Archives For nokia

Smart phones are all the rage now. Increasingly consumers are upgrading their devices and subsequently getting introduced to more variety and utility. Marketers are however still playing catch-up as marketing budgets on mobile are still relatively small compared to other engagement channels. We cannot blame them though, as the spend per brand across board has reduced and there is a perpetual fight to defend the use of a particular channel, which often times is directly proportional to goods moved or service requests received.

The biggest issue that I see, is that the metrics that need to be measured are unknown and hence it is difficult to justify spend on mobile. In a differentiated market environment, not every action directed to the consumer needs to directly translate to movement of product. This is where mobile strategy comes in, with the creation of campaign objectives, determining what qualifies as campaign success, and identifying the tools to measure these results. Continue Reading…

This week the world descended in Davos Switzerland to take a swipe at the world’s most pressing issues  under the auspices of the World Economic Forum; which in the words of it founder  – Klaus Schwab  is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. The motto is equally ambitious, “committed to improving the state of the world”, which in this age is rife with variables that are much less predictable as they are controllable.

Technology is embedded in every facet of our lives, which we may not appreciate as we are still locked into the frame of mind that equates technology to computers or the internet. I consider technology best deployed when it adds value transparently, in the background and not drawing attention to itself. As a technology entrepreneur, what I have mentioned above always brings to the fore that technology cannot exist independently and this I have proven having interacted with numerous professionals and specialists from different fields in my day to day work. Continue Reading…

Mobile strategy for a business is not one of those things that you can cover extensively in one post, but I figured I could at least give you a primer on some of the things that you will need to think through when creating it.

With everyone jumping onto the mobile apps bandwagon, the decision makers will be forgiven for being clueless about where to begin or even what would provide best fit for their operations given that agencies are also not doing a good job of education.

Many are just getting to realize the impact of web and the mobile story may be a bit too heavy to digest. As the year comes to a close and we begin to strategize for the coming year for our business operations and looking at how to connect in more meaningful ways with our consumers, mobile needs to form a key component of digital strategy.

In the same way that the web ecosystem evolved, you may want to take baby steps to discover what mix works best for you as well as ease into the whole environment. This process includes looking to see if mobile is necessary in your customer experience and what assets are available for mobile consumption – think product information, alerts etc.

Perhaps the mobile strategy will be inward facing, looking to improve certain parts of your internal business. Strategy goes deeper than application and, mobisite deployments and has to link back to deliverables that impact your bottom-line in one way or another. Continue Reading…

I have the honor and pleasure to test devices for a number of handset manufacturers which means I have to keep backing up, transferring and syncing my data  often. When the manufacturer is the same, these processes are a breeze, but when they are different and you don’t want to be carrying 3 or 4 handsets with you, then it presents abit of a challenge.

So I have a spanking new Galaxy SII and I get down to the business of transferring contacts, content, notes etc from the sexy N8 {though the N9 that I got makes her look not too sexy} so as to take it for a spin. The Samsung Galaxy SII works with Kies, so I pull the latest version. On the Nokia end, I do the vcard export, so now I got all my 2k + contacts in one neat folder.

The problem now is that Kies cant do batch *.vcf imports so clearly…there’s no way I am doing it one by one. I could pull the *.vcf’s into outlook and try do a sync via mail, but Outlook has such old data that will conflict and bring another issue of sanitization.

Now, at Symbiotic we setup this phone backup service dubbed Tarazaki {open source code base} that I thought would sort me out {@iddsalim, ebu we polish this thing and release it again to the market, iko pesa }. So pull the old codius optimus and do the sync from the N8 to the Symbiotic cloud on Rackspace and Linode…contacts pulled like a dream. Next step was to sync the  Samsung Galaxy SII…zap contacts in. Am done…right? Heck no…On the Samsung I accidentally did a Sync with Gmail which totally messed the contacts list as it replaced some entries with blanks, so since I had Mutinda’s contacts on Gmail but without his cellphone number, my contact list which had his cellphone but no email got updated. So back to square one as I cant tell how many entries have been messed up.

