"So? We are suppose to celebrate for that? They should have been manufactured here then." Our nation is currently incapable of large scale manufacturing to the desired scale...until the following conditions are met:- - CHEAP CONSTANT RELIABLE power supply (currently only nuclear power and a *COMPETENT KPLC* can do this ) - Initiation of education programs to foster a new generation of engineers - from an early age. - Hi speed - reliable - mass transport (e.g. bullet trains) to take the workforce to where they are most productive - 50% representation in parliament by scientists & engineers (very very remote possibility this...but still possible) After that we can start planning on the kind of industrialization that allows for mass manufacture locally _______________________________________________ *Good judgement comes from Experience.* *Most Experience comes from Bad Judgement * _______________________________________________ * * 2011/9/3 Maux <mauxdatabase@gmail.com>
Wow last time I checked Nokia has the widest range of phones of any manufacturer out there. I think the 100,101 are targeting a specific market niche that they have identified. I am sure they have an IDEOS killer in the works which will probably be based on Symbian Anna.
Don't forget they have tonnes of Kenyan apps in the ovi store...
On Sat, Sep 3, 2011 at 3:48 PM, John Doe <fivepings@gmail.com> wrote:
Lest my statements be taken out of context, let me add a few rejoiners here.
The argument as to whether 70% of kenya can afford smartphones or not or whether someone who's monthly budget is ksh4,000 will choose to allow his son to utilize 10% of it streaming porn or the latest Fally Ipupa video is one I choose not to go into today. Let's save it for another day, or better yet, let the facts speak for themselves.
I do not mean to say that people in the rural areas have no use for the internet, I mean to say there is little content on the net that is directly relevant for folks in rural Africa. Sure there are folks like Mwangi's old man and apps like mfarm and medkenya but these are the exception, not the rule. If saying this makes me patronising,then I am patronising.
Now, the heart of the matter is, Nokia looked at the facts and decided to launch 'cheap' dumb phones.= dumb strategy in my opinion, and going back to my earlier comparison with google, google looked at the facts and decided to partner with the local organisations to improve access to affordable internet and develop relevant content. Their business case being that once these unreached people come online, the payoff will be worth the investment, = smart strategy in my opinion. Now expecting Nokia to do the same just because we happen to live in Africa is naive in my opinion. Almost like subconciously expecting some sort of affirmative action. After all, we have so many options in the market now. Nokia is here to make money, so is google and any other company for that matter. How they choose to do it is what makes some companies great and some not so great.
On Sat, Sep 3, 2011 at 1:35 PM, Mark Mwangi <mwangy@gmail.com> wrote:
I find it quite condescending and patronizing to assume a forty year old farmer who has not used a smartphone before has no possible use for it.
My old man uses a GPS phone to calculate rough acreage of a Shamba he has been Contracted to farm or bale hay or whatever. He cares not if it is running android or symbian but it solves a real problem. He had issues with losing contacts or running out of space to store numbers. Now they back up online. How it happens is irrelevant to him, but he is happier and more productive as a result.
Twinsims are not new tech but it is possible it is true they were refining their tech to serve rural folk. The problem is the sweeping statements of Kenyans being dirt poor and Nokia being the saviour it is has swooped in to save the situation.
That being said am sure they have done their research and know exactly what they are doing.
On 9/3/11, Rad! <conradakunga@gmail.com> wrote:
Folks, not everyone surfs facebook and uses twitter and reads blogs on their phones! Disabuse yourselves of the notion that the usage of mobile telephony in the yuppie generation is representative of the masses!
Go up country and find out what folks there are using their phones for. Calls. SMS. MPesa.
This is a HUGE market with unique needs.
In fact if i were Nokia i would stop fooling around with half baked smartphones and concentrate entirely on this sector.
-- Regards,
Mark Mwangi
http://mwangy.posterous.com _______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------ Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke
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