Tag Archive for 'Mobile'

Samsung’s “Bada” Wave Mobile Handset coming to Kenya in August 2010.

Published on July 23, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

The Samsung Wave

As noted in an earlier post on this blog today, I am in Johannesburg (South Africa) following the Samsung Africa Forum 2010. At the event, I received reliable information that Samsung will be launching its Wave mobile handset in Kenya sometime in August 2010 in conjunction with Safaricom, the leading mobile network in Kenya. The Samsung Wave is the first mobile handset to be released on Samsung’s new, open mobile platform, Bada. Bada allows mobile users to simply and easily download apps from SamsungApps, an integrated application store accessible from the device and online. SamsungApps include games, e-books, utility services and health and lifestyle applications.

The full touch Samsung Wave has a Super AMOLED 3.3” display, which is brighter and less reflective than previous AMOLED displays and it is powered by a 1GHz processor. This offers users the best graphic performance available today. The fast-response display has a high resolution WVGA (800×400 pixels) at 400 candela brightness. Samsung’s latest TouchWiz 3.0 user interface on the Wave provides a tactile, intuitive user experience and includes iconic new features such as motion UI, smart unlock and customizable widget screen. This means that the TouchScreen user interface is responsive and intuitive.

Samsung Wave features The Social Hub – creating a center of social networking and messaging activity with push-based, “Always On” integrated messaging. SNS, IM and e-mail contact information is listed on the phone’s display alongside traditional contact email and phone number information.

The Wave’s high-speed CPU ensures swift, smooth application usage and multi-codec support for DivX and Xvid, making the device into a personal entertainment system. Finally, HD video decoding and recording capabilities make the Samsung Wave an outstanding device for capturing, sharing and viewing video.

I had a chance to use the Wave briefly at the Forum and the first thing that grabs your attention is the Super AMOLED display which is stunning in its visual quality being both crisp and sharp. Its also quite easy to use as far as the user interface is concerned and certainly represents a leap forward from the Samsung Jet which was launched in Kenya earlier this year. The Samsung Wave is already available in South Africa as of this writing so Kenya is one of the first entry markets for Africa. The specifications for the Samsung Wave are as follows:

Network
2.5G : 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
3G: 900/2100 MHz

Display
3.3” WVGA (480×800) Super AMOLED with mDNIe

Camera
5.0 Megapixel AF camera w/ LED Flash
Touch AF
Face/Blink Detection, Lomo Shot, Vintage Shot, Beauty Shot,
Smile Shot, Panorama Shot, Geo-tagging, Photo Editor

Video
HD video playing & recording
5.1ch mobile theater
MPEG4, H.263, H.264, WMV,DivX, XviD
Video editor

Audio
Music Player with DNSe & SRS Sound Effect
Find Music, DISK UI
3.5mm ear jack
FM radio/ recording
100 hr playing time

Value-added Features
Integrated messaging (by Seven)
Samsung branded application store based on bada platform
TOUCHWIZ 3.0 w/integrated phonebook, voice & motion UI
Dolphin Browser 2.0 / one finger zoom
A-GPS, On/off board navigation (3D Map), LBS
SMS/ MMS/ Email/ Video Messaging/ Exchange ActiveSync
Accelerator Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Digital Compass
BPP, OPP, PictBridge (USB Printing)
Offline/ No SIM mode, voice command, RSS reader, communities, mobile widget

Connectivity
Bluetooth technology v 3.0
USB v2.0 (Full -Speed)
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n

Memory
2GB/8GB + microSD (Up to 32GB

Size
118 x 56 x 10.9mm

Battery
(Standard) Li-Ion, 1,500 mAh

Nokia’s Qt SDK 1.0 improves App Developer Opportunities.

Published on June 24, 2010 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Starting yesterday, Nokia is increasing the opportunity and lowering barriers to entry by supporting individual developers, reducing investment costs and providing cross-platform app development for Symbian and Maemo devices with the Qt SDK 1.0.

Following the new Forum Nokia developer mantra of “Design, Develop and Distribute”, several developer-related announcements are being consolidated into one main message to show developers the improvements that have been made to the overall ecosystem.