Delete, delete, delete…back to square one. Continue Reading…

The tariff wars between the mobile operators was bound to have a resounding effect at some point in time, with the day of reckoning coming by way of Safaricom announcement of their half year results that saw a 47.4 percent dip in half year net profit to Ksh 4 billion. Traditional voice and messaging has in the past been majorly peer to peer and served as the cash cow for mobile  network operators. With consumers calling for lower tariffs on both these fronts, mobile network operators are having their work cut out for them, if the plum profits they have enjoyed in the past are to remain constant.

TNS Research International East Africa released a report last year dubbed  – Digital Life 2010  that looked into what Kenyans are doing online. That alongside other research can help in determining where to place effort and financing toward the creation of compelling new services for mobile network operators. What is important though is that this innovation need not come from within the operators but they should look to the growing local developer community.

My growth area forecasts are as follows.

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Nokia continues  to deliver high quality, stylish devices that provide the best access to social networks, the Internet and information, and offer the best overall experience and value proposition for the next billion mobile phone users. These consumers want access to innovations such as easy-to-use dual-SIM, local services and content, and third-party apps, all with a superior user experience for which Nokia mobile phones are known.

These devices comprise the new Asha family of Nokia mobile phones. Derived from Hindi – meaning ‘hope’ – Asha signifies Nokia’s focus on positive user experiences and connecting millions of people to new opportunities that help them reach their aspirations.

The Asha mobile phone family includes: Continue Reading…

With an aim to continuously improve its location-based offering, Nokia showcased the latest versions of Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive for Windows Phone. These and other map-related applications introduced at Nokia World aim to make Nokia Maps relevant for commuters and to find interesting places in the city where people live.

In addition to its world-class, free walk-and-drive navigation for more than 100 countries worldwide, the Nokia Public Transport application tracks public transportation directly on a mobile device in more than 430 cities worldwide, including up-to-the–minute updates on bus and train routes for 45 cities. Nokia also introduced Nokia Pulse, which allows location-tagged updates and photos to be sent privately, adding location to conversations with the people that matter most. Continue Reading…

First two smartphones based on Windows Phone introduce a range of new experiences designed to make everyday moments more amazing.
Nokia Lumia 800
The stunningly social Nokia Lumia 800 features head-turning design, vivid colors (cyan, magenta and black) and the best social and Internet performance, with one-touch social network access, easy grouping of contacts, integrated communication threads and Internet Explorer 9. It features a 3.7 inch AMOLED ClearBlack curved display blending seamlessly into the reduced body design, and a 1.4 GHz processor with hardware acceleration and a graphics processor. The Nokia Lumia 800 contains an instant-share camera experience based on leading Carl Zeiss optics, HD video playback, 16GB of internal user memory and 25GB of free SkyDrive storage for storing images and music. The estimated retail price for the Nokia Lumia 800 will be approximately 420 EUR, excluding taxes and subsidies.
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At Nokia World, the company’s annual event for customers, partners and developers, Nokia demonstrated clear progress on its strategy by unveiling a bold portfolio of innovative phones, services and accessories, including the first smartphones in its Windows Phone-based Nokia Lumia range. The stunningly social Nokia Lumia 800 brings content to life with head-turning design, Nokia’s best social and Internet experience, familiar Nokia elements, such as leading imaging capabilities and new signature experiences. The colorful and affordable Nokia Lumia 710 is a no-nonsense smartphone that brings the Lumia experience to more people around the world. Continue Reading…

How many times have we been part of discussions or listened to people talking about their constituencies and the disbursement of the funds?  More often than not, the conversations focus on the need to have a more transparent way of accounting Constituency Development Funds (CDF).  Nokia in partnership with the  National Taxpayers Association (NTA) came together  in order to create an application that would help Kenyans see how the CDF is being utilized. NTA is a national, independent, non-partisan organization focused on supporting good governance in Kenya through strengthening citizen-to-citizen accountability. If you’re one to keep up with what ’s happening in your constituency, the ongoing projects, or funds that you have used up to a certain period, then you need to download the CDFMonitor App from Ovi Store on your Nokia phone. Developed by Shimba Technologies, this app is the go-to source of information regarding your constituency at the touch of a button. Continue Reading…