Tag Archive for 'google'

Google’s Android Market comes to Kenya

Published on September 6, 2010 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Over the weekend I did a blog post here about the low-cost but reasonably high-end Huawei IDEOS Android smartphone that had been announced this past week in Europe. The big news in this respect was that the IDEOS is expected to launch globally at a price between US$ 100.00 to US$ 200.00 (i.e. Kes. 8,000.00 to Kes. 16,000.00) without an operator contract, making it particularly suited for Africa.

In an interesting turnof events, my blog post was spot on as the front page of the Business Daily this morning carried a story by Kui Kinyanjui confirming that the IDEOS would be coming to Kenya at an expected retail price of Kes. 8,000.00. This was further confirmed today at Google’s G-Kenya event that started today in Nairobi at Strathmore University via an official announcement from Google representatives.

However, even though the thought of an Android smartphone at only Kes. 8,000.00, which is even less than a good number of feature phones in the marketplace today, the bigger announcement of the day was that Google was launching their hugely successful Android Market in Kenya as well. Kenya is only the second country in Africa to get Android Market after South Africa.

Android Market is an online apps store developed by Google for Android devices (not just handsets but everything else that may run on Android such as tablets and notebooks). The Android Market is accessed via a mobile app called that is typically pre-installed on Android devices. It enables users to browse, select and download mobile apps for their Android devices.

The most significant thing about Android Market for Kenya is that it enables third-party developers to publish apps that can be either free or for sale. In terms of monetizing apps, the way it works is that app developers get to keep 70% of the app value when sold in the store and the balance of 30% is usually shared between the mobile networks as well as payment processors (in Kenya, in addition to premium billing, this could also be done via mobile money services such as Safaricom’s M-Pesa, Zain’s Zap or YU’s YUcash).

As of August 2010, the Android Market has over 100,000 apps published and to-date and they have collectively been downloaded over 1 billion times to-date. At this juncture, apps are being published to Android Market at a rate of over 10,000 per month. Currently, Android mobile handsets are the fastest growing segment of smartphones globally and they have already eclipsed Apple’s iPhone in terms of the rate of adoption.

However, Nokia at this time is leading in Kenya with its OVI app store which already features several locally developed apps from Kenya. In addition, Samsung is also in the process of developing local apps in Kenya for its Bada platform. The good news is that app developers in Kenya now have more platforms on which they can publish and monetize their apps as well as reach not only local markets but also global markets.

Google Developer and Tech Days coming to Kenya and Uganda in 2010.

Published on July 26, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Google is once again launching a new initiative that will engage technology entrepreneurs and developers to transform the web for Africa and the rest of the world. This is in-line Google’s key mandate of making the Internet relevant and useful for Africans, as well as developing offerings that are relevant for the African marketplace.

Going forward, it was announced last week that Google will be hosting developer and tech days across Africa with two exciting events, G-Uganda and G-Kenya, taking place early in September 2010. These web and mobile themed conferences will focus on Google’s developer and business technologies from Chrome Extensions, App Engine, to mobile and AdWords. Attendees will have the chance to explore Google’s open source technologies through a combination of tech talks, breakout sessions and codelabs run by engineers and business teams from across the globe.

G-Uganda will be held on September 1st – 2nd 2010 at Speke Conference Centre just outside of Kampala. Closely on its heels, G-Kenya is running September 6th – 8th 2010 at Strathmore University in Nairobi.

Each day of the conference will cater to a different audience, spanning professional developers, students and tech marketers. Take a look at the G-Uganda & G-Kenya to learn more about a G-day that might fit your appetite.  You must pre-register as space is limited.

Google and Moving The Goal Post (MTG) Kilifi create rural Internet classrooms.

Published on June 27, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

In an announcement at the end of last week, Google has teamed up with Moving The Goalposts (MTG) Kilifi to bring football fever to rural communities on the east coast of Kenya as well as Internet-based education. In the evenings MTG is showing matches on a giant screen in rural areas where people would not otherwise have access to television. During the mornings, Google has set up a rural ICT lab to train the MTG girls and provide basic ICT education.

