Archives For ovi store

Karanja Macharia, Nyanjiru Macharia and Kigen Kandie talk about the growth of Mobile Planet

January 12, 2012 — Leave a comment

Most technology start-ups die within the first five years. Sadly, many entrepreneurs fail to re-invent their ideas and end up being overtaken by time.

Mobile Planet Ltd, a local technology company has survived for 10 years. The entrepreneurs behind it, Karanja Macharia, Nyanjiru Macharia and Kigen Kandie say it has not been a smooth ride; they had to come up with new ideas every other day.

Mobile Planet is a licensed premium-rate services provider, delivering the now popular short-code SMS service in competitions, news, entertainment, chats and ring tones. For the last decade, they have been creating customized mobile solutions that mobile networks and corporate clients use to connect with the growing number of mobile users in Africa.

One thing that ails technology start-ups is the inability to transform great innovation ideas to profitable businesses. Before 2001, Karanja who is a Computer Science graduate had tried several other software ideas, all had died as soon as they were born. Continue Reading…

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CDF Monitor app now on the Ovi Store

July 11, 2011 — Leave a comment

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…

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Cashing in on organic search this festive season

December 20, 2010 — Leave a comment

The festive season brings many firsts, with consumers looking for different experiences; tired with the same old trips to the coast or some other familiar location. This leads them to look for new places to explore and more often than not they will end up online typing away in some search engine.

While bigger establishments in the service industry have some level of digital presence, it is unfortunate that niche or smaller players don’t consider a digital presence as part of their “findability” strategy. I shy away from using the term digital strategy as it instantly conjures up a complex maze of jargon and technical complexity that many business owners would much rather steer clear of. An example may help drive the point home as it does take a series of inputs to make yourself “findable”. Continue Reading…

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Nokia launches Ovi Life Tools in Africa’s largest mobile market : service available in English, Hausa and Pidgin English

November 2, 2010 — Leave a comment

I was wondering when Nokia would get round to this now that it had proved successful in India and China. At the recent IPO48 hackathon, the AkiraChix team also did something along the same lines and won a cool 1 million bob.

Nokia today announced that Ovi Life Tools, its leading emerging market information service, is now available in Nigeria – one of Africa’s fastest growing economies and the continent’s largest mobile market. The African launch follows hot on the heels of highly successful launches over the last year in Indonesia, India and China. Today, Ovi Life Tools has over 6.3 million users globally, and the introduction of this service in Africa further extends Nokia’s reach in emerging markets. Continue Reading…

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African developers shine in Calling All Innovators and Growth Economy Venture Challenge, Nokia having a ball

October 4, 2010 — Leave a comment

Ovi Store submissions nearly double and operator billing leading to significant growth in paid downloads.

Nokia today reported a sharp rise in downloads from Ovi Store across Africa thanks to the growing number of African developers creating apps, as well as the introduction of operator billing in several markets across the continent.

Data show an increase in Ovi Store usage by consumers and developers across Africa. Since July 1, key findings include:
•    Ovi Store downloads by consumers in Africa have grown by 50 percent
•    Developer registrations with Forum Nokia are up more than 60 percent
•    Ovi Store active users have grown by more than 20 percent
•    In South Africa, purchases from Ovi Store have grown 438 percent since operator billing was rolled out in June
•    Mobile payment, instant messaging and health-related apps have been especially popular with people across Africa Continue Reading…

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My government is so damn innovative….I wear their t-shirt . Why and how the government of Kenya…and any other government that cares about its citizenry should pay attention to mobile and social media

March 25, 2010 — 1 Comment

Now…everywhere you go, governments have access to and produce the huge amounts of information. That it is stored in different locations and different formats notwithstanding(sigh), the government of Kenya stands to benefit most from the adoption of mobile and online platforms to engage with its citizens.

In Korea for example, the government is planning to launch a mobile application store before the end of its second quarter. With the likes of Nokia – with Ovi, Safaricom – with Safaricom Live (which they did not get the .com for, which was subsequently taken by some chap), Apple – with the Appstore, Symbiotic – with KeleleMobile putting out their own tools and platforms, the government should smell the coffee and join the revolution.

There are a couple of reasons why this makes sense…three to be precise Continue Reading…

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