By Nnamdi Odumody

Leading OEMs, ODMs and other ecosystem collaborators have integrated the Qualcomm Vision Intelligence Platforms to deliver powerful computing for edge and on-device camera processing and machine learning with exceptional thermal efficiency across a wide range of IOT (internet of things) applications.

According to Jeffrey Torrance, VP Business Development Qualcomm Technologies, by leveraging the power and security of their application processor technology, they are bringing platform solutions together with a broad base of customers and creating an ecosystem for connected intelligent cameras.

The Qualcomm Vision Intelligence Vision 300 and 400 platforms support AI and ML Functions such as tracking, identification and classification of people, objects, and sounds. It uses  the latest purpose built QS605 and QCS603 SoCs that are ideal for running machine learning and other edge computing use cases that require video processing and analytics support with real time stitching for simultaneous multi-video streams while running concurrent applications.

The Qualcomm® Vision Intelligence 400 Platform is purpose built to bring powerful visual computing and edge computing for machine learning to virtual reality and action camera applications.

The platform features Qualcomm Technologies’ first family of system-on-chips (SoCs) built specifically for IoT in an advanced 10-nanometer process and is engineered to support exceptional power and thermal efficiency. It also features Qualcomm Technologies’ most advanced image sensor processor (ISP) and digital signal processor (DSP) to date, along with cutting-edge CPU, GPU, camera processing software, connectivity and security.

The platform also integrates proven connectivity, superior audio and hardware based security to support the development of IOT devices with advanced security features.

The applications of this includes smart security cameras, sports cameras, smart watches, smart glasses, next generation smart phones, AR and VR headsets, robotics, inventory management, dashcams, smart cities, smart factories, smart transport, smart homes and smart logistics.

Nigeria and Africa focused OEMs like Transsion, makers of Tecno, Itel and Infinix, should collaborate with Qualcomm to integrate these solutions and develop intelligent products for the augmented customer of this era.

In October 2017, I wrote on “Apple’s Troubling Sainthood” as Apple and Qualcomm intensified their legal battles: “Apple thinks that Qualcomm is greedy by asking smartphone companies to pay a percentage of the product value as royalty for using its mobile chipsets. Apple had wanted a fixed price for the chipsets. By asking for a fixed price, it will be possible for Apple to buy a Qualcomm chipset at say $18 and create a luxury product it sells for $1,000. Qualcomm maintains that it wants a percentage and that means if Apple jacks up its price, Qualcomm makes more money since the percentage remains the same.”

I concluded that Apple was not overly fair: it wanted to buy a key component of $18 to power a product of $1,000 (the iPhone) when Qualcomm wanted a percentage of final value, not absolute fixed amount. Qualcomm had to do that because as a “monopoly”, it could not have raised price from that $18 to say $250 without running into regulatory troubles. So, the only option was percentage of final-value pricing.

In the semiconductor industry, what Qualcomm asked was new.  Usually, partners pay for fixed prices of components. The prices are usually discounted for bulk buyers. Apple buys many chips from Samsung and pays at fixed prices.

Apple did not like that: so, they wasted money on lawyers for years. Today, they have called a truce, and Apple will send money to Qualcomm. To make this exciting, Apple will be buying more chipsets from Qualcomm to explain the total victory of Qualcomm against the fashionista company.

The Promise of 5G

In human history, men have saved empires and kingdoms with one word: “Sorry”. Elevate it to “My apologies, Sir/Madam”, disputes melt. In ancestral Igbo, elders will remind you that “Ndo na-ala uwa azi” [Sorry mends grievances]. Learn to use ‘Sorry” or better “My apologies”.

Have you noticed how they entertain for free in Lagos motor parks? No one wants to say “Sorry” and fights begin because everyone feels big. In America, you pay to watch fights, as Wrestle Mania, but in Nigeria, it is copyright-free. Yet, most of those fights would have been prevented with simple ‘Sorry Sir”.

Try the power of “Sorry” or better “My Apologies” when tensions rise. They do not make you weak; it takes care of nonsense to focus energies on what really matters. In Ajengunle motor park, the place is so congested that when you raise your leg, by the time you want to return it to the ground, as you walk, someone would have likely occupied the space. You can argue with him or her, and quarrel will begin, or you can simply say “sorry” or “excuse me” and continue moving.

That Sorry will magically melt all the tensions; life moves on. Learn how to use and apply it.

NB: English does not really use “Sorry” the way we do in Nigeria. Yet, I will leave it that way; in Nigeria we understand the context no matter what England thinks.

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It’s for the brave to say such, and never for the weak. The problem sometimes begins when people come to expect it indiscriminately, without admitting malfeasance on their own part, it then leads to error in judgement; another catastrophe…

If you are wise, you know when to diffuse tension in order to move on to more important things.

Nigeria’s university regulator, National Universities Commission (NUC), is processing about 303 applications for private universities in the nation. Today, Nigeria has 43 federal, 48 state and 79 private universities. But note that ABU Zaria admits more than 30% of the combined 79 private schools on capacity. So, looking at the number of private universities may seem like they are many, but examining the access they enable, you will see the impacts have been marginal.

The National Universities Commission (NUC) said it is processing about 303 new applications for the establishment of private universities in Nigeria.

Nigeria currently has about 170 universities (43 federal universities, 48 state-owned universities, and 79 private universities).

The NUC chief, Abubakar Rasheed, said this in Abuja at a two-day summit on Nigerian private universities. The summit had the theme: “Private University Education Delivery In Nigeria; Challenges and Opportunities.”

My proposal is M&A (mergers and acquisitions) in the private university space to deepen capacity through the economies of scale. Sure, pure acquisition will not happen, because by law, private universities in Nigeria are charities making the institutions harder for direct acquisition. So, mergers will be the likely option.

Nigeria needs to look for expanding access over just awarding licenses where every local government area will have a university where about 200 students are admitted in a year. Today, all the private universities account for about 6% of the total capacity in the nation. One federal university, NOUN (National Open University of Nigeria), admits more in one year than what the private schools enroll in four years: “NOUN admits over 100,000 every year, has 450,000 students and is targeting 750,000 in the next few years”. We need access; we also need quality. Most times, scale helps to get both done. That is why NUC should explore looking at how these schools can combine!

The National Universities Commission (NUC) on Monday said the 75 private universities Nigeria account for less than six per cent of students’ population in the country’s university system.

The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Abubakar Rasheed, disclosed this at a retreat organised for Vice Chancellors of Nigerian universities in Abuja.

According to Daily Trust newspaper, the Executive Secretary said the number of students being admitted each year by the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) was more than what the 75 private universities enroll in four years.