Satellite technology is being set up to provide data connectivity for the rural Internet classroom, funded by Google. In the classroom, the MTG students will be able to learn how to use the Internet and computers as part of storytelling, using video, audio and photographs to communicate with people around the world.

Moving The Goalposts, Kilifi (http://www.mtgk.org) is an organization that uses football to develop essential life skills – confidence, leadership, self esteem – to vulnerable young women. MTG targets teenage girls between the age of 9 and 25 years from poor families. Bringing the girls together around football also provides an opportunity to provide education about reproductive health, human rights and economic empowerment.

Joseph Mucheru, Lead, Google Sub-Saharan Africa said, “This is one of our first initiatives targeted at children in rural areas and we hope to learn from it and continue encouraging rural populations to go online and use the Internet. I am delighted that we are able to support broadcasting the games to thousands of people who are passionate about football. They would not otherwise be part of the football fever sweeping the world for the first championships held in Africa.”

The project started on June 6th 2010 and will finish on July 12th 2010. The location is Kilifi, Kenya, where the Internet classroom is set up at the local MTG centre, and girls from 7 schools around the region are attending the ICT skills training. Meanwhile, the screen will be travelling to a number of sites in the area. They have already been to Mnarani primary school field, Karisa Maitha (Bukungu) Stadium and are currently in Bahati till 22nd June. The screens will also be going to Matsangoni (23-26th June), Silala (27th-29th June) and Ganze centre (from 30th June).

LG’s Android Optimus coming to Kenya in June 2010.

Published on May 16, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

I’ve been waiting for this to happen for some time! Finally, an Google Android handset is expected to be launched in Kenya in June 2010. This is the LG Optimus handset which is also known as the LG GT540. As far as I know, this is the first Android handset to be (officially) launched in Kenya so its a ground breaking moment.

The announcement was made this past week by a representative of LG in East Africa however, no announcement was made if the LG Optimus will “go to market” in conjunction with one of the mobile networks as has been the case with the Apple iPhone which is being sold on contract with Orange in Kenya.

It will be interesting to see how the LG Optimus fares in Kenya’s smartphone market. Its bound to spice things up considering that Andorid handsets are all the rage (globally) these days. What is yet to be seen is how much the LG Optimus will retail for? (possibly/probably cheaper than an Apple iPhone on the Orange mobile network).

For the time being, its safe to say that Nokia and Blackberry smartphones currently lead the market in Kenya. More information on the LP Optimus can be found on the official web site for the same here>. In addition, here is a nice video for the LG Optimus:

Mobile Web Advertising taking off in Kenya.

Published on November 15, 2009 in internet marketing. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

The big news of the past week was the announcement from Google that it had acquired the mobile web ad network Admob for US$ 750 million. Now, for those who have been using or tracking the mobile web ad market for sometime now, this was no real surprise since Admob was significantly larger than Google on the mobile web for display ads on mobile web sites and applications. Buying Admob effectively makes Google the largest mobile web ad network in the world, when you combine Admob with their existing mobile advertising offering(s).

Google’s acquisition of Admob is significant for several reasons, at least from my perspective. I have been writing now for the better part of a year that the mobile web is undoubtedly the next big thing for Africa and other emerging markets when it comes to Internet growth. For one thing, its a known fact that most new Internet users in countries such as Kenya and elsewhere in Africa in are getting online in droves, but primarily on the mobile web, via their mobile handsets.

Recent price reductions, bandwidth upgrades and nationwide ubiquity of mobile Internet access are creating an enabling environment for a sharp increase in usage and new subscribers. Naturally, this means that over time more, if not most Internet users in Kenya, as well as the rest of Africa, will access the Internet via the mobile web. As a result, where there is an audience, there will be a market for advertising – the writing is on the mobile screen! The future of advertising online (especially in emerging markets) is going to be on the mobile web!

