Tech Dreams Die with the Limits of an Electronics Store

Ah, a Lenovo laptop. It almost takes me back to the college days, when the ThinkPad represented the pinnacle of the aspiring white-collar professional, ready to take work on the go, no matter how rough the road ahead becomes, both metaphorically and physically. Those were the days when the MacBook was the exclusive territory of deliberately non-mainstream hipsters, attracted by its quirky colors and functionalities. The serious kids, those heading to the world of finance and management consulting, needed a business laptop to accompany their business suits.

How do the times change? The professionally ambitious are no longer heading out to Wall Street to hobnob with the world of numbers. Instead, so many headed out to Silicon Valley, seeing life in T-shirts and jeans as not only serious but highly lucrative. Why crunch spreadsheets anonymously for others for a six-figure salary when one could do the same, become famous, and make ten or a hundred times as much through stocks in one's own startups? Suddenly, the ThinkPads were for the closely minded who didn't know how best to utilize their talent, while MacBooks became associated with creative money.

It is amazing that, at least in this little corner of southern Europe, the change in fortune between the two computer brands has not happened so drastically. In a country where computer programmers get a seedy reputation for working in online casinos, and the general public sees the online world as less all-consuming and even less important than the beautiful physical world of history and the sea, Apple products are not nearly as aspirational. As expensive imports, they retain their cultural cache, but people stick to financial practicality over impulse in their IT purchase decisions.

At least that is the impression I came away with in an emergency trip to SCAN, Malta's biggest electronics emporium. Among dozens of laptop models on display, MacBooks sit in one corner, with few among the thronging crowds of an average Monday night playing around on their keyboards. In contrast, many were having deep conversations debating the merits of the Lenovos, the Asuses, and the Xiaomis, some of which, surprisingly, are even more expensive than the Apple equivalents on offer. One of the Asus models was even out of stock, not replenishable until the end of the month.

Yet, the scene of the crowds patiently waiting their turn to be helped by the overwhelmed staff members also shows the potential of places like Malta falling behind in the globalized tech race of the future. While it is healthy to remain skeptical of Apple's branding power and look for the best bang for the buck on the market, SCAN does not offer such in absolute terms. The store was heaving, but part of the reason is just its small size, with its one-floor showroom attempting to cram everything from smartphones to computers to TVs, and home appliances like fans, blenders, and vacuum cleaners. 

If the Maltese youth grows up believing the world of electronics fits into SCAN, then they risk being unable to adapt to the world of drones, VR headsets, and AI-powered humanoid robots that are already becoming consumer products elsewhere. And without the local equivalent of a tech bro culture, there are no mutually reinforcing groups of comrades-in-arms who can turn the island into a hub of tech-based growth beyond online casinos. No one absolutely needs to buy Apple products, but the value they espouse remains valuable.

I am happy to walk out of SCAN with a brand-new Lenovo to replace the MacBook that suddenly died because I had the opportunity over decades to use both and many other laptop brands. But if people do not have the opportunities for proper comparisons and experiences, then biases about what is advanced become entrenched through sheer ignorance and the limits of available local information. Those who might have become tech whizzes had they been born and bred elsewhere become adults who cannot think beyond what's sold in SCAN.

With a population of half a million, Malta has plenty of outlets to buy electronics already. But electronics stores are not just places to fulfill existing demand, but a place of learning where people can become informed by the staff members about the latest trends in technological development. In that role, SCAN and its many smaller counterparts simply cannot suffice. Too crowded, too busy, and too transactional, they threaten to keep the Maltese youth in the mindset when I met my first Lenovo laptop in college, without giving them the room to witness the socio-technological trajectory.