Technology doesn’t exist for its own sake, if it did, it would die a rather quick death from lack of adoption that would see it maintain relevance. Mobile has morphed into a lifestyle with many consumers not giving a second thought to the technology that powers it, not that they should anyway. But as it morphs into a lifestyle, it creates a new playground for interaction which many brands are yet to catch on, still basking in familiar old school methods of engagement.

The opportunity here is very real and would offer great benefits for the first mover.  Brands need to start developing and implementing mobile strategies if they are to engage their consumers on a personal level. The battle for mindshare and eventually consumer purses will be won by the brands that will offer truly compelling and personalized experiences. continue reading »

I stumbled on this cool advertising concept from an Australian agency… pretty cool concept, got the juices flowing thinking of an MFI project am about to embark on.

Zain Kenya has today lowered its calling charges across all networks by a whooping 50% – becoming the first mobile phone company in the country to pass to customers the benefit of the new low interconnect charges released by the Communication Commission of Kenya. The mobile phone company has lowered its callings charges to Kshs. 3 across all networks in Kenya for both its prepaid and postpaid customers in a move that abolishes completely the distinction between intra-network and cross-network calls costs.

SMS costs have also been lowered to Ksh. 1 across all networks in Kenya. In what is arguably the best value proposition ever launched in the Kenya telecommunications industry, Zain said the drastic reduction in calling charges would benefit its customers and those on other networks who are paying extremely high prices for making phone calls. With the lowering of the connectivity charges to a new low, Kenyans will now be in a position to switch mobile service providers while retaining their current numbers once the number portability directive comes into force. continue reading »

Over 15 million mobile phone subscribers in Kenya – over a third of the country’s population – will now be able to access email and online chat regardless of the make and model of their mobile phone. All standard phones with the ability to SMS are being transformed with the new Kipokezi service bringing low-cost email and chat within the reach of millions of Kenyans, improving communications with their friends and families,both at home and abroad.

We have seen  blistering growth in mobile phone subscriptions. From just over 125,000 in 2000, latest figures from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) show there are now more than 17 million Kenyans with a mobile phone subscription.

The new Kipokezi service will be available to Safaricom’s entire subscriber base and is provided by ForgetMeNot Africa, a specialist in unified messaging systems for
telecommunications operators. continue reading »

As appeared in the Business Daily on August 06 2010

We have been hit by the social networking bug, with companies complaining of lost productivity from their workers because of platforms such as Facebook which are considered the ultimate time sink. But what these “timesinks” have created is an ecosystem that can be leveraged to push products and services but we are yet to see any interesting initiatives that result in real-world returns for local companies or agencies.

One of the most visible aspects of this new ecosystem is the concept of virtual goods and upselling. continue reading »

I have something in the kitchen coming out real soon and i though it best to share a resource that will help zero in on what to look at when creating a sticky mobile product.
Four things…

1. Plan

- Find a niche, fill it well.
- Talk to people about their needs. They don’t necessarily match yours.
- Start with your idea for a product. Look at what problem it is trying to solve. Then look to other solutions that could solve it. Then, finally, pick the best idea. It might not be your original.
- Think multi-platform
- Think about shareable, and socially-contextual applications continue reading »

The team at Nokia is really committed at promoting local talent. At a previous event when they were announcing the results from the Nokia Innovation Competition, they were challenged to at least mention the some of the Kenyan developers who made it to the top 20. This they did and went a step further.

After looking through the top 20 list, they selected two young developers with whom they worked with to refine their service and even offered marketing support. AfroHot or Not and Wazzup were taken to market with good results. AfroHot has a user-base of 6,000 across East and Central Africa.

Word is…more cool stuff is coming from the various collaborations Nokia is spearheading with local developers. Watch this space.

more videos from the event here continue reading »

* The top 12 countries using Opera Mini in Africa are South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, Ghana, Sudan, Libya, Tanzania, Ivory Coast, Namibia, Mozambique and Mauritius.

* Some numbers: From June 2009 to June 2010, page views in the top 12 countries in Africa increased by 182%, unique users increased by 124%, and the amount of data transferred increased by 160%

* Growth rates in Africa: Sudan and Ghana lead the top 12 countries of the region in terms of page-view growth (4,645.6% and 916.5%, respectively). Sudan and Ghana also lead the top 12 countries of the region in growth of unique users (1,225.0% and 498.8%, respectively). Kenya leads the top 12 countries of the region in page views per user, with each user browsing 639 pages on average each month.

* Facebook, Google and YouTube all do well in Africa. Facebook is the top-ranked site in six of the twelve listed countries, and Google is ranked #1 in the remaining six countries.

* Nokia remains the most popular handset brand in Africa, followed by Sony Ericsson, Samsung, and LG.

Here is how Kenya stacks up. continue reading »