Why isn't Apple a larger force in Africa's computer industry?
"Price, poor marketing and a huge installed base of other systems," says South Africa's Daily Mail & Guardian editor David Shapshak. But Apple isn't totally absent in Africa. "Our graphics and design sections use Macs," says Henri Sabiti of The Monitor Online, Uganda's most comprehensive news website.

First, some background.
Because of various military struggles throughout the continent, Africa's technological savvy has largely been misrepresented by the world's press.

As evidence, the wireless market in Africa has virtually exploded. The country has become one of the fastest-growing markets for cellular phones. New local firms and multi-national corporations are working to meet the demand for cheaper and more efficient communication technologies. Cell phones are as prevelant today as transistor radios were in years past. Nowadays, Johannesberg could be mistaken for any western city.

There is even such a thing as the digerati in sub Saharan Africa, and they are some of Apple's biggest supporters.

South Africa was rated by The Internet Software Consortium as the 25th Most Wired country last year. In the same survey, Egypt leapt to 68 from 77 the previous year; Botswana went from 90 up to 77; and Zimbabwe moved up to 78th from 79. While other systems occupy the majority in Africa, Apple-boosters like Sabiti aren't alone. Macs are well represented in Africa at news organizations, government offices, upper-middle class households and businesses.

And if Apple is popular among those in the know, then it stands to reason that the company is in a position for growth in Africa.Some say Apple is missing a window of opportunity by not capitalizing on that potential because it doesn't see Africa as a major priority, or in the parlance of the company's marketing department, "(Apple) renewed focus on its core assets."

Those core assets are, to be sure, more profitable than Apple South Africa, but money alone shouldn't be the only determining factor. Actively pursuing the African market may look like an economic liability today, but in terms of growth, persuing might be a sound long-term economic strategy. Consider why South African sales lag behind other Apple strongholds: Apple's apartheid divestment. Like an ironic dynamo, all of Sub Saharan Africa's current difficulties with Apple have arisen out of this essentially principled stance.

Perhaps the watershed event in the entire Apple Computer-African relationship was the 1986 U.S. Comprehensive Sanctions Law governing trade with South Africa. The law prohibited the sale of computers to apartheid-enforcing agencies, such as the military and police. This legislation led to the Apple Computer's policy of not selling to South African's former racist regime - 5 million whites controlled 31 million blacks and Asians.

It also contributed to a belief that Apple could survive without aggressively courting the African market. That mindset ultimately led to the increased role of distributors, and the quiet pull back of Apple Computer's hands-on role in Africa. This process saved Apple money, but also gave an incredible amount of company power to the distributors, who in turn did a lot to erode customer loyalty to Apple when they were unable to meet customer's needs.