Apple’s Iphone & It’s Potential For Kenya
I was just talking to someone who bought the new Iphone and we were both going through it’s many applications and they are simply amazing. Everything you can do on a computer or a laptop, you can do on the iphone, but it’s even better because all those applications are this one device.
The most amazing application however was it’s music connector. For example, I could be sitting in a coffee shop listening to a song and if I want to purchase that song on itunes, all I have to do is point my iphone up (literally, up) and it will connect me to itunes, tell me what it is and I can purchase it! Steve Jobs, God bless that man’s soul. How do these wazungus do these things?
Anyway, during the course of this conversation, we both said what wonder the Iphone would do in a country like Kenya’s where computers and laptops are not that popular, but where mobile phone usage has exploded. I mean, are you kidding me? The only proble is that you can’t use an iphone in Kenya right now because none of the mobile phone providers have thought about signing deals with Apple. Hello? why not?
So, I think the Iphone is Kenya’s revolutionary future. It costs about between $100 and $200 dollars, which many Kenyans can afford. The monthly charge for using all those applications is about $112 dollars a month, again…quite a few Kenyans can afford that (because those mobile charges in Kenya are not that cheap. You can easily spend $100 dollars a month buying those freaking minutes) and with the iphone, you won’t have to spend extra money on a laptop since everything is right there (including paypal).
Okay. Tell me what you think. Do you see it’s potential here?
When you mentioned paypal,it caught my attention,because with the current trend of mpesa imagine what you can do with paypal.I think we need to lobby for paypal to allow kenyans to receive funds,since it would open up the closed gates of e-commerce in kenya.
Yes, paypal is one of the iphones great features, but also itunes. All those kenyan musicians can now put their songs on itunes and people can buy them from there and thats’ business for them.
Think of buying & selling stocks as well. There will come a time when someone will set up an online brokerage company where people will be able to buy & sell stocks on their mobiles without having to stand in line for 3 hours outside a brokers office and they’ll be a flat here for that service as opposed to what you have now with brokers taking almost 2%.
And other things as well, like paying bills online, booking hotel rooms online, buying goods from different parts of the country without having to travel there & paying for them with one click….
What other potential do you see here? There’s definitely something happening with this mobile phone technology in kenya. I mean, this is the future and it’s still virgin territory.
“How do these wazungus do these things?”
That comment almost put me off this article.
If you visit their research, you will find that it is people of all races working there – not just wazungus!
Apart from that, I agree with you on the genreal point that Kenyans should have a massive IT program. This would definitely help reduce unemployment.
KE,
I must agree with “Anonymous” a nice topic but kindly avoid anything that may sound like a racial slur!
Technology indeed comes with enough potential for Kenyans to tap in, already a good number of middle class Kenyans own Iphones.
Unfortunately at the moment Mobile Operators are yet to activate most services that come with Iphones.
The Operators site to some bureaucracy in getting the license to operate some services. Safaricom for example its reported to have paid approx 2billion Kenyan shillings to acquire its 3G license alone!
It is our sincere hope that people given the responsibility to govern or regulate the IT sector shall act with speed to issue necessary guidelines and/or licensing to the relevant companies to service the Mwananchi!
It has potential but the phone’s price should go down to make it affordable.
I don’t know why you people think it’s a racial slur. I”m just giving credit to wazungus who are the one’s developing all these amazing tools. Who do you think is developing all these things? Africans? I don’t know where these people acquired these brains. It’s astounding.
And everyone I know whose been to India or China has pretty much said that while they are good at doing the equations & other mundane tasks, the innovation is still coming from the west. Give these wazungus credit. Really.
Anyway, onto the substantive issues:
Arafathi:
Why does Safaricom have to wait for the government? maybe you can tell me what that process involves.
Chegepreneur:
Kenyans spend a lot of money on their phones. A cousin of mine had a $300 dollar phone & when she saw mine, she told me to “style up” and get something better. I think there’s a large group of Kenyans who can afford a $100 dollar phone, which is what you’d pay for the older version. The key question is how would someone like Safaricom work out a payment plan where people could pay for all those App’s.
KE,
Correction: Orange kenya signed a deal with apple and launched the Iphone ages ago (last year)
My thoughts have been on that same line and was anxiously waiting for Apple to to launch in kenya.
However I can assure you the prices have been prohibitive atleast for the majority kenyans who would benefit the most from mobile internet. Its cheaper to buy a netbook (19K acer mini)or 34K(compaq mini) and buy safaricom a prepaid modem without signing any restrictive and expensive contracts. You can get a nice second hand refurbished HP PC for only 15 in downtown Nairobi.
