Monthly Archive for August, 2011

Press Release

It has great edge over other netbooks available these days in market due to its 14.5 hours stand-by capability as compared to other netbooks having 7 or 8 hours stand-by capability.

Kenya is among the pioneer launch markets selected to enjoy the benefits of the world’s first solar powered laptop. In a pioneering move, Samsung Electronics Nairobi office has confirmed the launch of the Samsung Netbook NC215S lap top in the local market as part of a global launch that kicked off in key African markets last week.

Speaking in Nairobi, Samsung Electronics East Africa Business Leader Mr. Robert Ngeru confirmed the availability of the new solar powered 10.1 inch solar powered-netbook in Kenya as part of the ongoing Samsung Built for Africa campaign. The Samsung Netbook NC 215S Ngeru explained features an eye-catching and intelligent large front solar panel located on the cover of the netbook and will be available across the firm’s local dealer network.

The new Samsung solar laptop Ngeru said is loaded with a front cover panel that captures energy from the sun and allows the user to recharge the battery automatically and without cost. “The Samsung Netbook NC 215S is an aggregation of Samsung’s diverse forward thinking technologies and it satisfies the needs of global market consumers by integrating ‘environmentally-friendly green IT technology,” Ngeru said.

Ngeru also added, “using about 2 hours of bright-mid-day sun, the user can charge the battery life by one hour with a fully charged battery lasting up to 14 hours of usage, and the battery can be charged up to 1000 times over 3 years.” The Samsung NC215S solar netbook has great edge over other netbooks available these days in market due to its 14.5 hours stand-by capability as compared to other netbooks having 7 or 8 hours stand-by capability.

The unveiling of the Samsung Netbook NC 215S comes just months after it was showcased at the Samsung Africa Forum event in Nairobi last May. During the electronics exhibition, the Samsung NC 215S attracted the attention of the public last especially considering the spotty electricity coverage in Africa. And following its African launch, the new solar powered Netbook is also set to be launched in Russia, the U.S, Europe, and South Korea before the end of this month.

The Samsung Netbook NC 215S also features an ultra-portable and stylish design, weigh­ing just 1.3kg and featuring a slim display rim that’s as thin as a finger. The new laptop is also loaded with a SuperBright anti-reflective display and can do almost anything with a powerful dual-core Intel® AtomTM processor and genuine Windows® 7 Starter. Available only in black, the netbook’s solar panel can also be used to charge a smartphone, MP3 player and other devices via its USB port, even when the PC is switched off or in power-saving mode.

Ms Mary McDowell, Executive Vice President, Mobile Phones, Nokia, displays two mobile phones, Nokia 100 and Nokia 101, during the global launch held in Nairobi.

Press Release

Nokia continues its commitment to connecting the next billion consumers

Nairobi, Kenya, August 25 2011: Nokia today announced the launch of the Nokia 101 and Nokia 100 phones, its most affordable phones to date, continuing its commitment to connecting the next billion consumers with mobile devices that offer modern, attractive designs, a range of practical and fun features, and services that extend the value of the phone with access to information and entertainment.

The Nokia 101 is Nokia’s fifth dual SIM device in the last three months and is the most affordable to date. The dual SIM functionality enables users to connect to two different networks to receive calls and messages. The Nokia SIM manager allows users to select which SIM card to use to make a call or send a text message helping them manage costs and maintain network coverage without needing several phones. In addition, the SIM manager allows users to store the settings of up to five SIM cards on the phone, and to personalize them by assigning names and logos for each SIM setting. In addition to an FM radio, the Nokia 101 features an integrated MP3 player and a 103 phone loudspeaker, and provides support for up to 16 GB microSD memory cards, allowing users to carry their entire music collection with them.

Ms Mary McDowell, Executive Vice President, Mobile Phones at Nokia (centre) shares a joke with Blanca Juti, Vice President, Nokia Mobile Phones, Product Marketing (left) and Brad Brockhaug, Vice President, Sales, Nokia Africa during the global launch of Nokia 100 and Nokia 101 in Nairobi, Kenya.

The Nokia 100 is perfect for people looking for durability and simplicity as well as affordability when making calls and sending text messages. The Nokia 100 is Nokia’s most affordable color display phone, and people can enjoy its new attractive grid-based menu system with fun and easy-to-read icons. Furthermore, the Nokia 100 features an FM radio, enabling users to tune into their favorite music stations, whether on-the-go or at home. Both the Nokia 101 and Nokia 100 offer Nokia Life Tools (selected markets) and Nokia Money (in India), providing instant access to locally-relevant information on healthcare, education, agriculture and entertainment.

