4 key predictions from the Mobile World Congress | memeburn

4 key predictions from the Mobile World Congress | memeburn

Social Media and Social Reformation/Revolution

It was 4.00p.m in the afternoon on the 11^th of February.  I was in my hotel room at the Holiday Inn in Ghana, working on my laptop and waiting for the next business meeting which wasn’t due until another 30 minutes. Then a breaking news alert on the TV caught my attention. The CNN anchorman summarily said that Mubarak had stepped down after 18 days of protest by the Egyptian people. My next reaction was impulsive; I went to my Facebook page and made an entry of five words on my profile page: Breaking News. Mubarak steps down. I then searched frantically on Twitter and Facebook for more information about this event.

I sat back and paused to think “ Why Facebook? Why Twitter? Why was I suddenly interested in the events in Egypt? It dawned on me that I was now conscious of my environment because I could readily get information on Twitter and Facebook; on my phone; on the move. Kudos to Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg.

Who can imagine a world without Facebook and Twitter? It is estimated that Facebook has about 600 million users worldwide (Alexa.com ranking – 2^nd) while Twitter has 190 million users (Alexa.com ranking  - 9^th)

Access to information has never been easier. And this access to information has created a truly knowledgeable world. A world that can be changed by one person and a phone with access to Facebook or Twitter. Enter Wael Ghonim. Wael, a 30 year old father of two, is Google’s head of Marketing in the Middle East and a very important cyberactivist. He used Facebook to organize a revolution (see “The Facebook Freedom Fighter” by Mike Giglio - http://www.newsweek.com/2011/02/13/the-facebook-freedom-fighter.html)

Another Example is President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria in September 2010. He announced his candidacy for presidential elections on his Facebook page. It surprised me that his campaign team thought of even getting a Facebook page for him or even recognizing that Facebook was a veritable source for meeting with the people. Now he communicates regularly with Nigerians in Nigeria and Diaspora via his Facebook page; http://www.facebook.com/jonathangoodluck. He currently has about 479,607 fans.

Other notable National heads include President Barack Obama with over 18 million fans (http://www.facebook.com/barackobama?ref=ts); the prime Minister of the United Kingdom - David Cameron (http://www.facebook.com/DavidCameron)

The Social Media has been recognized as powerful tools to cause social reformation and/or revolution. The simple reason is that it avails the user the ability to express himself/herself without reservation. It can be easily used to start a revolution without holding a physical rally. Now a tree can really make a forest. So let the wise realize the power.

NCC signs agreement with seven companies for SIM registration for existing subscribers in Nigeria

Seven Companies have been selected to handle the SIM registration process for existing subscribers in Nigeria. This process is to last six months and it is being co-ordinated by KPMG. The Seven companies are CHAMS, SW Global, Private Networks Nigeria (PNN), Joint Komputer Kompany JKK, DATAGROUPIT, EAGLE/CBC and E-Kenneth/SageMetrics. 

CHAMS will cover Lagos State while SW Global will cover the South Eastern states of Anambra, Enugu, Abia, Ebonyi and Imo. PNN will cover North Central states including Abuja, Plateau, Benue, Niger, Kogi, Kwara and Nassarawa, while JKK will attend to Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ekiti and Ondo states.

DATAGROUPIT will cover Yobe, Borno, Gombe, Bauchi, Adamawa and Taraba. EAGLE/CBC will cover the North West states of Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Kano and Jigawa while E-Kenneth/SageMetrics will cover Cross River, Delta, Edo, Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Bayelsa states.

With this registration and the registration of new SIM cards by the mobile network operators, it is expected that this would enhance the quest for a genuine, robust identity register of most Nigerian citizens.

