Author: Kaluka wanjala

2015 was a very good year for smartphone manufacturers according to the IDC. The company reports that over 1.43 billion smartphones were shipped globally last year and this represents an increase of slightly over 10% compared to the previous year (2014). Keep in mind that this represents the number of smartphones shipped and not sold, that number might be slightly lower than this. The last quarter of 2015 was particularly impressive as over 399 million smartphones were shipped during the three-month period. This represents an increase of 5.7% compared to the same period in 2014. Samsung is Leading During the…

Two days ago, Nailab held its first ever VC carousel that will see to the creation of a direct link for startups to investors. The first of its kind among local incubators and accelerators, the carousel saw entrepreneurs who have gone through the Nailab incubation program, from season 3 through to season 6 and are investor ready, pitch and engage with early stage and growth investors. The 3-hour session, which took on a pitching and one on one engagement structure, saw Kejahunt (Sn3), Kuhustle (Sn4), Lipaplus (Sn5), Mobu and Betsafi (both Sn6) put to task by the investors on the…

Sometime last year, Facebook announced that it will be introducing a like button alternative called Facebook reactions. This new feature will bring six emoji for angry, sad, wow, haha, yay and love making them much more useful as currently users can only use the like button which is not appropriate for all occasions. Read More: Facebook: No More Dislike Button? When Facebook announced this new feature, it was only available in select markets in Spain, Ireland, Chile, Philippines, Portugal and Colombia. The company was just testing this feature in these countries so it was not available to everyone. It seems…

We all know that Facebook is the king when it comes to social media. The platform has steadily attracted new users to its site even as competition in the field gets tougher. To show big Facebook and some of its companies are, Mark Zuckerberg has shared some statistics about the different platform he has direct control over. He shared that Facebook had over 1.59 billion monthly active users by the end of last year (2015). Out of all these users, over 1.04 billion of them use Facebook on a daily basis, are you part of the number? I know I…

Ogilvy One, Kenya’s top Digital Marketing agency predicts that 2016 will be the year that mobile technology will dominate innovations and unique offerings in various sectors including banking, education and health. “Trends keep changing and in the digital business, making a prediction seems a little too ‘stable’ for us, but these are the top 10 trends we should look out for in 2016”, says Ogilvy One’s Managing Director Vikas Parihar. The year of Mobile Gone are the days when we focused on desktops. In 2016, mobile will takeover in a larger way than we have previously known. Mobile ads will…

Back in 2013 when Nokia was still active in the smartphone market, the company unveiled the Lumia 520. This went ahead to be the most popular Windows Phone device and sales went through the roof. The device sold well even here in Kenya and at one time it was among the top three smartphones in terms of sales. Fast forward to 2016 and the Lumia 520 is still very popular even though it has been replaced by newer devices in the Lumia 500 series. The latest information comes from AdDuplex and breaks down Windows Phone popularity on device per device…

Lenovo has just launched its latest smartphone, the Vibe X3, smartphone in India. This is the first smartphone from the company this year and will be available as from tomorrow for $293 (approximately Ksh 30,000). The Lenovo Vibe X3 is a mid-range device with a powerful audio unit. It has stereo speakers on the front which offer Dolby Atmos effect. The audio quality through the headphone jack is also is also great since it is handled by a premium 32-bit ESS Sabre 9018C2M DAC with 3x op-amp for music. Some other specs the Lenovo Vibe X3 comes with include a…

Xiaomi is currently working on a new smartphone that is set to see the light of day next month on February 24. This smartphone will be the Xiaomi Mi 5 and when launched will be the company’s second smartphone of the year. Considering that the year is still young, you have to be impressed with what Xiaomi is doing. The launch of the Xiaomi Mi 5 on February 24 has been confirmed by Global VP Hugo Barra and India Head Manu Kumar Jain. With the confirmation from the two, this is a done deal. Neither of them revealed what we…

Netflix announced its global expansion a few weeks ago and as expected, many people (in markets previously not available) were happy with this. What most people didn’t (and still don’t) is that not all content available in Netflix US will be available in Kenya. The best way to get this content is by using proxies. This is how most people have accessed the streaming site for years but the company announced that it will be blocking proxies going forward. Read More: Netflix Plans to Block VPN and Proxy Users If you still haven’t subscribed to use Netflix, you have a…

The use of M-Pesa in Kenya has grown and will continue growing as people use it as the preferred option for both personal and business use. Safaricom has always provided M-Pesa statements to those who request it but this was mainly done in print form. The company wants to do away with this going forward. In a statement, Safaricom’s Director – Financial Services Betty Mwangi said, “Every month an average of 30,000 customers’ visit our Retail Centers specifically seeking to receive printed M-PESA statements, as a prerequisite to accessing credit from financial institutions or for business reconciliation purposes.” The company…