There are five noteworthy announcements that will benefit developers working on Nokia platforms:

• Availability of Nokia Qt SDK 1.0
• Individuals can now register as Ovi Publishers
• Public beta of Nokia signing Symbian apps for free
• Availability of Nokia Smart Installer for Symbian
• Ovi Store intake for Qt apps

Availability of the Nokia Qt SDK 1.0

The Nokia Qt SDK 1.0 is available starting today (http://www.forum.nokia.com/Develop/Qt/), and it offers a true cross-platform development environment allowing developers to create applications for both Symbian and Maemo devices. Installation is easy, as it only requires one installation package that downloads all of the Qt and Symbian/Maemo components that developers need using the same Qt Creator 2.0 as standard Qt SDK’s for use on Windows, Linux and Mac (beta). The Nokia Qt SDK 1.0 includes the Qt 4.6 libraries plus additional API’s for mobile development. With a fast, new simulator along with on-device debugging and the ability to compile to both .sis (Symbian) or .deb (Maemo) packages, it provides developers with a great opportunity to start creating amazing apps right away.

Individuals can now register as Ovi Publishers

Individuals (i.e., people that are not part of a specific company or business) can now register as an Ovi publisher (https://publish.ovi.com/register/country_and_account_type) and easily distribute their apps worldwide through Ovi Store. Individuals will still have to pay the one-time 50 Euro registration fee, and they can submit apps that are written in Qt, Symbian, Java, Flash Lite or Web Runtime (WRT). Allowing individuals to publish their applications to Ovi Store is competitive to what Apple and Android allow today and helps to provide parity for Ovi Store.

Public beta of Nokia signing Symbian apps for free

The goal here is to lower the barrier to entry for developers by simplifying the tools and the process, as well as removing some of the cost associated with developing mobile apps for distribution in Ovi Store. For developers creating Symbian apps there are initial investment costs such as obtaining a Publisher ID and paying a third party to have their apps Symbian signed. Currently, this can take around four weeks, and impose expenses for the developer up to $215 (USD). With this public beta, we are exploring a developer workflow to reduce the time for developers to two weeks and bring the cost involved to $0 (USD). Eliminating the fee for signing Symbian apps makes our investment story for developing for Ovi Store competitive with Apple and Google.

Availability of Nokia Smart Installer for Symbian

Qt developers can use the new Nokia Qt SDK 1.0 to easily bundle the Nokia Smart Installer for Symbian SIS with their app SIS to reach millions of users with Nokia Symbian devices worldwide. When an end user downloads an app, the Nokia Smart Installer for Symbian will check for dependencies, and if any missing files or Qt libraries are detected the Nokia Smart Installer for Symbian will download them from Nokia servers.

Ovi Store intake for Qt apps

Finally, Qt developers can upload Qt Symbian apps targeting both the Nokia N97 mini and Nokia X6, as well as Qt Maemo apps for the Nokia N900 mobile computer. The Nokia N8 will be supported when it’s released later this year, and additional Nokia Symbian (5.0 and 3.1/3.2) devices will be supported in the future, allowing Qt developers to reach a growing market of Nokia users worldwide. Applications will be published to Ovi Store beginning next month.

A tale of two countries.

Published on June 20, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

This is an article for which I was interviewed a week ago by Russell Southwood of Balancing Act. The interview I had basically covered the state of Internet and mobile uptake in Kenya since the high speed undersea cables went live in East Africa last year. You can read the article here>

Nokia’s affordable C-Series mobile handsets.

Published on June 6, 2010 in Uncategorized. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

At a media conference held last week in Nairobi, Nokia unveiled its latest C-series mobile handsets. Three models in total we’re launched which included the Nokia C1 trio as well as the new dual-SIM Nokia C2. The most affordable of the Nokia C1 trio is the C1-00 which is the first Nokia to have a 2-in-1 double SIM solution.

Alex Lambeek, vice president at Nokia said that “by simply holding down a key, people are able to switch between SIM cards. This enables them to take advantage of reduced call rates, flexibility when traveling from one country to another, or helps with sharing a phone within a family and still use their own SIM. This is a great added convenience feature considering the low price of the phone.”

Nokia C1 owners will also benefit from a standby battery time of up to six weeks, the longest ever for a Nokia mobile phone, especially useful in those parts of the world where access to electricity is sometimes limited. The standard flashlight – often someone’s only means of bright light – is paired with a vivid color screen and FM radio with standard headphone jack, meaning the Nokia C1 is as much about entertainment as it is about convenience.

