Monthly Archive for November, 2010

Developing an Innovative Ecosystem in Africa.

Published on November 30, 2010 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Press Release.

The First-Ever Open Innovation Africa Summit (OIAS)

Naivasha, Kenya:  November 29, 2010… Will Africa be the next global success story in innovation? This is the question that over 200 selected thought leaders from 25 countries across the world are gathered in Kenya’s Rift Valley to address. The aim of the first-ever Open Innovation Africa Summit (OIAS) is to stimulate critical thinking about the role of innovation in sustainable socio-economic development and to contribute to creating a conducive environment for innovative entrepreneurial activity in Africa. The Summit intends to generate actionable ideas and recommendations for the gathered public policy specialists, researchers, entrepreneurs, ICT experts and financiers to take forward in their respective contexts for positive social impact.

The Summit is designed as a unique, three-day dialogue of critical minds and change agents intended to contribute to external dialogue and action on social innovation at the bottom of the economic pyramid. So far, delegates have identified a number of key issues for in-depth discussion including the need to create sustainable systems in the knowledge economy, heightened focus on research and development capacity building, and the role of broader local, regional and international partnerships among all stakeholders as basic steps to catalyze new, demand-driven innovations to improve the quality of life in Africa. Delegates have also highlighted the role of government in creating an enabling environment to foster innovation, ensuring continuity and predictability at the public institution level for continued knowledge development.

Technology Platforms: leveraging technology to deliver public and private services to the underserved is one of the key themes for discussion at the Summit. This dialogue will be taking place alongside three others on:

  • African Innovation Ecosystem: enabling innovation for sustainable socio-economic development
  • Emerging Business Models for Serving the Poor: building African success stories
  • Human Capital – Education for All: developing skills using technology

Considering that Africa has the highest penetration growth rate for mobile phones in the world, the role of mobile technology in building an information ecosystem will also be central in discussions at the Summit.

Currently, many countries in Africa are enjoying improved economic growth with some countries achieving as much as 12% GDP growth annually. There is increased investment and an increasingly attractive business environment. The completion and operation of many submarine fibre optic cables linking Africa to the rest of the world has made more bandwidth available at significantly reduced prices making information more accessible to many more people. This also presents a valuable opportunity for young people to be heard and participate in development through information and ideas-sharing and entrepreneurship.

Still, some key considerations remain in order to achieve a robust information society and knowledge economy; content and human capital issues need to be addressed. Ensuring an enabling environment is pivotal to harnessing the power of innovations and developing a culture of technological entrepreneurship. Africa must also harness the immense human capital that it boasts. This is another key discussion point for the Summit. In many ways, the situation in this area is grim – currently, 32 million children in Africa are out of school and 59% will never get the chance to enrol. Africa needs about 2.4 million teachers by 2015 and there is need to bridge the huge teachers’ training gap through innovative learning methods. This is in keeping with the global “Education for All” goals.

Innovation entrepreneurship in Africa can flourish where there is emphasis on monitoring, evaluation and learning and the roles of the various players are recognised.

Delegates are expected to put forward proposals on “making it easy for innovators to get into the ecosystem” and sustainable market enterprises that offer social solutions.

Airtel Kenya hits the ground running with new number range.

Published on November 29, 2010 in Uncategorized. 12 Comments

Press Release.

Monday 29/11…Exactly a week after the launch of the Airtel Brand in Kenya, the local mobile services provider has literally hit the ground running with the release of an extra 2.5million lines covering five number prefixes.

Launched just last week globally, the new Airtel brand comes with a promise to meet the emerging needs of customers with innovative, affordable and relevant solutions to empower consumers, giving them the freedom to do what they choose and provide them with the tools to meet life’s daily challenges.

And in what is being billed as a clear indication of the firm’s bid to further raise completion in the mobile market, Airtel Kenya has now unveiled new mobile number prefixes in the range of 0739, 0786, 0787, 0788 and 0789.

Speaking when he confirmed the release of the new number ranges, Airtel Kenya Managing Director Rene Meza confirmed that increased demand for Airtel Kenya lines in the market in recent days had necessitated the release of the new prefixes.