In Kenya, Google already has a regional office that has been operational for several years through which they have been leading initiatives such as local versions of Google Maps, Google SMS, Google Adwords, Google Apps, YouTube and Google AdSense. The integration Admob into its offerings means that Google will bolster its revenues from Advertisers who want to potentially (and eventually?) reach 18+ million Kenyan mobile subscribers via the mobile web, in a highly targeted and contextual manner (Kenya currently has around 4+ million Internet users).

In addition to generating more revenue by selling mobile web ads, there is another possibly more interesting aspect to Google’s acquisition of Admob which is access to rich mobile web usage data and statistics. In a nutshell, Google will be able to capture and monitor (global) usage trends on the mobile web much more accurately than it ever has before. Access to qualitiative mobile web usage intelligence will ultimately drive key mobile strategies for Google’s product and service development initiatives.

In terms of mobile web usage intelligence, the current Admob web site already provides a tantalizing view in its monthly reports. Admob’s Mobile Metrics is a monthly compilation of reports that you can download which have detailed global mobile web usage statistics for different regions and countries. In fact, just last month when I was in South Africa for the Mobile Web Africa Conference, I happened to meet an Admob representative who said that they we’re “thrilled” by the Kenyan market since they achieved 180 million mobile ad impressions in a recent month – thats HUGE by the way considering that Kenya still has very few local mobile web sites so most of these ad impressions must have come from non-Kenyan sites.

To further reinforce the fact that Admob is already doing well in Kenya, I was recently contacted by another mobile ad network, Inmobi. Inmobi also claim that Kenya is delivering impressive mobile web ad impressions to the tune of approximately 35 million per month for around 50 mobile web sites through which which their ads are displayed. Also, according to BuzzCity, another global mobile web ad network, Kenya enjoyed 52% growth and replaced United Kingdom in 5th place in its 2009 3rd quarter index report. Incidentally, Kenya was also the only country amongst the Top 5 that enjoyed positive growth.

The bottom line is that the mobile web ad market is booming in Kenya. Going forward, the question is whether this will be enough incentive (yet) for Kenyan and African businesses, brands, and developers to jump into the game and start building mobile web sites and applications to monetize this fast growing advertising channel!

Microsoft-Yahoo deal will give Bing Bling.

Published on July 29, 2009 in internet projects and random. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

Its been announced today that Microsoft and Yahoo have signed a 10 year Internet search partnership deal. The press release has lots of intricate details on how the Yahoo and Microsoft search partnership will work together but the biggest aspect of the deal is that Bing will become the default search engine for ALL of Yahoo’s diverse Internet businesses. This is really HUGE! It means that Bing will immediately move from number three to number two in Internet search as Yahoo will abandon its own search engine. However, the release indicates that Bing can also integrate the good bits of technology from Yahoo’s search engine.

As we all know, Google still holds the number one internet search engine position with almost 70% market share. However, with Bing already gaining significant market share on Google prior to the deal, it means that we are about to see a full out search engine war erupt. Lets not lose sight of the fact that Google derives over 90% of its revenue from search-linked ads and any erosion of its dominant market position could potentially impact its massive revenues.

Going forward, the latest frontier in internet search is real-time searches of which Twitter, for the moment, dominates. In fact, Twitter recently redesigned its homepage to look conspicuously like a fully-fledged search engine with a archetypal keyword search entry form. Twitter now also lets non-subscribers make searches from its redesigned homepage. Clearly, Twitter have every intention of defending their real-time internet search turf by broadening their accessibility to anyone and everyone. From where I am sitting, It definitely looks like a major paradigm shift in what has been a long standing Internet search status quo has already begun.

Bing does real-time internet search.

Published on July 3, 2009 in random. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

In what is becoming the next phase of the search engine wars, Bing, which is Microsoft’s recently unveiled search engine now does real-time searches on the Internet using Twitter. Real-time internet search is a fast growing trend online, especially via Twitter where news and information is increasing being released far faster than through traditional media channels. The recent Iranian election chaos, Michael Jackson’s death and other major events have been first reported on sites like Twitter. By linking its search results to Twitter, Bing is innovating how search engines work. However, as always, never count out an always innovative Google who are bound to respond with a significantly improved real-time search capabilities. For the full story, go here>

In a World hooked on Google, what does Microsoft’s Bing have to offer?