Now compare that to these prices
http://www.orange.co.ke/mobile/iphone.php (and please note the prices where higher when it launched, it has just come lower)
You get my point. Guys at Telkom Kenya totally failed to take advantage of the Iphone to perpetrate the market and expand their GSM network. If the Iphone was costing between $100-$200, I can assure you Iphone handsets would have bypassed Nokia handsets in Kenya in terms of sales.
But from a inside source in Telkom kenya who I talked to to find the logic of pricing it so high, the old stupid logic, that the iphone is so cool you can’t sell it cheaply (can’t sell a merc for a price of a toyota shit reasoning) and since they have the monopoly of selling apple in Kenya, they can price it highly. Well, so by around March this year they had only sold around 500 handsets only.
They got they targeting completely wrong, they should have targeted teenagers and young people but it seemed they wanted to target business people and top executives who I presume will be happy to maintain their blackberry and Nokia smart phones.
KE
My point is that the research labs of Apple and other western companies are thickly populated by people of all races – blacks, asians, caucasians etc.
And again, I understand Japan is the leader in innovation.
The West is a Dinosaur.
When was the last time you heard of innovation in Europe – the traditional home of the mzungu?????
I think your racial slur spoilt an otherwisely good article. secondly Steve Jobs is of Jewish origin and is therefore not a Mzungu LOL. He has been clever enough to realize that the best way to make the apple brand last is by opening up what developers call the application interface to anyone around the world to make these applications.
Most of this applications have been made by Asians(Indian Korean Chinese) and Americans.
There also some Kenyans who are making iphone and facebook applications, some even in Swahili.
See some Kenyan Apps
DEMOS
http://www.whive.com
http://apps.facebook.com/whive
Mobile: http://www.whive.mobi
Article: http://johnkaranja.com/2009/06.....l-network/
There is also a Kenyan guy who has built a Paypal for Kenya read about him here:
http://johnkaranja.com/2009/05.....t-gateway/
Between i saw an iPhone application that can drive the newest prototype nissan.
That is why the fibre optic thing coming to Kenya is about the greatest thing to happen to the country.
I knew it, that one of this days, we’re going to catch KE with his pants down…If all U think , is that Technology is a jungu’s affair ,What are your implication here..
Pleeze,
Just look at this Nigerian {american} broda “the unsung hero behind the internet”…and one of the internet pioneers. http://emeagwali.com/
And he solved one of the 7 hardest problems(scientifically=equation of modern times).
Gal , WE cant just let u to b soo, much brainwasheD! WAKE UP!! UP!
Noni:
So, what you are saying is that orange has the monopoly on selling the physical device (i.e. the iphone, but the cost is too high for most kenyans). How much are they selling the physical phone for?
My second question is why wouldn’t Apple sign with the largest mobile operator in kenya, which is Safaricom? why orange?
I looked at the link you provided and the charges are quite high (between $300 – $500 a month).
John:
That Tulipe product sounds very interesting. Do you have that guys’ email address? I’d like to get in touch with him.
So much going on with mobile technology in kenya. It’s astounding.
It appears that the key with the high speed internet cable line will come through the innovations in mobile technology applications.
However, the dilemma still remains and it will be how to use these applications to make money. This is the problem with many of these applications. How do you monetize them?
KE and ALL,
I read about all these new amazing technologies evolving in Kenya..am just curious..is it happenning elsewhere in the East African Region (Ethiopia,TZ,UG,Sudan,Rwanda etc)or is it just Kenya?
@ John Karanja
Steve Jobs Father ia an ARAB…a syrian to be precise
PLS get your facts right..
But STEVE JOBS is and thinks and acts and was brought up by WHITES..He would be No where had his father taken him to Syria
Why do you care about these other countries? Ethiopia? are you kidding?
Good article on iphone app’s where the developers are charging small fee’s for their use, thus monetizing their inventions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07.....038;st=cse
John:
Most Jews are mzungus from Eastern Europe and the Koreans tried to make the Iphone and couldn’t. Like I said, the real brain work is still coming from the west. It’s best to acknowledge it, give them credit and learn from them.
Hi KE
I think it is important to know whether our regional neighbours are developing such innovative apps. Earlier when I talked of the positive change that would come with the fibre cable some rubbished my enthusiasm. When I talked of our unique strengths in BPO some thought I was on koolaid and was just dreaming. It turns out they are the ones dreaming.
Regarding the innovation comment it is also another sign of ignorance which stunts development. Actually it’s more of a slavery and colonialism hangover. If you believe that because of someones colour he/she cannot be innovative in technology that is another sign of ignorance. Albert Einstein was a Jew. Some of the earliest inventions in mathematics were chinese and Arabic [remember Abacus?].