Recent network upgrade works had also facilitated the unveiling of the new prefixes, with the company now confirming its capacity to handle increased traffic on its network. “At Airtel Kenya, we are walking the talk as we seek to ensure that Kenyans feel free to talk at the most affordable rates and the release of these numbers is a further confirmation of the swelling demand for our network services across the country,” Meza said.

And added: “in anticipation of a spike in Airtel Kenya services, we have just completed the first phase of our network optimization project to enable us sufficiently absorb the growing number of subscribers”. The release of the new numbers to the market will complement the existing range of 0731, 0732, 0734, 0735, 0736, 0737, and 0738 number ranges.

Locally, Airtel Kenya has also announced the launch of a new ultra low cost handset package which effectively provides a mobile phone free of charge to all new subscribers. The package, launched in conjunction with Nokia, will be priced at Kshs 1850 and includes a brand new Nokia 1280 mobile phone, a free SIM card and the equivalent value in free Airtel talk time and SMS text messages.

The offer now available at all Airtel Kenya dealer outlets, Meza said, is geared at connecting unconnected Kenyans and will also allow the new Airtel subscribers to enjoy an equivalent amount in free talk time over the first 12 month period once they load any amount of Airtel credit to the SIM card.

“We’re driven by the vision of making mobile communications affordable and available for all.  Access to mobile communications will give people the freedom to achieve their goals in life, transforming how people communicate and how communities interact.

And added: “Delivering on that opportunity through affordable and available mobile communications for everyone is our focus and this new Airtel package effectively removes the cost of entry for even the poorest people in the most remote areas.”

Airtel is partnering with world class telecommunications infrastructure suppliers to extend its networks to rural areas which are at present disconnected from the world and ensure that Airtel has the best quality network in Kenya.

About Airtel in Africa

Airtel is the new brand name for the 16 Zain operations across Africa which were acquired by Airtel International in June 2010.  Airtel is driven by the vision of providing affordable and innovative mobile services to all.  Airtel has African operations in: Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.  Airtel International is a Bharti Airtel company.  For more information, please visit www.airtel.com

Nokia’s Ovi Store offers great apps for learning in Kenya.

Published on November 26, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Press Release.

Nairobi, Kenya, 25 November 2010: Nokia’s Ovi Store is enhancing learning possibilities for Kenyans by expanding their knowledge through a set of applications on the Ovi Store that enables them to improve their know-how. With more young Kenyans in educational institutions and workplaces willing to learn more on mobile phone, Nokia is offering a great opportunity to meet the growing demand in content.

Dorothy Ooko, Communications Manager East & Southern Africa says the growth in the number of applications by Kenyan developers is poised to broaden relevant content for Kenyans in various areas in which Nokia users can access even more localized information. “The mobile phone has proven to be the most popular way to access the internet in Kenya and Nokia is proud to be empowering its’ users with these apps for learning,” said Ms Ooko.

Ms Ooko said the number of apps on Nokia’s Ovi Store have grown by 1400 percent to reach 30 from April to October 2010, indicating new interest and growth of the developers’ community. She added that the Ovi Store has potential to reach over 60 million Nokia devices users globally, and is expected to reach up to 300 million consumers by 2012. This will make it the world’s largest media network.

“Downloads on Ovi Store are on a strong rise driven by new applications and games from a growing number of partners and more than 250,000 new consumers signing up for Ovi every day. We have a fast-growing number of Kenyans downloading these apps, in keeping with the global trend. We see this growth expanding even more especially in education and entertainment as we head to the festivities,” said Ms Ooko.

Last week, Nokia announced that Ovi Store has reached 3 million downloads per day and 92 developers each topped the 1 million download mark. Additionally, Nokia is gaining significant software developer momentum, with more than 400,000 new developers joining Forum Nokia in the past 12 months.

Some of the notable education apps in the Ovi Store include;

Dictionary & Translation Pro

Dictionary & Translation Pro offers easy one-touch access to an extensive online English dictionary, thesaurus, and translation service supporting a wide set of languages including Hindi, Arabic, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and many more. The online dictionary features nearly two million words and is constantly updated by a community of language professionals. With Dictionary and Translation Pro you will never be lost for words.

