Good people,
Thank you for the help during the selection process for the cover of Africa’s Sankofa Innovation. That support has helped us to get traction with the book.
Now, I will need another support to help us select the best cover for a new book – Cybersecurity Africa: Policy, Management and Technology. This new book is due next month. You can comment below or email my team. (I personally like #1.)
Thanks
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The future of video-on-demand (VoD) market in Africa is beginning to evolve. iROKOtv was one of the pioneers of the digital VOD sector in the West African market. South Africa’s Naspers, Africa’s most capitalized business, with its brands lead the Southern African market through clusters of brands like MutiChoice, DStv, GoTV, etc. These African companies have stimulated the markets to get the attention of many international brands like Netflix.
The reason the VOD market is evident: Africa’s smartphone and mobile internet penetrations are improving. With the higher penetration, everyone wants to come in and competition goes up. DStv and Showmax are changing strategies to better position the brands to compete.
In addition to getting access to Showmax’s catalogue of more than 25 000 TV series episodes and movies via the DStv Explora decoder, DStv Premium customers will also be able to access Showmax via the DStv Now app on their mobile device, media player or smart TV or watch online via a PC or laptop….
The Showmax subscription gives customers access to two concurrent streams on different devices, so parents can watch their shows on the big screen while the kids watch cartoons on their tablet. Showmax also gives customers the option to download up to 25 TV shows and movies to their smartphone or tablet for viewing later. It’s perfect for long road trips and flights.
To make accessing Showmax hassle-free, a link will be added to the DStv Now app and the DStv Now website. Premium customers can use up to four mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets to access the DStv Now app.
The simple fact is this: with Netflix in the region, growth is going to become harder and every local VOD player must find a way to differentiate its offering. DStv and Showmax want to combine their contents to deliver more value and through that compete. Distribution is vital and DStv has it. Showmax localized model will ride on that. At the end, the two combos will have the capacities to hold their terrains in the age where Amazon Prime and Netflix are coming to Africa.
Africa’s VOD is growing and very dynamic. Unlike text, there is no requirement that one has to be educated to read the contents. So technically, video has the full African market for itself provided the videos are produced in the languages of the customers.
There are more than 180 VOD platforms with focus on Africa and black culture. The same report noted that only about 6% of African web traffic is video related. This means that growth still awaits.
Netflix is now in Africa, delivering services to most parts of the continent except perhaps Somali and Sudan where US government has trade restrictions for U.S. companies.
Naspers, Africa’s largest company, owns ShowMax which is huge. This innovative firm has also added Econet Kwese TV which is delivered via satellite.
iROKOtv is the undisputed leader in West Africa, delivering high quality local contents. When it launched in 2011, it was followed by Kenya’s Buni.tv in 2012. Later, South Africa’s Wabona and West Africa’s Afrostreamm backed by Y Combinator. Some of these companies have merged resulting to Restless Global, Trace Play, etc. Wabona has since shut down. There is also Ericsson Nuvu, South Africa’s Vidi and many other small players across the continent. Sure, most of those startups will fade. But that should not be the end of the story.
I am expecting Amazon Prime to join in coming months as the company works towards its global domination. As I noted few days ago, Amazon will come via its best product which is ecommerce and using that will expand to sell services like Alexa, Amazon Prime and the Amazon Web Services. They have the scale and capital and will surely compete vigorously. The future of this sector will largely be driven by capacity to create highly differentiated and exclusive contents which can be distributed at scale. The local ones may have to adapt as DStv and Showmax have done. Also, more of them may need to merge because scale matters. This is a market in motion and it will be all good for the customers.
Our dynamic Honourable Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu, has noted that the Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd. (NIGCOMSAT) would be commercialized in order to position it for relevance and growth. Mr. Minister is perfectly correct. NIGCOMSAT has failed Nigeria, and it is very shameful. Nigeria sent satellites to the space without a single strategy on what to do with them. That is why after years of operating satellites, through our international partners, we have failed to unlock the values to improve the lives of our citizens. That is typical Nigerian: buy the car first, before you even consider going for driving test. Yes, they wrote the plan to send the satellites to the space, but none to make use of the downward signals.
NIGCOMSAT, Nigeria (Source: Daily Trust)Mr. Adebayo Shittu, the Minister of Communications says Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd. (NIGCOMSAT) will be a competitive commercial service provider via commercialisation.
Shittu said this in a statement signed by Mr Henshaw Ogbubike, the Deputy Director, Press in the ministry on Monday in Abuja. …
The minister said that ever since the launch of NIGCOMSAT 1R in 2011, several efforts had been made to optimise the value of the satellite success.
He said that the recent initiative to introduce Direct-To-Home Television Broadband and Global Positioning Services was the first attempt to commercialise NIGCOMSAT 1R and appropriately position the company in global 86 [billion] dollars annual revenue industry.
