The Raspberry Pi Foundation recently released the Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+.

This third-generation model of the Model A+ boasts impressive specifications despite its small form factor.

This includes the same processor found on the Pi 3 Model B+.

The board is priced at $25, although there is no South African pricing available yet.

In fact, it may be a while before South Africans are able to get their hands on a certified Pi 3 Model A+.

Certification process

PiShop cofounder Christopher Zinn previously told MyBroadband that while Raspberry Pi devices are popular in South Africa, certification from ICASA can be a great obstacle.

Specifically, it took five months after the launch of the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ in March 2018 for South African retailers to be able to sell those boards to consumers.

This was due to delays in ICASA’s certification process, which it says should take around 4-6 weeks.

With the Pi 3 Model A+ recently launching internationally, we asked Zinn whether we could expect the same sort of delay in certification from ICASA.

“When the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B was launched in February 2016 we saw a 12-week turnaround before securing ICASA approval,” Zinn told MyBroadband.

“It was roughly the same timeframe with the Raspberry Pi Zero W in 2017, but the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ was launched on 14 March 2018 and South Africa only got approval on 8 August 2018, nearly five full months later.”

Managing expectations

Zinn said that the release of the Pi 3 Model A+ focused on locales where certification could be approved timeously to ensure that retailers around the world could launch the product simultaneously.

“These locales were EU, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India, but unfortunately did not include us in South Africa,” he said.

“The ICASA process just takes so long that we can’t rely on the 6-8 weeks turnaround time that they quote for certification.”

We asked Zinn how long he expected the certification process to take, and when customers could expect to buy the device from a South African retailer.

“I wish I could give a definitive answer here,” Zinn said.

“The process for certification has been started with the required documentation having already been submitted, we’re now at the mercy of ICASA and are just hoping for a sub-12-week turnaround so we can get these awesome products into the hands of all of the good people waiting patiently for them.”