Technology experts in Nigeria and other countries of the world have continued to express concern over the persistent drop in the demand for personal computers.
They have, however, noted that developing markets, including Nigeria and
some other African countries can boost the demand for technology products such as PCs given the right policy framework and political will.
The private sector, they say, has a limit to which it can drive the demand, especially in developing markets where some financial intervention schemes are needed to encourage technology ownership.
The Chairman, Zinox Group, Chief Leo-Stan Ekeh, in an interview with our correspondent, said the Nigerian government had not done enough in this regard, as the educational sector had yet to be explored to create the required demand for PCs, as was the case for most markets in the world.
He described the educational sector as the largest consumer of technological products, stressing that the government needed to do more to revitalise the sector.
Ekeh said the 21st Century student started with technology and had passion for the knowledge; hence, the need for encouragement so that the technological.
He said Nigeria with its huge youth population was currently consuming less that 500,000 PCs annually; while South Africa, with a population three times less than Nigeria’s, is doing over 1.2 million PCs a year.
The Zinox boss said, “Any average university that is 20 years old will have at least 500,000 students. This alone is a big market for technological products. But our governments are ignorant of this.”
He said a robust ICT market provided the right platform for creativity and innovation, which he described as a better way the country could build its human capacities and drive its revenue generation.
“All the mega technological deals we read about everyday started like this. Some of these businesses, which were very small some few years ago, have turned out to be multi-billion dollar firms.
“The kind of money that is generated when some of these companies are sold cannot be replicated in many other sectors of the economy. For me, the only way God can bless Nigeria now is through technology. I am not against agriculture or oil and gas. The agric and oil sectors are rather too cumbersome and nature-driven.
“Nigeria’s foreign reserve today is less than $40bn, which is a crisis because if major companies decide to buy foreign exchange at a time, we will have no money as a country. Today, if Nigeria can commit $1bn to technology with 10,000 Nigerians exposed to technology, in the next two to five years, this will amount to $250bn. It is only technology that can do this.”
According to International Data Corporation, the Saudi PC market declined 7.5 per cent year on year during the final quarter of 2013.
The research firm’s most recent findings show a total of 442 818 units were shipped during fourth quarter of 2013. Shipments of portable devices slumped 16.9 per cent over the same period to total 335 418 units, which is found to be consistent with the global trend.
“The major inhibitor to the PC market’s growth in Saudi Arabia is the perpetually rising demand for tablets and smartphones across the Kingdom,” a research analyst at the IDC, Mr. Abdulaziz Alanazi, said, adding that, “the lack of consumer familiarity with Windows 8 is also an issue, as the new operating system is installed on most new PCs, which is delaying many purchase decisions.”
According to the IDC, PC shipments will fall by six per cent in 2014, from 315 million in 2013 to 296 million in 2014.
The IDC further says that shipments will fall by another 1.4 per cent to 292 million units by 2018. As Loren Loverde at the IDC puts it, five-year “growth is expected to stabilise near zero per cent, rather than driving increasing volumes.”
One year ago, the IDC had predicted, “The second half of 2013 will regain some marginal momentum partly as a rubber band effect from 2012, and largely thanks to the outcome of industry restructuring, better channel involvement, and potentially greater acceptance of Windows 8. We also anticipate a new refresh cycle momentum in the commercial segment driven by the end of Window XP life support.”
At that time, the group had changed its prediction for 2013 PC shipments, from an increase of 2.8 per cent, to a decrease of 1.3 per cent. The freshly restated figures from the IDC show a 9.8 per cent decrease in 2013.
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