Lagos, Nigeria -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/09/2014 -- Africans love new tech as much as the rest of the world. Unfortunately, they don’t have easy access to review websites tailored to them in preventing them from buying a cheap knock-off copy of a Samsung Galaxy smart phone, a Lenovo laptop or a tablet PC. Far too frequently, they fall prey to the lure of super-cheap prices for seemingly top-quality merchandise only to find out their snazzy new smart phone or computer or tablet breaks down and totally fails in a few weeks instead of lasting the few years they should.

In any first-world country buying a new tech product can be daunting thanks to a seemingly foreign language of jargon including the alien terms “RAM”, “Pixels” or “1 TB”. Geeks and teenagers speak this language as easily as their native tongue. To the average consumer, a form of ancient Latin may as well be the language of the day. Now imagine that challenge amplified in Africa where technological advancement is in its infancy when compared to almost any nation in North and South America or any sector of Europe.

Buying decisions in Africa are difficult to make due to "environment fit" issues such as costs, poor understanding of tech specs, and lack of access to authentic information. To make matters worse, counterfeits constantly flood the market to such an extent that when decisions are made, most people end up buying counterfeit tech products quite unintentionally. That’s because cheap knockoffs in the African market are often very hard to distinguish from the authentic ones when it comes to non-technical consumers and made attractive by eye-appealing aesthetics. The majority of these devices break down after less than a month of use thanks to sub-par components and shoddy manufacturing intended to produce junk at the lowest price possible throwing to the wind any care or consideration to quality control.

The African tech market represents an army of consumers ready to purchase products that aren’t tailored to their market. Yet nothing stops Africans from wanting the most current tech gadgets – just like the rest of us. The lack of information, quality control and absence of manufacturing of these gadgets in the continent has given counterfeiters and knock-off importers the opportunity to flood the African tech market with fake, overpriced, low quality products.

The goal of Zipibyte is to create an online product alert, advice and review system specifically tailored to the African market which will help readers to make the best buying decisions as they identify and avoid fakes. This will be done by explaining tech terms in ways the African market understands, and reviewing the latest smart phones, laptops, desktops, tablets or other gadget on the market. This will empower African consumers to make informed decisions when purchasing quality tech instead of throwing their money away on cheap junk made possible by counterfeiters.

This crowdfunding campaign ends September 26, 2014

The ZipiBye Indiegogo Page - http://bit.ly/WkVaPU

About ZipiByte
The ZipiByte team is comprised of a small group of tech-enthusiasts and entrepreneurs based in Lagos, Nigeria. They love everything tech and follow the latest tech news and often get to try the trending gadgets in the market. They are motivated by previous bad experiences with counterfeit gadgets, the huge knowledge absence of tech information in the local market and the desire to expose hidden local innovative tech talents and ideas to potential local and foreign investors.