In Zimbawe Will ebooks ever be popular

ZorodzaiP · Post by **ZorodzaiP** » 04 Mar 2013, 03:01

The major beneficiaries of ebooks in Zimbabwe are the University Students who do assignments with a lot of citings but the traditional paper book is still the popular way of reading here for mainly four reasons.

Reason # 1:
There is no alternative method of purchase except credit cards and payplus. Online purchases are not yet very popular and a bank account is sometimes the luxury of the working class. Now a credit card is owned by even a dwindled number. So people still go to the bookshop, peruse through the available novels or text books and buy.

Reason # 2:
Limited availability of internet access. The internet is mainly accessed from workplaces for free ( Employer is paying for it!) otherwise one needs to buy a modem or own some wireless connection equipment. Both methods are very expensive and are mainly used to access email accounts or the very popular facebook. WhatApp is also gaining a lot of ground. To give an idea of the cost USD1 buys you 5MB. Now to read books using such an expensive connection is impossible.

Reason #3:
Bandwidth.
The downloads can be so slow that you never really get anything fully downloaded. This is changing however with increasing availability to broadband connections.

Reason #4:
Access to computing hardware or handhelds ( ipads, tablets, kindle devices etc)
Devices are very expensive. An Apple ipad here with 64G costs USD1,600.00 I have am yet to see anyone with a Kindle device. Some own tablet PCs and ipads but not primarily for reading. Laptops and desktop computers are still the norm and those that have access can use these.

I have access to a broadband connection with a fixed monthly charge so I can download books and read on my laptop! With time things will change and we will catch up with technology and maybe ebooks will be very very popular here too.

Armada Volya · Post by **Armada Volya** » 05 Mar 2013, 10:30

It'll hapen. I remember living in Uzbekistan and being the only kid with a computer. Now computers are cheaper and more popular there. It just takes time. Tablets are relatively new, so I'd give it a couple more years to spread.
About internet conection: how about cellphones? I know people in small towns in the middle east who get online by hooking their computers to cellphones.

ZorodzaiP · Post by **ZorodzaiP** » 06 Mar 2013, 04:19

Thank you for the encouragement. We will get there. We can use the cellphone to connect to the internet but the cost is prohibitive. Where is Uzbekistan?

Fran · Post by **Fran** » 06 Mar 2013, 10:00

ZorodzaiP wrote:Thank you for the encouragement. We will get there. We can use the cellphone to connect to the internet but the cost is prohibitive. Where is Uzbekistan?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzbekistan