Mobile Communications International December 2009
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Africa’s Cloudy Horizons
Africa is my destination this week. I’m on a mission that’s both personal and professional.
Officially, I’m here to work with clients, catch up with our growing regional team and speak at Informa’s inaugural Cloud Africa Summit.
Unofficially, I hope to prove myself wrong about the déjà vu that I feel about aspects of Africa’s ICT market.
The IMF just said that sub-Saharan Africa is beginning to stand on its own feet, pointing to its sustained and major progress since the millennium.
Facebook targeting mobile revenue with App Center launch
Facebook has announced that it will shortly launch its App Center, a new portal for its users to discover and rate smartphone apps.. Due to be launched “in the coming weeks”, the App Center will showcase iOS, Android and HTML5 apps. Facebook will use indicators such user rating and engagement to select the apps it feels are of the highest quality.
Safaricom threatens to pull out of LTE venture
Kenya’s Safaricom has said it will pull out of a joint venture to build an LTE network in the county if it is forced by its government to use the 2.6GHz frequency band. The company has pointed out that the 2.6GHz frequency band will make it be prohibitively expensive to build out an LTE network across the country, due to its limited range. Safaricom is instead seeking assurances that it will be able to use 700MHz, which requires far fewer base stations and has higher in building penetration capabilities.
Google’s Eric Schmidt wants “an Android in every pocket”
Google’s chairman Eric Schmidt has said that there will be an Android device in every pocket if the search and advertising company “gets it right”. Delivering a keynote speech at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Schmidt said that this would be accomplished through significant cost reductions, as this year’s US$400 phone would be next year’s US$100 phone. The aim he said was a US$70 smartphone as this was an inflection point where a new market of opportunity arose.
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