The Nokia C2 features a dual SIM with dual standby capability. Along with the many capabilities of the Nokia C1, the Nokia C2 can also keep both SIM cards active; meaning calls and text messages can come to either number while the phone is on. The first SIM card on the Nokia C2 sits underneath the battery and the second is ‘hot-swappable’, a feature unique to Nokia which means it can be removed and inserted when the phone is on.

Where available, the Nokia C2 also offers a wide range of information covering healthcare, agriculture, education and entertainment via Nokia’s Ovi Life Tools, as well as the email account for the developing world, Ovi Mail. In addition to Ovi Mail, people’s favorite consumer email and chat accounts can be pushed direct to the phone via Nokia Messaging. Listening to music is simple with the FM radio and music player, with a massive amount of music storage with the phone supporting micro-SD cards of up to 32GB.

The second and third devices in the Nokia C1 family (C1-01 and C1-02) are both single SIM products, and Nokia’s most affordable devices offering microSD compatibility, enabling people to store up to 32 GB of music, photography, or whatever other media suits them. Both new devices bring very individual designs and exciting colors, bright color screens, web browsing over GPRS and access to Nokia web services such as Nokia Messaging. In addition, owners of the Nokia C1 (C1-01) will also be able to take video and photographs using the built-in VGA camera.

The estimated retail prices of the new Nokia mobile phones, before taxes and subsidies, are:

  • Nokia C1 (C1-00)    EUR 30
  • Nokia C1 (C1-02)    EUR 35
  • Nokia C1 (C1-01)    EUR 39
  • Nokia C2 (C2-00)    EUR 45

The Nokia C1 (C1-00) is expected to ship in the third quarter of 2010, with the Nokia C1 (C1-01) in the early fourth quarter, and the Nokia C1 (C1-02) and Nokia C2 towards the end of the fourth quarter 2010.

Kenya ICT Board to offer grants for (local) digital content and software applications.

Published on June 2, 2010 in Uncategorized. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

According to the news today, the Kenya ICT Board has issued a call for proposals from Kenyan firms and software application developers for grants to support local content and software applications. The grants are being coordinated via the Kenya ICT Board for the Transparency and Communications Project (TCIP) which is funded by the International Development Association to the Government of Kenya. The TCIP has a total of US$ 114.4 Million of which the Kenya ICT Board will apply for US$ 4 Million for the grants towards local digital content development and software applications.

The grants have been broken into two distinct opportunities. The first is for the Government Information Portal at www.information.go.ke as well as other web and mobile services that provide Government Agencies and the General Public better access to content and information. Therefore, these grants will be focussed on specific content and information, innovative new content and applications and finally urban and rural community based applications.

The second set of grants are focussed on private sector content and applications that include SMS, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and E-Services. More specifically, this set of grants will support both individuals and firms that develop innovative communications and information applications that harness mobile and web-based technologies. The grants will cover the expenses for service and content development, as well as awareness building.

The grant amounts for both sets of grants will be US$ 50,000.00 for firms and US$ 10,000.00 for individuals. Each grant one awarded will be valid for a period of one year and grant initiation will commence no later than 2 months from the date of award.

The Kenya ICT Board will be taking written questions on grants and their application procedure between the 3rd June 2010 and the 24th June 2010 for which answers will be posted online on the Kenya ICT Board within 7 days of receipt. ALL questions have to be submitted via email to grants@ict.go.ke
In addition to questions being submitted, the Kenya ICT Board will be holding four grant pre-application workshops as follows:

  • Mombasa Polytechnic: Mombasa, 18th June 2010
  • Maseno University: Kisumu, 22nd June 2010
  • Moi University: Eldoret, 25th June 2010
  • Kenyatta International Conference Center (KICC): Nairobi, 29th June 2010

The grant application procedure will all be done online and full details as well as instructions can be downloaded from the Kenya ICT Board web site at www.ict.go.ke. In addition, prospective grant applicants can visit the Kenya ICT Board offices if required.

Zain Kenya to launch 3G in July 2010.