Language Coach

Want to learn English words the easy way? Have fun with Language Coach while you learn common English words. Track your score and see how youre improving your skills.

Learn Science

Learn Science make your children be aware of basic science around him/her. This will make children to learn and experiment with science

IQ Lite

There is a scientifically proven method to increase the IQ. This application contains a brain training exercise known as a Dual N-Back task. According to Swiss researchers, it increases your intelligence in 19 days. The articles about this exercise were published in both scientific and popular journals. Lite version: only the easiest level. The full version is not free, but it could be viewed as an investment as IQ and income are correlated.

Multi Translate

Multi Translate enables you translate words and sentences confidently & easily by Google Translate. How to use? Select input language and target language, then input your original content, then the app will send the request via Internet connection smoothly, it’s this easy! You can set it in homescreen widget or short cut icon for easy access.

Amazing Facts

This application is all about the most amazing crazy fascinating facts and interesting stories about people places history and things.

PhraseBook 18 in 1 Lite

PhraseBook turns your phone into your own personal interpreter, which lets you communicate with the locals without any previous language skills. The following source languages are available for selection: English, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Russian, Polish, Spanish, Slovakian, Hungarian, Greek, Turkish, Czech.

About Nokia

At Nokia, we are committed to connecting people. We combine advanced technology with personalized services that enable people to stay close to what matters to them. Every day, 1.3 billion people connect to one another with a Nokia device – from mobile phones to advanced smartphones and high-performance mobile computers. Today, Nokia is integrating its devices with innovative services through Ovi (www.ovi.com), including music, maps, apps, email and more.  Nokia’s NAVTEQ is a leader in comprehensive digital mapping and navigation services, while Nokia Siemens Networks provides equipment, services and solutions for communications networks globally.

An interview with Joshua Mwaniki of Mocality.

Published on November 26, 2010 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

This blog post features a follow-up video interview I had earlier this week with Joshua Mwaniki, the Country Manager for Mocality which is an online and mobile web business directory. I had the opportunity to interview Joshua back in May 2010 together with the Mocality’s CEO Stefan Magdalinski who works out of Cape Town, South Africa – you can read the blog post for the same here>

Mocality has grown significantly over the last six months or so and currently has over 70,000 Nairobi businesses listed. This is no mean feat considering that even Nyama Choma businesses are listed as well! Its truly about getting all businesses listed including very small businesses that makes Mocality such a large and in-depth business directory.

As blogged here in May 2010, Mocality uses an innovative crowd sourcing model to obtain its listings through Mocality Agents and in the field. Mocality Agents are armed with mobile web enabled handsets to collect accurate business listings which are then verified. In addition, Mocality also geo-codes businesses so that they have accurate GPS coordinates. Mocality Agents are also paid via Safaricom’s M-Pesa mobile money service which makes payments efficient and effective.

In December 2010, Mocality is expanding its businesses listings from just Nairobi to Mombasa, Kenya’s second largest city. Thereafter, they have plans of expanding throughout Kenya and to the rest of the African Continent. Below is the full interview with Joshua.

Deacons Kenya invests Kes. 35 million in a new ERP system ahead of store roll-out programme.

Published on November 25, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Press Release.

Nairobi, Kenya, November 25, 2010: Leading lifestyle retailer Deacons Kenya Limited has invested Kshs 36 Million (USD 448,000) in a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. The ERP solution, dubbed Microsoft Dynamics NAV 5 integrated with LS Retail, is aimed at linking different business
processes by correlating information from various functions and using it to run the whole business more smoothly.

The final phase of the ERP implementation process is slated to be commissioned by January 2011 offering the company flexibility to support the varied needs of multi-brand and multi-locational business, regardless of size, location, or type of business. Deacons Chief Executive Mr. Muchiri Wahome said: “We expect that the new system will enable us to further improve workflow efficiencies for financial consolidation, give clear business insight with integrated analytics and offer efficient means of exchanging data from various divisions. This way, we will be able to respond more proactively to ever changing business conditions.”

