CHECK HOW SMART PHONES ARE KILLING CYBER BUSINESSES
The advent of smart phones have been a threat to cyber businesses especially with the latest models having 4G speed enabling them to be abled to browse the internet faster and cheaper provided by the telephone networks like MTN, ORANGE, NEXTTEL etc. Based on this most people nowadays prefere to browse using either their phones or tablets because of advantages of easy portability and cheaper browsing rates.
Cyber cafés made huge profits back when phones did not have multipurpose functions as it is the case today. Most cyber owner say that he has seen a drop in his customers’ base and it is resulting to low income in the business owing to the advent of smart phones. He said it is only during the day that his customers come in and that he sometimes shuts down as early as 7pm contrary to the pre smart phones era when he used to close at around midnight. Jean Paul added that though he is making some losses in his business, he cannot quit because he still makes some profit from lamination, photocopying, international calls, scanning and printing.
Smart phones are the latest gadgets now in vogue. Both the young and the old yearn to possess them; everyone is going for a Smartphone. The models are several; Samsung, BlackBerry, IPhone or Xperia, just to name a few. The smart phones give internet access to their users where ever they are and equally possess applications that support audio messages and video calls at an affordable rate both nationally and internationally.
However, the down trend in cyber café’ business as a result of the coming of smart phones does not necessarily affect all the cafes. Cyber attendants say the advent of smart phones has not manifested that much impact on him. “we cannot deny the fact that the income is dropping, but we have never thought of terminating the business.
Nonetheless, while cyber cafes are making less profit than they did in the past, some companies have rather made brisk business out of the coming of smart phones. Mobile telecommunication companies have come up with several tariff plans for smart phone users to browse. Nemoh Siona, a University of Buea student says she spends half her allowance on purchasing airtime since she got a smart phone. It wouldn’t be wrong to say the phone is an addiction for many of its users, another reason they no longer frequent cyber cafes as was the case before.
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