Published on June 2, 2010 in Uncategorized. 7 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

This is probably the biggest news in Kenya’s telecoms sector after Safaricom’s stunning financial results from last week. According to various online news sources, Zain Kenya is on track to secure a license for 3G services by July 2010. This comes on the back of an announcement from Zain Kenya’s CEO Rene Meza who says that the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) has agreed to (finally!) lower 3G license fees from the current astronomical US$ 25 Million to a significantly less expensive price. If this is indeed true then the CCK should be announcing the new 3G license rates sometime this week according to media reports.

Zain Kenya is currently Kenya’s second largest mobile network with around 2 million users. Currently, Zain only offers 2.5 G services and as such are unable to compete effectively with Safaricom’s 3G service. In addition, neither YU or Orange Kenya have 3G as well and we are yet to hear what their reactions will be to this latest announcement. One thing is certain, mobile data is fast becoming a linchpin for Safaricom’s superior business performance for both retail and business customer segments. It will be interesting to see if Zain Kenya can match or better Safaricom’s 3G pricing going forward as this has been quite expensive for most users to-date. Whatever the case, its been a long time coming but finally 3G will be more widespread in Kenya.

In light of Zain Kenya going 3G, and presumably the same will happen with YU and Orange Kenya in due course, what remains to be seen is how Safaricom will respond. Incidentally, Safaricom have already announced that they plan to start testing 4G services later this year on their network. At this juncture as it stands, the CCK has not yet published the new reduced 3G license pricing, leave alone 4G so Safaricom is clearly well ahead of the market. 4G is also known as Long-Term Evolution (LTE) and typically allows users to upload and download movies, music and data to their mobile devices far quicker than 3G or 2G.

Emirates launches mobile web site in Kenya.

Published on June 1, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Emirates customers, around the globe, now have the option of booking their flight from the palm of their hand - through their phone's mobile browser - giving them the freedom to book a getaway anytime, anywhere.

Last week Emirates, the leading global airline launched their mobile web site in Nairobi, Kenya. This new development obviously takes advantage of the fact that Kenya has close to 3 million mobile users who access the mobile web on a regular basis. As result, booking a flight with Emirates whilst on the move is now a reality, via the mobile web. The Emirates mobile web site has been designed to work with over 3000 mobile devices meaning that its highly accessible.

At launch, the Emirates mobile web site has an impressive range of services such as flight booking and management, mobile check-in, searching flight schedules and status and even checking the in-flight amenities available on a specific flight. Essa Sulaiman Ahmad, Emirates Regional Manager for East Africa stated “Consumers are far more mobile than ever before. There is a constant need for products and services to cater to the fast paced lifestyle that today’s individuals lead, people want it here and now, without exception.”

Emirates customers who want to use the mobile web site must have an internet enabled device to access Emirates.com. Once they log on to they will be automatically redirected to the mobile optimized version of the web site. It will be interesting to see how well the Emirates mobile web site and services perform in a highly advanced mobile market such as Kenya. What is certain is that this will raise the bar for other domestic and international airlines operating to, from and within Kenya.

Brandkey Marketing brings Eyeballs mobile advertising to Kenya.

Published on May 16, 2010 in Uncategorized. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

I had planned to write a post on Eyeballs, a mobile advertising application a week ago but felt it would be best if I did so after trying it out for myself. Eyeballs is an opt-in mobile advertising application that enables advertisers to reach existing and prospective customers though their mobile phone. Brandkey Marketing is the firm that recently launched Eyeballs in Kenya just over a week ago. At this time, Eyeballs works on the Symbian 60 operating system as well as Windows Mobile.

In order to download the application, one should point their mobile web browser to ke.eyeballs.mobi. Once downloaded and installed, you are able to register your phone as well as demographic data and interests of what kind of advertising you would like to see on your phone. I managed to do this on my Nokia e75 after a couple of tries and so far its working well. The data charges for downloading advertising on eyeballs are fairly minimal from what I can tell as I have not seen any major increase in my data usage or charges.

The way the mobile advertising works on the Eyeballs mobile application is that they are triggered when a call is made or received as well as when an SMS message is sent or received. This is really kind of clever since in all of these interactions you are fully engaged on your mobile phone, ensuring that you actually see the advertising. So far, the ads that are being served on Eyeballs in Kenya include brands such East African Breweries, Coca Cola, Kenya Airways which is impressive considering that they just launched.