The "Inye" in the world of tablet PC in Nigeria - Tablet wars in Nigeria

Saheed Adepoju

I met Saheed Adepoju again at the recent Mobile Web West Africa conference held in Lagos, Nigeria. Saheed Adepoju is the co-founder of Encipher Group, the creators of the "Inye". He spoke passionately about the "Inye" for five minutes at the Open Mic session. He had quipped that the "Inye" was truly the first tablet in Nigeria; before the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Tab (which is being promoted with a 1 year free data contract from Etisalat Nigeria); the Apple Ipad; the Starcomms Mypad. I first met Saheed Adepoju when he joined Chamsswitch Limited while I was there as the CEO some months ago. I got him to talk about the "Inye". See below for the excerpts of the interview.

What is the "Inye" and its history?

INYE was born out of a need to have a hardware to test android based applications. At the time, smartphones being alot expensive we decided to find an OEM partner to aid with the development of a prototype. The prototype ran Android 1.6 and had 1GB Nand flash. Following that we changed some of the specifications to include a faster processor and more storage. We currently have in the market 4GB Nand flash storage and it runs Android 2.1.

How did you position the "Inye" with its competitors? e.g. segment, price, ruggedness

Initially we positioned it as another tablet PC to go against the current guys in the market but we were quick to realize that we required a decisive plan to separate us from the pack. Back in April 2010, this was a relatively new terrain so luckily following advice from various mentors, we settled on a localization plan. Hence our mission is to express and preserve our culture using technology.

Social media is a key growing trend within the Nigerian populace. Encipher INYE appeals to this segment of people who want to have their social experience mobile.

Another early segment we found back when we launched was the corporate end. The Android OS is a freely available operating system which also allows software developers to build solutions for other types of businesses.

I heard you were recently nominated for an award? What is it all about?

Yes. I was nominated for The Future awards Nigeria category for "Best use of Technology". Further information about The Future Awards can be found here: http://www.thefuturenigeria.com/the-future-project/whatistfn/

  

Are we expecting any other products from the stables of "The Encipher Group"?

 YES!!!!. We currently working on EncipherTV. EncipherTV is a combination of hardware and software services. Services will involve a video-on-demand portal which will provide relevant local content programming all delivered over the internet. We are currently talking with various organizations to aid in building contents which they can monetize from. As an example, we discussing with TechLoy who envisions doing a weekly talk show about the various trends within information technology in Nigeria. We are working on bundling this as a service for corporate organizations in Nigeria who want to learn what is going on in the ICT industry. The organizations purchase the EncipherTV setup box and pay a monthly premium access fee which is managed by Encipher. At the moment, the video of demand is online. This is powered by our Cloud Computing infrastructure courtesy of Amazon Web Services.

We also working on a second iteration of the INYE tablet dubbed "INYE-2". We will release subsequent information about this in due time.

Also we working on software services with our local content partner, ALT-I(African Languages Technology Initiative). We currently developing a HIV awareness application in Yoruba language which will aid in helping the rural populace in further understand the virus and means of prevention.

What is the future of the "The Encipher Group"?

We intend to truly preserve and express our culture using Technology. We intend to be a company which thinks locally thereby competing globally.

The "Encipher Group" is a privately owned company. Do you see it welcoming investors who want to be part of its success?

 We intend to welcome investors on an expansion plan. At the moment, we want to gain traction, build credible distribution channels, commence some of our plans and then speak to investors on serious expansion plans. We see our mission of preserving and expressing culture expanding to Africa as a whole.

What is your opinion about the future of technology in Nigeria?

Thanks to the recent innovation by the Telcos, Technology in Nigeria will experience a growth similar to that when the GSM licencees commenced operations. Alot of companies will start to spring up and innovation will start to kick in slowly thereby causing an explosion in the adoption of technology.

What do you think the Nigerian Government can do to support entrepreneurs like you?

The Nigerian Government owes the Entrepreneurs one thing: An incubation program. Even if stable electricity is still a far cry, a technology incubation program managed by international firms in partnership with local ones and the government will go a long way in allowing Entrepreneurs like myself a reason to keep their passion and love burning.

Many thanks for this opportunity.