Archives For Shimba Technologies

The process of creating mobile applications {the bases to be covered}

July 21, 2011 — 1 Comment

Everyone is thinking mobile, just as everyone was thinking web a decade ago. Every brand, church, politician, government agency, you name it wants to have a piece of the pie. “I have a very simple idea for a mobile application, it should not take to much of your time or cost much”, sums up an increasing  way of understanding that the market has developed toward development of services on mobile.

Whether delivered via sms, mobile web or mobile application best practice requires that certain steps are followed, call it the application development lifecycle to ensure that the end product meets all requirements from functionality to aesthetics. 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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Developers start seeing green…and thats a good thing

June 30, 2011 — Leave a comment

The mobile ecosystem in Kenya has been growing at a tremendous rate, the most evident statistic is the sheer number of developers and creative’s seeking to make a living in the technology industry. Numerous events and initiatives have formed around this vertical and I believe it serve as a sure sign that we are not in a bubble as many – both within and without the tech arena would allude.

Mobile Monday is one such initiate whose Kenyan chapter was started just over 15 months ago. It is a global community of mobile industry visionaries, developers and influential’s fostering cooperation and cross-border business development through virtual and live networking events to share ideas, best practices and trends from global markets. The mandate of MoMo as it is popularly known is to encourage innovation within the mobile sector, facilitate networking between small and large companies, help local companies effectively participate in international initiatives through the import and export of visions, concepts, technologies, know-how and best practices, present innovative visions, trends, studies and forecasts from the mobile marketplace, facilitate and create partnerships and to contribute to the education of the broader public through its publications, online presence and media partnerships. Continue Reading…

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Who shall go the app-store way first? Safaricom, Zain, Orange or Yu…rubbing my hands with glee

May 28, 2010 — Leave a comment

As I think of how to best tell you what this means for developers and consumers as well as to let my excitement settle down to allow for objective thinking…someni. I had to rework this post after intel came my way right after I did the original one :-)

Its about time one of the operators took the local developers developers by their horns and said…lets see what you’ve got by opening up their own app store. While essentially not a world first :-)   this move is bound to be taken well by serious developers while the the not so serious ones will soon look for another angle to excuse their not monetizing the space.

What I am hoping for is that whoever does go first, will adopt better revenue share models than they currently have on their premium rate services on sms and IVR  and that they will offer subscription as a model as well. Case in point – for our stock market app, my customers can be billed on a monthly basis without the need to reengage them to say your monthly access fee is due. I am also hoping that they will not impose prohibitive access fees…for what its worth it should be free to access the store…only pay when you buy. Plus don’t kill us on the publisher fees as well :-)

Continue Reading…

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Mobile Web East Africa (feb3-4)…if you want to understand the mobile space in East Africa

January 21, 2010 — 1 Comment

All Amber (www.allamber.co.uk), a UK based conference company is leading an initiative focusing on the development of the Mobile Web in Africa by organizing a series of conferences on the topic.  The conferences seek to bring together all of the leading stakeholders in the mobile ecosystem to learn, network and share experiences with the aim that the potential of the mobile internet and mobile applications can be truly harnessed.

All Amber events  are innovative and progressive in their nature and utilize the very best venues, with finely tuned agendas and an interactive round-table format which sets them apart from the traditional rows of seats style and contributes to all the attendees enjoying a fantastic ‘on-the-day’ experience and significantly improved outputs and networking.

All Amber’s latest event is Mobile Web East Africa (www.mobileeastafrica.com) which is taking place in Nairobi, Kenya on 3rd & 4th February 2010, is generating a large amount of interest in the region, has already attracted a host of the leading individuals and organizations from around the continent to participate and is being officially hosted by the Kenya ICT Board

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