Author: Kaluka wanjala

20 East African entrepreneurs have graduated from the Insiders4Good programme after completing a six-month training programme. The Fellowship, which was launched by Microsoft in partnership with a network of local experts, including the Kijiji – a hub for social business, aimed to identify high-potential entrepreneurs and help them turn their outstanding social business ideas into reality. Bambo Sofola, Microsoft Director of Software Engineering at Microsoft, reflected that after an insightful and rewarding experience supporting entrepreneurs from Nigeria in 2016, it only made sense to open the programme up to East African entrepreneurs with promise. “It has been an absolute pleasure…

Back in 2017, Google introduced a couple of apps that targeted users with low end smartphones. These apps include Google Assistant Go, YouTube Go and Files Go just to name a few. The apps have been available in most developing markets including Kenya since them as most users in such markets cannot afford high performing devices. Google isn’t done with this as the company has just introduced Gmail Go for users with low end devices. Low end smartphones here refer to devices with 1GB of RAM or less. Gmail Go is available from the Play Store but not all users…

HMD Global started the year on a high note with the unveiling of the Nokia 6, the 2018 edition. This is an upgrade to the 2017 model and is not the only device the company plans to unveil this quarter. We are also expecting to see the Nokia 1 and even the Nokia 7+. We had the Nokia 7 on the market for some time and now we also know that the Nokia 1 and the Nokia 7+ are in production. The Nokia 1 will be a budget-friendly device that will join the Nokia 2 that was unveiled towards the…

A couple of days back, Safaricom introduced its latest product, SONGA. This is a music streaming application that the company hopes will be the top music streaming application in Africa. Given that this is a new product, I was excited to see what it has to offer and if it is worth the hype. Below are some of the things I found out about this app. Available on Android Only (at least for Now) At the moment, SONGA is available on Android only. The company says that an iOS version is on the way but no exact date had been…

Google is not very open with the exact numbers when it comes to the total Pixel smartphones it sells. The best the company has said is that shipments doubled in 2017 compared to 2016. Even though Google is being secretive, IDC, a top market research company, says that over 3.9 million Google Pixel phones were shipped in 2017. Francisco Jeronimo who is IDC’s Research Director released the actual number that are at par with Google’s own report that revealed the company doubled shipments in 2017. This is a big number but is still tiny compared to other established brands such…

Music streaming is not that big of a business in Kenya (or most developing countries) as it is in the west. Over here, if not through radio, most people illegally get access to new music and they may not even be aware of that. This hurts the artistes who may not make money off their music. For Safaricom, this may just be the perfect opportunity to launch the new music streaming app it calls SONGA. The app was officially unveiled yesterday and is currently available on Android. In addition to music streaming, the app will also let artistes sell their…

Samsung Electronics has moved to cement its market leadership as the number one brand in the smartphone market share globally by launching an e-warranty campaign driving its two year warranty on mobile handsets. The Samsung E-Warranty Campaign gives consumers the chance to verify the device’s warranty period, which is two years, the longest warranty period offered in the market. Patricia King’ori, Head of Marketing and Citizenship at Samsung Electronics East Africa said consumers will be required to send a text message to 22585 with the device’s IMEI number, and will receive a message giving the status of the mobile device.…

Late last week, Android Oreo update started seeding to some Galaxy S8 users in Germany. This was the first phase and as I said last week, I expect more users to get the update in the coming weeks. Samsung has finally expanded availability of this particular update to three more countries that include Poland, India and France. These are not that many countries but it’s a good start and hopefully we will be seeing it to more S8 users in more countries before the end of the month. The update is about 487MB in size and is available for both…

Samsung has started pushing out Android 8.0 Oreo update to some Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ users. The update is rolling out to the devices whose version is SM-G955XXU1CRAP and has been spotted by users in Germany. At the moment, the update is rolling out to those who had signed up for the beta program and may take sometime to reach those who are not part of this program. At the same time, I expect the update to roll out to users in other countries within the next couple of weeks and you should expect a notification very soon. How…

The United States International University – Africa, in collaboration with Microsoft’s 4Afrika Initiative, has today launched Kenya’s first AppFactory at the Incubation and Innovation Center (I2C) in Nairobi. The I2C AppFactory shall address the competency gap between ICT graduates and employment, by equipping students with high-level skills in designing, developing, implementing and managing modern software solutions. The initiative will provide an experiential way of learning, encouraging students to develop new skills, attitudes and ways of thinking. In addition, it will provide access to first-grade jobs through the Microsoft Partner Network, increasing the employability of USIU-Africa students and unemployed graduates from…