The planned expansion of Deacons within the region necessitated the investment into the new ERP platform. Mr. Muchiri said the new ERP will help in the management decision-making process in the company. He said the system will even more crucially help in effectively managing inventory levels, warehouse space and processes – an important element of Deacons whose business involves storage and movement of goods across its current 23 stores in East Africa.

“The ERP Solution will potentially help us operate a lot more effectively and efficiently in a business like ours. It will now be much easier, for instance, to monitor profitability per division and track performances per brand. More importantly, we will be able to have comprehensive, up-to-date financial information making it easier to spot trends and gain insight into our business activities,” said Mr. Alfred Kithusi, the Group Operations Director. He added that Deacons will in addition be able to control and manage the entire life cycle of fixed assets from acquisition to disposal and therefore help deliver improved supply chain management.

Deacons ICT manager, Ismael Omol commented: “the ERP solution will cover all brands managed by Deacons, and to ensure successful implementation, the users underwent rigorous training by the system implementers. During the training sessions the staff had access to user manuals, in addition to a fully set up training laboratory for their practice sessions.”

Deacons announced that it is seeking KES 800 million in new capital last week through a public offer to help fund its expansion strategy in East Africa. The ERP is a part of wide-ranging changes and is intended to handle business expansion and store footprint management.

Craft Silicon launches New Banking Solution and Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.

Published on November 25, 2010 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , .

Press Release.

November 24, 2010: Craft Silicon, a leading software solutions provider in Africa and beyond has launched a new banking solution ELMA as well as opened its new state of the art office complex in Westlands, Nairobi. The office, which will also act as the headquarters of the financial solutions provider, was officially opened by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Technology, Dr. Bitange Ndemo today.

Craft Silicon has grown over the last decade to become a force to reckon with regionally in the development and implementation of financial institutions around Africa. Key among its clientele are the Equatorial Commercial Bank, Jamii Bora Bank, Nakumatt Holdings Limited and Safaricom Limited in Kenya as well as Fullerton India Credit Company Limited, Dar es Salaam Community Bank and First Bank Nigeria (FBN) Microfinance Limited in other regions around Africa as well as beyond. The company’s growth can be attributed to its simple mission of ‘thinking differently’, that has helped it raise the bar in the provision of financial IT solutions.

“We have a clear vision of revolutionising the functioning of financial institutions and organisations. We see ourselves as a key player in our clients’ success and aim to leverage our expertise and thinking abilities for many years to come. This has seen us remain at the forefront of new product development to meet the dynamic and growing needs of our clients, hence the launch of this new mobile banking solution ELMA,” said Mr. Kamal Budhabatti, the company’s CEO.

ELMA is a lifestyle product that enables the user to carry out financial and non-financial transactions at a cheaper price than existing similar products in the market. This new product allows one to pay bills, buy airtime, transfer money as well as make stock exchange transactions.

The Permanent Secretary Ministry of Finance Mr Joseph Kinyua toured the office complex earlier in the day, as part of precursor events to the launch of the offices.

Notable attendees at the opening ceremony itself were Eng. James Rege, MP for karachuonyo,  Mugo Kibati, the CEO of Kenya’s Vision 2030, Dr. Manu Chandaria,  and a host of other corporate and financial institution executives from companies that use Craft Silicon’s business solutions.

Ms. Lisa Mucheru-Wisner, one of the four finalists in the latest season of the Apprentice reality TV show, who has partnered with the Craft Silicon Foundation to steer various charitable projects in Kenya, also attended the launch. She had flagged off the ‘Craft Silicon Foundation ICT Bus’ earlier in the week to two schools in Kibera and Ongata Rongai, who are beneficiaries of the joint partnership. The ICT bus has over the years provided free ICT training in Mathare, Kangemi, Huruma, and Kibera and helped the trainees to find jobs.

According to Mr. Kamal, the new offices, which consist of a gym, swimming pool, sports centre, executive lounge, a roof-top staff restaurant and modern open plan offices, “have been built with our staff in mind, whom we take to be our key resource in the success of the company. I believe the new ambience will help build their levels of productivity and creativity of our staff whose job demands a lot of mental energy as we take Craft Silicon to the next frontier.“

State of the Kenyan Mobile Web: October 2010.