Published on June 1, 2009 in internet marketing. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

On the 28th of May 2009, Microsoft finally soft launched its Bing search engine. Everyone has been waiting to see if Bing (formerly code-named Kumo) would have anything special to offer in the way of search since as we all know Google has been the leading search engine for ages, and no one is really complaining.

The folks from Redmond clearly figure that their software development chops give them the birthright to take Google head-on (again) after Windows Live Search failed to live up to its promise. The initial reviews of Bing are surprisingly good! It seems that Bing offers something new and unique in the way of search – Microsoft has actually managed to re-think internet search as we know it and it seems (really) that they may have built a better mouse trap (i.e. search engine), at least in some ways compared to Google.

The most important big idea in Bing is the manner in which it gives out its search results in a very contextual manner rather than flooding you with a list of unrelated or irrelevant listings. You can read the latest review on Bing VS Google here at Search Engine Land and user comments on Bing at Techcruch.

Everyone knows that Google is still the king of internet search but do we all remember other innovative search engines like Alta Vista and Hotbot that got way laid by Google? Could the same therefore happen to Google if Bing actually proves to be a better mouse trap, in time? Only time will tell. Meanwhile, you can play around with Bing here and see for yourself.

Kumo: Already a step behind Google, Yahoo?

Published on May 22, 2009 in internet marketing. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

According to CNET, once again, Microsoft is finding itself beaten to the punch in the search game. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer may be ready to unveil search engine Kumo as early as next week.While it has been readying Kumo for its first public airing–probably at next week’s D: All Things Digital event–Yahoo and Google have already shown off their latest search enhancements. Worse still, their demos show that Redmond’s rivals are heading in some of the same directions as Microsoft itself. More >

Why Google’s recent service outages scare the hell out of me.

Published on May 17, 2009 in random. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

I love Google. Their search and online advertising services are simply fantastic! Their Google Apps productivity suite is innovative, and especially their Gmail service has become one of most popular web-based email services. As a matter of fact, our firm has been configuring the same for a good number of our clients to use with their domain names. Thats why, for the first time, I am really worried about Google’s recent service outages.

Google is renown for having iron clad services. They have the world’s most popular search engine. Personally, I don’t know how I could run my business without Google Search – its simply indispensable. Last week, I had a real hard time accessing Google’s Kenya web site at http://www.google.co.ke. For some time there, it was impossible to access the home page. At the same time, the Google Uganda web site at http://www.google.co.ug was (apparently?) hacked this past week for a period of time (Google?! Hacked?! Amazing!). Then, on Thursday this past week, millions of Google Apps users we’re affected world wide making it impossible for them to work online.

In a nutshell, it doesn’t look good. It would seem that there are some very serious service delivery issues popping up at Google. Could these be a result of growing too fast and not putting in the right controls to ensure reliable service delivery? At the same time, as more and more businesses start to rely on Google’s services for mission-critical tasks, could this be the first indicator of the risks inherent in using “the cloud” exclusively? I get the impression that cloud computing, the emerging paradigm where applications run online, instead of using “in-house” client and server infrastructure, may not be ready for prime time.

Google’s recent problems are also worrying because a large number of organizations and individuals in Kenya are turning to “cloud” offerings for core operational functions. In light of the impending “go live” for the SEACOM and TEAMS high speed under sea data cables in Kenya, we can expect that faster and better internet access will result in more and more organizations signing up for cloud-based services as the cost-effective and highly efficient alternative.

Going forward, I see a very urgent need for organizations and individuals to take a long hard look at the pros and cons of using cloud-based services such as Google Apps. For sure, the services are great but one needs to have contingency measures for the inevitable when they fail. There are lots of free and open source softwares that businesses and individuals can use for their productivity needs without relying entirely on the cloud, for now at least.