The advertising on Eyeballs is not just limited to display-type ads but also includes interactive content such as voting/rating, click-to-call, forward-to-a-friend as well as wallpapers. In addition, content such as music, videos and games can also be downloaded via Eyeballs advertising making it possible to execute a myriad of interesting mobile marketing campaigns with strong incentives to download content.

However, my opinion is that eyeballs needs to expand its reach of mobile handsets to include other mobile operating systems apart from Symbian and Windows Mobile. This is a comment I already got from several people when I posted a link on Twitter sometime this week. However, Symbian is more or less the dominant mobile operating system in Kenya courtesy of Nokia’s market leadership for handsets. But, nevertheless, Eyeballs is a step in the right direction for mobile marketing in Kenya where there are over 18 million mobile users.

Safaricom and Strathmore University partner for Mobile Applications Academy.

Published on May 16, 2010 in Uncategorized. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Safaricom, Kenya’s largest mobile network and Strathmore University, one of Kenya’s leading private Universities have partnered for mobile applications training in Kenya via the “Safaricom Academy” initiative. According to Safaricom, the goal of the Safaricom Academy is to create employment through innovation and grow young talent through mobile application development that is relevant to Kenya.

The Safaricom Academy also aims to create the relevant competence in mobile applications development through partnership with existing educational institutions by enhancing their curriculum. The media announcement also emphasized that the Safaricom Academy will also act as a incubator for young application developers, enabling them to create and innovate. The main goals for the Safaricom Academy are:

  • Promote local innovation in developing relevant applications for the Kenyan market.
  • Create an enabling environment for the development of relevant mobile applications.
  • Attracting companies with applications to host them within the Safaricom Portal.

I have to admit that of all the goals the last one points to the fact that Safaricom is ultimately looking to build a mobile applications store within their Safaricom.com mobile portal that it would be able to monetize. This will possibly further strengthen their leadership as the only 3G mobile network in Kenya. In a nutshell, Safaricom is going as far as training the next generation of mobile application developers to “feed” its data business.

In addition, by rolling out the Safaricom Academy, it goes to show that Safaricom is investing in ensuring that more and more local content and mobile applications are available in the marketplace, going forward, via their mobile network. Its a smart move not just to own the pipes but also the content that goes through it (I hope the other mobile networks are paying attention to the implications of this initiative!).

The criteria for enrollment into the Safaricom Academy as published are as follows:

  • Be self-motivated and have a strong interest in mobile application development as a career.
  • Be a recent graduate for final year student in Degree/Diploma in information technology, computer science, electrical engineering, business information technology or equivalent course.
  • Should have attained an upper second/distinction or equivalent (final year students should have a cumulative grade leading to an upper second or equivalent).
  • Have experience in java programming and object-oriented design.
  • Have a good knowledge of a relational database management system (e.g. MySQL, MS SQL, Oracle or a similar DBMS) and experience in database design.
  • Be fully available to attend this course for its entire duration (5 weeks on full-time basis).
  • Experience handling SMS APIs will be an added vantage.

Candidates for the Safaricom Academy can apply for entry via Strathmore University’s web site at
http://www.strathmore.edu/mobile/register.php

YU’s Low Cost Data Bundles.

Published on May 1, 2010 in Uncategorized. 17 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

In a recent post, I had (inaccurately) said that Zain Kenya had launched some new low cost prepaid and postpaid data bundles. As it turned out, unknown to me at the time, Zain had actually launched the bundles late last year but they only really stared promoting them (aggressively) over the last week or so.

Therefore, on this post, rather than make the same mistake, I would just like to point out some “new” information that has come to my attention this week. YU which is Kenya’s third mobile network in terms of total subscribers has launched a range of low cost prepaid limited and unlimited use data bundles.

The rates are even lower than Zain Kenya’s, although, once again, they are only available on 2.5G speeds. In addition, the YU data modem costs are also lower than the competition at Kes. 1,799.00. The details on the bundles are as follows:

  • Unlimited Daily: Kes. 49.00
  • Unlimited Monthly: Kes. 999.00
  • 100 MB Data Bundle: Kes. 250.00
  • 250 MB Data Bundle: Kes. 500.00
  • 750 MB Data Bundle: Kes. 1,000.00
  • 3 GB Data Bundle: Kes. 2,000.00