devices.
One of the major challenges local app developers face is the limited number of smart devices to run their applications. Though feature phones can also be a great platform for some apps, the magic of bigger screen and intuitive touch is incomparable.
With high smart device adoption, app developers can ply their trade profitably and businesses will also see the need to have app developed for them to connect with their consumers.
5. Increase in Internet penetration: Internet is the resource of the future which will underpin the transformation of various sectors of any economy driven by technological innovations. As more devices are connected to the Internet, the penetration will increase.
Research shows that an increase in Internet connectivity in a country results in a corresponding increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of that country. This means that the country will also benefit in the long run when the penetration of Internet increases through the usage of affordable smart devices.
There will be an obvious rural connectivity strategy to connect rural areas to urban ones to facilitate business and commercial activities between the two divides when more people afford to own smart devices.
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6. Ready market for new innovations: A country with a high Internet penetration becomes a ready market for new innovations. Developers of Internet-driven innovations will invest and do business in this market.
It results in technology startups moving in droves to this market because of its appeal to grow and support innovation as well as hone the ingenuity of innovators through networking. A market with connected smart devices powered by affordable, advanced and available Internet connectivity is the envy of and big draw for developers of innovative applications and hardware.
7. Demand for local content: Since the developers have access to huge pool of smart device users, it will make business sense for them to develop locally relevant applications. Consumers will want to use their devices to consume services which are relevant to them.
Businesses will also develop solutions which can be used by their consumers. Content developers will definitely jump on board to take advantage of the opportunity to make some money from the ready market by creating contents which can be consumed via these smart devices.
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The sectors that grow faster with the adoption of smart mobile devices are health, e-commerce, finance, entertainment, sports and education.
8. Development of new businesses: Aside app developers, courier services, money transfer, ticketing, messaging and other businesses will develop to provide various services powered by the smart mobile devices.
People will use their devices to make payments, open their doors, secure their homes, stream videos live, watch TV programmes, network with friends and do so many other things. New businesses will take advantage of the Internet penetration driven by smart mobile devices to develop and deploy innovative services to their target consumers.
9. Transformation of communication: The way we communicate with each other and do business will be transformed by a large number of smart device users. People do not need to meet physically or be physically present to engage in any business transaction.
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It can be done securely online on these devices. Various sectors of the economy will be connected intricately to facilitate easy transmission of information and interactions. People in the rural areas where roads cannot connect, can communicate with their families and friends easily.
Farmers in remote villages can know or share the prices of goods or sell their produce online. Students in deprived areas can have access to quality education online using smart devices.
10. Increase in government revenue: Governments will earn more revenue through taxes when they rather tax the usage of these mobile devices instead of taxing the devices during importation.
When focus is placed on increasing the usage of smart mobile devices to drive innovation, the government will be assured of revenues from the growing usage of the devices. It will increase Internet penetration which increases GDP.
Obviously, it is better to remove the taxes on the devices to make them affordable and available to drive innovation.
The writer is a technology consultant, digital marketing strategist, social media expert and trainer.
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