Published on November 25, 2010 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Once again, Opera have released their latest State of the Mobile Web (SMW) report, and this time for October 2010. The latest SMW report has a broad range of usage statistics but, as always, what really interests me for this blog is the SMW for Kenya.

Since the last two reports, when Kenya had (initially) cracked the global top ten on the mobile web and even overtook Nigeria (albeit briefly). Since then, Kenya has lost a few positions and now sits in the top 20 which is still indicative of its leading mobile web credentials in Africa, and the rest of the world.  In addition, Nigeria raced back into the top ten where South Africa has always been present from the continent.

Opera Mini continues to gain global appeal as a leading mobile web browser and is now also available on Apple’s iPhone as well as Google Android powered handsets. Opera Mini is hugely popular since it compresses “heavy” web content on Opera’s servers before it delivering it to mobile handsets as “light” and mobile web friendly content. In some cases, as much 90% of data can be compressed meaning sites can be loaded quickly, even if they NOT mobile web optimized. In addition, another major upside is that data costs for end-users can be reduced significantly (this is especially important in markets like Kenya where 3G is not only costly but rare amongst the various mobile networks so bandwidth is indeed at a premium)

In terms of the latest SMW statistics for Kenya, what remains more or less constant is that mobile web page views per user are still the highest in Africa, ahead of South Africa and Nigeria.  This has grown to a formidable 651 page views per user per month which goes to reinforce that most popular of statements once made by Safaricom’s former CEO, Michael Joseph, that Kenyans have “peculiar” phone usage habits (in this case they love to browse the mobile web more than any other country in Africa!). Lastly, as expected, Nokia continued to dominate the top ten positions in terms of handsets being used with Opera Mini. I expect this to change significantly in a years time as Samsung, and other manufacturers start to gain more market share in Kenya (i.e. consider that there are now over 9 Google Android handsets in Kenya already and there are more coming)

Other Kenya SMW statistics indicate that year on year growth for October 2009/10 has exceeded 100% in almost all instances and variables. Kenyans (now) on average download 7 MB of data per month and Facebook is still the leading mobile web destination on Opera Mini. Once again, its great to see that Nation Mobile is still in the top ten mobile web sites in Kenya on Opera Mini at number ten, maintaining its status as the only local mobile web site listed.

Going forward, I am keen to see how the the Kenya SMW reports will look in a around a years time when both Airtel Kenya and Orange Kenya are expected to have launched their 3G services. Its also expected that Safaricom should have launched their 4G services by then, which could also heavily influence local Opera Mini mobile web usage, especially in urban Kenya.

Another factor in a years time could be the increased uptake of low-to-medium cost 3G smartphones in Kenya that are more capable than the current models of feature phones that largely have only GPRS or EDGE Internet connectivity. In a nutshell, the mobile web landscape in Kenya should continue to evolve. Below are the latest statistics which can also be viewed in the full October 2010 SMW report here>

Snapshot: Kenya

  • Page-view growth since October 2009: 175.4 %
  • Unique-user growth since October 2009: 117.3 %
  • Data transfer growth since October 2009: 159.7 %
  • Page views per user: 651
  • Data transferred per user (MB): 7
  • Data transferred per page view (KB): 10

Top 10 sites in Kenya (unique users)

  1. facebook.com
  2. google.com
  3. wikipedia.org (4)
  4. yahoo.com (3)
  5. youtube.com
  6. waptrick.com
  7. bbc.co.uk
  8. getjar.com
  9. my.opera.com
  10. nation.co.ke

Top handsets for October 2010

  1. Nokia 2330c
  2. Nokia 5130 XpressMusic
  3. Nokia 1680c
  4. Nokia 2700c
  5. Nokia 2680s
  6. Nokia 2600c
  7. Nokia 3110c
  8. Nokia 2730c
  9. Samsung SGH-E250
  10. Nokia 2630

Paynet Group confirms lead sponsorship for AITEC Banking & Mobile Money 2011 Conference

Published on November 24, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Press Release.

