In an attempt to move the Kenyan mobile users from cheap feature phones towards the smartphone market, Kenya’s leading mobile carrier, Safaricom, will stop selling the cheaper feature phones to pave way for smartphones.
A few days ago, Safaricom confirmed that feature pones do not make any business sense for the company and the company revealed that it was no longer going to subsidize them.
Safaricom’s Director-Corporate Affairs, Nzioka Waita said, “Safaricom is soon going to stop selling the cheap feature phones in all our retail outlets, as we try to skew the Kenyan market towards smartphones.” He also added that Safaricom understands the importance of feature phones in the local market and this shift is aimed at increasing the smartphone penetration rate in the country.
The move towards affordable smartphones is also aimed at increasing the market for local content as devices to support this content will be readily available.
Earlier this month, Safaricom announced that it will sell the Lumia 820 and 920 in its retail stores so we will have to wait and see what other devices the mobile giant will have in its stores.