SA Needs Laptops More Than Smartphones To Fuel Innovation

Walter Isaacson makes interesting observations about innovation in his book The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution.

“But the main lesson to draw from the birth of computers is that innovation is usually a group effort, involving collaboration between visionaries and engineers and that creativity comes from drawing on many sources,” writes Isaacson.

He adds: “Only in storybooks do inventions come like a thunderbolt, or a lightbulb popping out of the head of a lone individual in a basement or garret or garage.”

Why invoke Isaacson’s words? Simply because South Africa’s recent celebration of “affordable smartphones”, while commendable, misses a critical point: true innovation requires more than just mobile devices, writes Gugu Lourie.

Lourie writing in the Sunday Times stated that true innovation demands access to powerful tools such as laptops and computers, which remain out of reach for most South Africans.

The jubilation following finance minister Enoch Godongwana’s announcement to exempt smartphones priced at R2,500 or less from the 9% ad valorem excise duty was understandable.

Smartphones democratise access to technology. Computers empower skilled users to create technology.

Without affordable laptops, South Africa risks remaining a consumer of technology rather than a creator.