Nairobi, 22nd November 2011… The Paynet Group will yet again take a leading role in AITEC’s fifth annual Banking & Mobile Money conference by being a platinum sponsor of the event.

Announcing Paynet’s sponsorship, CEO Bernard Matthewman said:  “This conference has become the market-leading event for East Africa’s financial services sector and we feel it plays a valuable role in nurturing innovation and excellence in banking, which is why we have supported consistently for the past four years and will do so again in 2011.  It is not coincidental that during this time East Africa has become globally recognized as the epicentre of highly innovative financial services.”

The 2010 conference attracted close to 500 delegates and had over 100 expert speakers.  Added to these were over 500 exhibition visitors, creating an event that had a major impact in the market.  “Participant feedback has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Sean Moroney, AITEC chairman and conference director.  “But we intend to achieve an even greater level of excellence in the 2011 programme, introducing a range of new topics and speakers to meet the information needs of banks, mobile operators and other players in the financial services sector.  Already we have 25 top speakers confirmed for the conference programme.  The emphasis of the programme is on practical experience and knowledge sharing with the objective of equipping participants with the knowledge they need to compete in the rapidly evolving financial services landscape.

The theme of the 2011 conference is “Strategies for a new era of financial integration” in response to the accelerated drive for regional business across borders.  The East African Business Council is supporting the event as a platform to promote effective financial services to support the accelerating business drive across the region. For full details of the conference, log on to www.aitecafrica.com

Airtel launches new global brand across its operations in Africa.

Published on November 22, 2010 in Uncategorized. 2 Comments

Press Release.

  • New global identity to unify all 16 African operations and cover 200 million customers across Africa and Asia.
  • Airtel reinforces commitment to extend it mobile networks and bridge the digital divide
  • Customers to experience a new brand and enjoy superior quality of service, reliability, innovation and affordability wherever they live, work or travel.

Bharti Airtel, a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa, today launched the Airtel brand and unveiled the new brand identity across its 16 African operations including Kenya.

With the unveiling of the new brand identity Airtel, becomes the master brand for all the group’s 19 operations in Asia and Africa covering over 200 million customers. Here in Kenya, Airtel replaces the Zain brand and comes with the promise of delivering high quality customer benefits through the power of global Airtel brand.

In tandem and going forward, all Airtel Kenya future new products and services will follow the Airtel brand structure. In Kenya, just as in all other Airtel markets in Africa, fast growing ZAP mobile money service has also re-branded into Airtel Money with immediate effect.

In a communiqué released in Nairobi, Bharti Airtel CEO (International) and Joint Managing Director Mr. Manoj Kohli, said that the continental rebrand to Airtel now brings together all the firm’s operations under a single, strong and unique identity.

“Airtel brings together all our operations under a single, strong and unique brand identity.  We can deliver more for our customers by operating as a single brand across Africa to fulfill our vision of providing affordable and innovative mobile services for all customers.  The new youthful identity will be the most loved brand in the daily lives of African people for years to come.

“Our customers will experience the same familiar brand and enjoy consistent quality of service, reliability, innovation and affordability wherever they live, work or travel.  Airtel will also make a positive impact in the communities in which we operate through extending our network to rural areas and through our education initiatives.”

Airtel Kenya Managing Director Rene Meza expressed the firm’s commitment to bridging the digital divide with a strategic goal to win the customers hearts in Kenya.

“We remain committed to taking our network deeper into Africa, ensuring our services touch everyone and bridge the digital divide in the continent.  I am confident that over the coming years Airtel will win the hearts of customers in Kenya and emerge as one of most admired brands of the continent,” Meza said.

The new brand identity.

The new Airtel brand comes with a promise to meet the emerging needs of customers with innovative, affordable and relevant solutions to empower consumers, giving them the freedom to do what they choose and provide them with the tools to meet life’s daily challenges.

The red primary colour of the logo reflects the warmth and vibrancy of the African continent.  It is the colour of life and of the African sun at dusk.  These qualities are reflected in Airtel’s brand personality of being brave and bold, sensitive and empathetic.  The new curved addition to the logo is a symbol which will help ensure instant recognition across our diverse international markets.

