The legal tussle, which followed the $10 billion JEDI contract awarded to Microsoft, instigated an unexpected decision by the Pentagon on Tuesday.

After several years of fighting and jockeying for position by the biggest cloud infrastructure companies in the world, the Pentagon finally pulled the plug on the controversial winner-take-all, $10 billion JEDI contract, leaving both Microsoft and Amazon out of the deal. TechCrunch has the story.

“With the shifting technology environment, it has become clear that the JEDI cloud contract, which has long been delayed, no longer meets the requirements to fill the DoD’s capability gaps,” a Pentagon spokesperson stated.

The contract procurement process began in 2018 with a call for RFPs for a $10 billion, decade-long contract to handle the cloud infrastructure strategy for The Pentagon. Pentagon spokesperson Heather Babb told TechCrunch why they were going with the. single-winner approach: “Single award is advantageous because, among other things, it improves security, improves data accessibility and simplifies the Department’s ability to adopt and use cloud services,” she said at the time.

From the start though, companies objected to the single-winner approach, believing that the Pentagon would be better served with a multi-vendor approach. Some companies, particularly Oracle, believed the procurement process was designed to favor Amazon.

In the end it came down to a pair of finalists — Amazon and Microsoft — and in the end Microsoft won. But Amazon believed that it had superior technology and only lost the deal because of direct interference by the previous president who had open disdain for then-CEO Jeff Bezos (who is also the owner of the Washington Post newspaper).

Amazon decided to fight the decision in court, and after months of delay, the Pentagon made the decision that it was time to move on. In a blog post, Microsoft took a swipe at Amazon for precipitating the delay.

“The 20 months since DoD selected Microsoft as its JEDI partner highlights issues that warrant the attention of policymakers: When one company can delay, for years, critical technology upgrades for those who defend our nation, the protest process needs reform. Amazon filed its protest in November 2019 and its case was expected to take at least another year to litigate and yield a decision, with potential appeals afterward,” Microsoft wrote in its blog post about the end of the deal.

But in a statement of its own, Amazon reiterated its belief that the process was not fairly executed. “We understand and agree with the DoD’s decision. Unfortunately, the contract award was not based on the merits of the proposals and instead was the result of outside influence that has no place in government procurement. Our commitment to supporting our nation’s military and ensuring that our warfighters and defense partners have access to the best technology at the best price is stronger than ever. We look forward to continuing to support the DoD’s modernization efforts and building solutions that help accomplish their critical missions,” a company spokesperson said.

It seems like a fitting end to a project that I felt was doomed from the beginning. From the moment the Pentagon announced this contract with the cutesy twist on the Star Wars name, the procurement process has taken more twists and turns than a TV soap.

In the beginning, there was a lot of sound and fury and it led to a lot of nothing. In the end, it’s a no victor no vanquished tale.

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Streaming service firms have continued to devise means to grab market shares as competition grows in the untapped African market.

To this end, Netflix, the global movie streaming firm, has introduced a Mobile plan across 43 countries in the sub-Saharan Africa region, including Nigeria. The Mobile plan is a 50-60% reduction in the price of the basic Netflix offering and is available to members in Nigeria from N1,200 per month alongside the other three Netflix plans; namely basic, standard, and premium.

Different people have different entertainment preferences. Some want Ultra HD and the ability to stream on four screens at once. Some only watch movies and shows on their phone. Adding a mobile plan gives consumers more choice no matter what their budget or requirements

Country Currency Mobile Price Basic Price Standard Price Premium Price

• Nigeria NGN 1,200 2,900 3,600 4,400
• Kenya KES 300 700 950 1,200
• South Africa ZAR 49 99 139 169
• Other SSA Countries USD 3.99 $7.99 $9.99 $11.99

Additionally, Netflix members can now watch titles that are partially downloaded through the Play Partial Download feature on Netflix.

Innovation Village reported that between the Nigerian and South African markets, there will be 475 million people using the mobile internet by 2025. Also, Netflix members within these countries already watch 2x more Netflix on their phones than the rest of the world, therefore in order to ensure a much more enjoyable user experience, Netflix has given its members the Mobile plan as well as eliminated the problem of prohibited access to titles that are not fully downloaded.

According to research done by the streaming platform, the African market is most popular for downloading titles which means that the launch of the Play Partial Download feature is apt for the market. This feature will enable members to save time because they no longer must wait more than 10 minutes for complete downloads before watching their favorite titles. Additionally, it would save cost because members across Africa, have pivoted to using offline viewing after cellular data prices have increased in markets.

Additionally, any member using the Mobile plan still has access to all available Netflix titles. With the Play Partial Download feature, Netflix allows members to watch their favorite titles, like Fatherhood or the next episode of Elite, even if it hasn’t been completely downloaded. Once you’ve regained a strong enough connection, the feature allows you to choose to finish the download and keep watching, avoiding those surprise notices that you’ve gone over your data limits.

According to Keela Robinson, VP of Product Innovation at Netflix, “We always want to make it easier for members to access their favorite series or movies regardless of language, device, connectivity, or location. So partial downloading is now available on Android phones and tablets.” In addition she stated, “We’ll begin testing on iOS in the coming months. That’s the download on Netflix’s latest improvement for now.”

To access this feature from the download menu on their mobile device or from the continue watching menu. If a member starts watching a title that has not finished downloading, they will be prompted to download the rest of that movie or episode in a series once they’re connected to Wi-Fi or cellular network.

Netflix is committed to ensuring that their best-in-class titles are available at the utmost convenience of their members. Through the Mobile Plan and features like the Partial Play Download, Netflix members can access their favorite titles at a lower cost and comfortably enjoy them with just 5-10% of the title being downloaded.