Anyway the point is the iPhone is a very unique phone. Actually LG claims Apple stole their design. Now LG is a South Korean company which together with Samsung are really shaping the mobile and electronics industry. Africans too can achieve the same success if they believe in themselves. The greatest danger to African innovation is cynicism from fellow Africans. The reason why our inventors dont get support is because Africans dont trust their fellow Africans. So we would rather buy a Paypal app from the west instead of a local app developed by one of us.
Now innovation is happening in many fields not just in physical technology but also in intellectual software, management, society and moral fields. If we give credit to wazungus we should also give credit to Kenyans in East Africa who are developing the apps and open source software. Kenyans love to hate themselves so they are willing to ignore innovation in Kenya but praise American innovation.
Having said that the iPhone regardless of it’s inventors can make a positive change in Africa. The apps can generate money for their creators by the download fees charged or the benefits that would accrue to their inventors via publicity or use. To see how it could change Africa see my blog post on http://jellyfishcoolman.wordpr.....ge-africa/
KE,
don’t dismiss my humble question like that..am still interested to know how well our neighbors doing…they could be our competition, won’t they?…AND as of ETHIOPIA..you seem to be behind news..I was naive about Abysynia as it’s called till i visited http://www.skyscrapercity.com…the World’s forum for development projects…and realized Ethiopia could surpass Kenya in a few years time..I think Sudan already has…check it out..
KE,
I think it’s okay to conclude that though KIBAKI helped Kenya’s economy grow up to rate of 7% annually during his first 5 years..i now realize maybe he gets credit more than he deserves…Other regional economies were growing at the same time even higher….Tanzania,Ethiopia,Sudan..all had higher rates and MALAWI had mind blowing 10% which is still attaining to date making her one of the fastest in the WORLD…So maybe it was a regional trend at the time and borrowing ur own words..i guess “A semi-criminal economy”…coudn’t sustain positive growth for long…we see it today.
Thanks for the clarification about Steve Jobs i think i confused him with Steve Wozniak who co-founded appe with him.
@KE i dont think Jews consider themselves white but i concede they are from the west. Nevertheless its a bit too broad to say that its whites doing all the inventing. Perhaps its more safer to say its westerners.
@DEE For Kibaki to have achieved a 7% growth rate in the political climate(Referendum and all) that was there at that time was quite remarkable. He laid a stragetic foundation for growth that resulted in an expansion of the Kenyan economy.
Dont forget Kenya’s economy is much larger than her neighbours and for it to grow at 7% is quite amazing without any oil or huge commodities. Countries like Malawi and Rwanda where growth is highest are basically starting from scratch. The fastest growing economy is Angola at 18% but this is largely being driven by Chinese.
Challanges remain however once we settle impunity and tribalism good things will come.
The government is on the right path with the Green Projects because that alone puts us at the international level.
@KE please send me your email so i can inform the Tulipe guy about you.
Is looking at skyscrappers a good indication of a countries wealth index?
Afterall, Ethiopia just had to pull out of an ill advised war with Somalia. They have another war-like problem in the Ogaden and don’t forget about the constant problem with Eritrea. Plus, they don’t speak English.
Do you really think their your competition?
i think the iphone has a lot of potential for kenya with its ever increasing number of innovative applications but the problem is the cost(they are being sold at prices much higher than $200 FYI) and the fact that people have not totally grasped the total benefits of being online even on the go. this is not only a problem in the older generation but also in the younger generation. in African universities most people think that the internet is only for watching porn and for reading LOCAL newspapers only. So someone like me who browses the net hours on end is seen as a time waster. the iphone has more potential than even the netbooks because you can even browse in in a matatu and when walking along. i have seen very few and i personally like to own one.(and blog all the time:)).
PS I REALLY DONT THINK PAYPAL WILL EVER BE FULLY OPERATIONAL IN AFRICA. apparently due to credit card fraud of something that lame
http://kenyantykoon.wordpress.com/
There’s a company in kenya making widgets(apps) for s60 handsets http://www.s60.com/life/s60phones/browseDevices.do which are common in kenya. They are providing a cheaper way to advertise, charging I think 50 cents per ad as compared to nation classifieds 310 per line. I’ll get the details of the company shortly.
Lost:
Just clicked on the link you provided above and it says the company is now closed.
I am going to hazard and guess that the reason why Apple didn’t sign with Safaricom is because of subcriber revenue sharing. Carriers sharing monthly subscriber revenues with handset makers was unheard of before Apple – and to date, I believe Apple is still the only company that gets any sub revenues.
Hi, am a South African intersted in trends in the Kenyan market. How big is SME market (numbers) and what is broadband penetration in this market?