“We recognize that for many of the next billion people, a phone purchase is an investment. People are looking for a phone that offers great features but also one that is dependable,” said Mary McDowell, Executive Vice President, Mobile Phones, Nokia. “When paired with powerful and locally relevant services such as Nokia Life Tools, the Nokia 101 and Nokia 100 offer a unique experience that is simply unmatched in their markets at these price points.”

This is an article that was published in today’s edition of the Business Daily Newspaper’s Digital Business Pullout. I was quoted in the same with regards to Dealfish’s progress in Kenya as a leading local web site and emerging e-commerce destination. You can read more here>

I have been in the world of technology for a long time. I remember programming in Basic back in the early days of home computing on those lovely (but fragile) Sinclair ZX Spectrum computers. Oh such joy! To recall the days when you would wait for software programs to load in many minutes from analogue cassette players on to your trusty home computer – it was a simple life then. It was hard to tell how far the growth of the technology would go back then.

Fast forward a few years and I recall learning how to work DBase 3 and 4 applications on Microsoft DOS. These were the days before Windows or rather Windows was only starting to catch on as an operating system. You used to work software using all sorts of keystrokes from the command prompt. A few years on, Windows version 3 became well entrenched during my University days, and well,  as they say, the rest is history.

Sometime in the mid 1990s, Microsoft’s dominance grew and grew through Windows, and thereafter via its Office productivity suite. Do any of you remember Word Star, Lotus 123 and CorelDraw? Back in the day these software companies dominated their businesses. In the early days of the Internet, we had companies like Netscape and Eudora who were untouchable. However, in no time, Microsoft took them out too.

Then, I cannot recall when exactly it happened but Google came onto the scene. At the time, when I was well entrenched in Kenya’s nascent Internet industry, search engines like Alta Vista, Excite and Hotbot were all the rage. However, they were clunky and it took forever to find stuff. When Google “checked-in” so to speak, everything changed. Overnight, you simply stopped using anything else to search for stuff online since Google just worked, each and every time. Once again, the rest as you could say is history.

Today we are faced by a Google that is without a doubt the most potent technology business in the world. From rising to become the world’s leading search engine over a decade ago, Google has gradually morphed to become so much more. Google in many ways reminds me of the dominance that Microsoft once had in the desktop computing days – their grip was unbreakable and everyone caved in to their whims. It was a different world indeed.

However, it seems, in a world that has embraced mobile technology in all its myriad forms, Google is seemingly even more formidable and dominant than Microsoft ever was in the desktop computing era. In a matter of a few years, Google’s Android platform has risen fast and wide to become the leading smartphone operating system. However, let us not forget that Apple’s iOS is also quite formidable but is typically geared towards the high-end of the market whereas Android is available from the low-end to the top of the market.

This brings me to the point of this blog post. Yesterday, Google announced that it intended to acquire Motorola Mobility for the princely sum of US$ 12.5 Billion. This is the largest acquisition that Google has ever done to-date. Its a big deal by any measure. The main motivator for the acquisition is that Google’s Android platform is at risk of lots of patent infringement suits with the likes of Oracle, Microsoft and Apple so this is actually a protective initiative. Therefore, in buying Motorola Mobility which also makes lots of mobile devices based on the Android platform, Google also gains access to thousands of patents, as well as patents pending to counter the lawsuits.

The real kicker in Google buying Motorola Mobility is that overnight, Google is now able to offer not just the software and services for smartphones – it now can start marketing its own mobile hardware. This makes Google as vertically integrated as Apple in terms of mobile offerings. However, Google could potentially in the process alienate itself from the many mobile device manufacturers like Samsung and Huawei who have adopted Android wholeheartedly to-date. Its a tricky move from this perspective.

So, going forward, what are the implications of a “GoogleMoto” future? Increasingly, the world is embracing mobile computing and communications. This means being able to do all that you used to do on your desktop or laptop “on the go” on a mobile device. The proliferation of mobile broadband, cloud services, applications and new kinds of mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones means that Google stands to reap from all these areas in its new integrated model. The only missing piece to the puzzle would be for Google to actually become a mobile network operator, which is not inconceivable.

In many ways, Google has much more going for it than many of its competitors such as Microsoft and Apple. It has the ability to scale massively and now offer mobile devices too that could pack a punch at a very low-cost. Its starting to feel that Google is no longer that cute little start-up it was over a decade ago and had the famously quoted ethos of “don’t be evil” but rather its becoming a behemoth that has all the intentions of global domination in the fast growing mobile technology space. Suddenly, the likes of Microsoft, who were often referred to as “the beast from Redmond” in the past are starting to look tame in comparison to Google. In a mobile world, Google is effectively positioned to become THE game changer.