But what the honourable minister plans to do may be too late for NIGCOMSAT unless the agency plans to launch new satellites. That will be a big mistake in this era of national austerity. The launched satellites are already old and are not optimized for most of the emerging opportunities today. Private satellite companies will do better than government, and that is the reason why government must sell NIGCOMSAT through a competitive bid. It is hopeless for government to continue to try. NIGCOMSAT mission is clear but it does not need to execute it for Nigeria,
NIGCOMSAT Ltd owns and operates the Nigerian Communications Satellite systems. The NigComSat-1R system is built to provide domestic and international satellite services via a 2 way satellite communications service across West, Central, South East Africa, Europe and Asia. Our main focus is to operate and manage the Nigerian Communications Satellites to provide on commercial basis, comprehensive transmission services via digital or analogue systems and to operate same by either fixed or mobile satellite, direct broadcast satellite services, end to end solutions and to engage in transponder leasing and such business for profit.
Beyond TV, broadband and GPS services, satellite could help Nigeria unlock value in the agriculture sector. However, it is not very clear if the resolution of NIGCOMSAT satellites can deliver some of the services required in the emerging fields. Satellites can help detect pests, drought, diseases and other major challenges farmers deal with daily. Also, satellite can help in data transmission between farms and data centers where the data will be processed for insights. Nigerian farmers need this support. However, NIGCOMSAT is not positioned to deliver it. Besides agriculture, there are also opportunities in the defense sector.
There is a huge opportunity in the global satellite business which is estimated at $86 billion. At the moment, Nigeria loses $2.2 billion yearly owing to low adoption of satellites, according to Daily Trust. By commercializing NIGCOMSAT, Nigeria will reap huge benefits from the nation’s investments. The privatization must be competitively done to avoid the NEPA tragedy where privatization has brought nothing but more darkness. The nation must sell to quality companies with capacities to operate downside satellite operations. The minister got it right, and we hope he executes the privatization efficiently.
Apple pivots into a fashion company, in the likes of Louis Vuitton, with the launch of iPhone X today. It costs $999, heavy on fashion elements, but hardly moves the technology trajectory. But that does not matter, because it is Apple. The world will cover it for free, and Apple will enjoy a great earned media. From CNN to NBC to Nigeria’s AIT, the message will be the same: there is a new product from Apple.
“We have great respect for these words and don’t use them lightly,” said Cook, adding the new phone would set the path for technology for the next decade.
The new iPhone X kills the home button to make space for a larger screen. It has an edge-to-edge display, glass on the front and back, wireless charging so you can leave wires at home, a surgical grade stainless steel band around the edges. It’s water and dust resistant.
The 5.8-inch OLED display isn’t just bigger, it also packs 458 pixels per inch. Apple calls it a Super Retina Display. It supports HDR, has a million-to-one contrast ration and improved color accuracy. …
The company also introduced a Face ID-enabled feature called Animoji, which serves up animated emoji that mimic your facial expressions. For example, you’ll be able to give your friends side-eye as a unicorn.
Apple deserves its moments. But when a phone costs $999, it is simply not a phone anyone. That is a paycheck to many people. Also, that will not matter because Apple has a strategy to deal with this pricing as I noted in a piece this morning.
In the coming months, we will all know how it works out for Apple. But no matter how you see this, Apple has entered a territory that may be the inflection point. This will either lead it to a more glorious future or could begin to open the opportunities for rivals, especially Huawei, to peel its fans (yes, the customers).
Fans pay for tickets and those tickets are never free. If you like a team and cannot pay to watch it, you are not a true fan. Apple fans will now have to pay $999 to become true believers. How many can go this path? We do not know. Apple has a record of making analysts look silly as it delivers great results. But this one may be different.
Apple needs data to compete against Amazon/Google in the new data war. When its phone is expensive, that is not a fine strategy to get that data. A premium product, differentiated by hardware and exclusively packaged by a proprietary software, is never going to be for the mass market. Is there a limit to this strategy? Apple will have to deal with these issues with this rising price:
I do think in coming months, Apple will return to the podium. It will introduce a cheaper phone for the emerging markets. This fashionista moment will come home.
Introduce a phone brand called Apple and make the price $350. Make the design of Apple (the phone brand) to be radically different so that you do not cannibalize the premium iPhone. By having these two brands, Apple can compete in both the upper and lower segments of the markets. We will have Apples in Nigeria while they will sell their iPhones in New York. This is similar to Toyota selling Lexus and Honda selling Acura.
Check out this iPhone manager to transfer photos, videos, songs, contacts, etc. from your old iPhone to iPhone X.
Bottomline: Last week, Amazon posted a new job description, titled “Business Development Manager – eCommerce/ West Africa”, but quickly took it down. Amazon wants to be in West Africa, using its best product, the ecommerce, as a landing platform to expand its empire, and have new data sources. Those empires include Echo/Alexa, Amazon Web Services, […]