As part of the celebration of unveiling the new brand, Airtel also announced the launch of a new ultra low cost handset package which effectively provides a mobile phone free of charge to all new subscribers.  The package, launched in conjunction with Nokia, will be priced at Kshs 1850 and includes a brand new Nokia 1280 mobile phone, a free SIM card and the equivalent value in free Airtel talk time and SMS text messages.

Over the next couple of months Airtel will launch a number of world leading product innovations which focus on delivering relevant information for customers to enhance their quality of life and provide tools that will help them overcome their daily challenges.

In the past four months Airtel has already made tariff interventions in 11 of its 16 markets in Africa for the benefit of its customers.  It has also signed agreements to extend its networks to the most remote areas of the country which are still not connected with the outside world.

About Airtel in Africa.

Airtel is the new brand name for the 16 Zain operations across Africa which were acquired by Airtel International in June 2010.  Airtel is driven by the vision of providing affordable and innovative mobile services to all.  Airtel has African operations in: Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.  Airtel International is a Bharti Airtel company.  For more information, please visit www.airtel.com

About Bharti Airtel Limited.

Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa.  The company offers mobile voice and data services, fixed line, high speed broadband, IPTV, DTH, turnkey telecom solutions for enterprises and national and international long distance services to carriers.  Bharti Airtel has been ranked among the six best performing technology companies in the world by BusinessWeek.  Bharti Airtel has over 200 million customers across its operations.  To know more visit www.airtel.in

Samsung Kenya’s Mobile Apps Challenge.

Published on November 21, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Press Release.

Samsung Electronics gave Mobile Application Developers a glimpse of how their income can be generated in the future if they are one of the five winners of the Samsung Apps Developers Contest. Mr Robert Ngeru, Samsung Kenya’s Deputy Managing Director challenged Developers at a meeting at iHub to come up with local apps to that would meet the needs of Kenyans.

Samsung’s growth in Kenya’s mobile sector doubled from 11% to 22% in one year and the results were achieved through heavy investments in Marketing, Research and Development, Distributor, Dealer and Operator Partnerships. While Samsung’s focus in the mobile sector is the development of mobile phones and accessories, he expressed the desire for Samsung to market local apps created by local mobile app developers for Kenyans.

About two weeks ago, Samsung announced its Samsung Apps Developers Challenge in which app developers would be given 6 weeks to submit their designs to local apps on the Bada platform. 5 winners would be selected who would win ksh 200,000 each, a Samsung wave phone and an opportunity to benefit from revenues generated from their apps once it is made available on all Bada platform phones.  Once the entries were submitted, Samsung would go through a process of customizing the apps and the winning designs would be awarded. The results would be published in January and the winning apps made available on all Bada Platform phones. To address the concerns of the premium pricing of the Samsung Wave phone Mr Ngeru announced that there are already more affordable Samsung Bada phones available in the market-the Samsung Wave 525 at Ksk 15,000.00, Samsung Wave 533 at Ksh 16,500.00 and the Samsung Wave 723 at Ksh 22,000.00.

With the integration of local payment solutions the content that is developed would benefit from revenue streams generated from users. Mr Ngeru said the revenue generated would go solely to the developer less any operator charges that may apply. The apps would be launched on the global Samsung Apps store and driven for free to build awareness and usage. Miss Tessa Calleb, the Marketing Manager for mobile promised the support of a robust marketing budget to drive awareness and usage of the winning apps. With the introduction of subscriptions once the apps has gained popularity, the revenue would go directly to the developer. Developers were directed to the Samsung Apps store (www.samsungapps.com) to see what is available that can help generate ideas. The deadline for submissions is 16th December 2010 and for more information on how to submit entries for the challenge visit www.samsungkenyaappscontest.com

About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2009 consolidated sales of US$116.8 billion. Employing approximately 188,000 people in 185 offices across 65 countries, the company consists of eight independently operated business units: Visual Display, Mobile Communications, Telecommunication Systems, Digital Appliances, IT Solutions, Digital Imaging, Semiconductor and LCD. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones and TFT-LCDs.