Image Courtesy, mynokiablog

Nokia has unveiled the Nokia Asha 501 – the 1^st device to run on the new Asha platform, designed to make the experience faster and more responsive and also to helps devs. push their applications and monetize them on the Nokia store.

Standout design, innovative user interface – The Nokia Asha 501, available in 6 colours, makes higher-end design and quality accessible to more people. It comes in just two parts: a durable, removable casing and the scratch-resistant glass display, which features a 3inch, capacitive touchscreen and a single ‘back’ button. It weighs 98 grams. The device offers a simple swipe to access everything on 2 main screens-

Home – a traditional, icon-based view for launching individual apps or accessing a specific feature, like the dialler or phone settings

Fastlane – inspired by how people really use their phone i.e. recently accessed contacts, social ne Read more »

Africa is estimated at currently having a smartphone penetration of between 17 – 19%. Data analysts (and other well placed tech enthusiasts) *cough cough* have projected a growth by about double (to between 40 – 42%) by 2018. Analysts say Africa will hit the 1 Billion smartphone subscriber digit by end of 2015.

Kenya currently has 4 main mobile operators namely Safaricom, Airtel, Yu and Orange. Safaricom, currently the leader of this pack, had announced that it will stop selling feature phones in favour of affordable smartphones as part of its offering to its customers.

During February’s Mobile Web East Africa (MWEA 2013) conference in Nairobi, Nzioka Waita, Corporate Affairs Director at Safaricom, mentioned expressly that Safaricom is soon going to stop selling low price point (read cheap) feature phones in all retail outlets. Safaricom will start to introduce and sel Read more »

Mobile Web East Africa 2013, the third East African edition of the most progressive and interactive mobile industry events in Sub-Saharan Africa, returns to the Southern Sun Mayfair Nairobi, Kenya on February 19th through 21st. The highly business-focused event’s primary goal is to facilitate the growth of the mobile ecosystem in the region through interaction and relationship building.

The conference features a bevy of top-notch speakers from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Nigeria, Qatar, Canada, the UK and the US. Industry leaders from organisations including Safaricom, iHub Research, DHL, iROKO Partners, Buni TV, FrontlineSMS, BuzzCity, BlackBerry and Airtel have already confirmed their attendance at this senior-level and progressive conference.

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In the last ten years or so, the telecom sector in India has seen a tremendous increase in the number of subscribers. Due to many handset and mobile service providers competing for this large market, the wireless telephone subscriber base has shot up. India is now the second largest consumer in the worldwide telecom market, China being the first.

With this steep rise of users with access to at least basic mobile telephones, comes in the possibility of The Mobile Payment Gateway. Once a very farfetched notion to have the mobile phone act as a wallet, has now become possible with the advent of several mobile service providers offering this feature to their customers at very affordable prices.

A recent entrant to this market is Airtel M Commerce Services Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of BhartiAirtel. Their new service,

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airtel Africa, Standard Chartered Bank and MasterCard Worldwide today announced the launch of the world’s first virtual card that operates off a wallet residing on a mobile phone. This innovative payment method known as airtel 1time Shopping Card will offer communities the opportunity for greater participation in the financial system as they realize the substantial benefits of mobile commerce. This single use shopping card will soon be available in Kenya and rolled out to markets across Africa, subject to regulatory approvals.

The mobile technology platform and airtel’s vast consumer penetration combined with the financial structure and regulatory framework provided by Standard Chartered Bank and the global acceptance of MasterCard will ensure that consumers will be able to transact in a reliable, convenient and secure environment. Read more »