Chinese clones outpace iPad in Kenyan market

The iPad, apple computer’s hottest selling gadget, is headed for a hard landing when it officially arrives in the Kenyan market that is stealthily getting swamped with clones from China.

In recent months, as the ipad hit European and Asian markets, Chinese imitators have landed in the Kenyan market with the clones that have become a hit with hundreds of consumers hungry to lay their hands on a gadget they have only interacted with on-line.

Different brands of the clones are being sold in Nairobi’s grey market with the vendors reporting different degrees of success.

There is the MiD that is smaller but as gisty as the real thing and the Cynovo that is a replica of the iPad in size but different in appearance.

Pricing is a key determinant of buying decisions in a developing consumer market such as Kenya’s and the presence of a cheaper version of any good or service tends to upset the demand and supply dynamics in a way that supports or hurts the sales of any gadget.

In some countries, the much cheaper clones have been seen as introductory gadgets that are necessary in a market like Kenya’s where computer literacy and purchasing power are low.

“Their impact is to introduce users to skills that are necessary to operate new gadgets such as the iPad,” said Ramesh Dave, a Nairobi software designer.

In mature markets however, cheap clones and counterfeits are seen to delay the take-up of devices such as the iPad, hurting sales in the long term.

It is expected to hit the Kenyan market in October.

Touted as the device that is to change the way readable Internet content will be accessed in future, industry trackers say the gadget could be in Kenya by September.

“What the iPod - a portable music device - did for music, we see the iPad doing for books, magazines and possibly newspapers,” said Riyaz Kurji, the managing director of Elite Apple Centre, the only official distributor of Apple products.

But even as Kenyans await the iPad’s arrival, the precision with which marketers of the clones are attacking the market is pointing to a battle for market control with Apple, the iPad’s maker.

Globally, trouble for the iPad is not coming solely from the East.

Apple’s archrival Microsoft, announced earlier this week that it is teaming up with nearly two dozen hardware makers to release Windows-based tablet computers.