DD
MM
YYYY

CATEGORIES

PAGES

DD
MM
YYYY

spot_img

CATEGORIES

PAGES

Home Blog Page 7864

Eqyptian Wael Ghonim Gets Book Deal for ‘Revolution 2.0’ – $2.5m

By
Tekedia Editors
-
0

LATimes reports that Google man that fertilized Egyptian revolution has signed a book deal.

 

Wael Ghonim, the former Google executive and Egyptian revolutionary, coined the phrase “revolution 2.0,” and now he’s got a deal to write a book with that name.

 

This is the press release from the publisher

 

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has acquired REVOLUTION 2.0 by Wael Ghonim, the inside story of the Egyptian revolution and the lessons of the Arab Spring, as told by the 30-year-old former Google executive who was one of the people that mobilized protesters through technology and social media. When Wael Ghonim created the “We Are All Khaled Saied” page on Facebook, nobody expected him as an anonymous leader to mobilize its members as a driving force in the removal of a 30-year dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak.

 

REVOLUTION 2.0 is the story of how the revolution came about with the power of social media and internet technology. Ghonim also tells an inspirational story of how anyone can be empowered to change the world starting from his belief that the “power of the people is stronger than the people in power.”

 

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publisher Bruce Nichols, who acquired and will edit the book said, “The implications of Wael’s story reach far beyond the Middle East, and even beyond politics. How Wael helped nurture a mass movement is one of the great stories of our time, with lessons for anyone who seeks to make change anywhere on earth using technology.”

 

Wael Ghonim has been named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people and is set to receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award this month on behalf of the Egyptian people. He will be on leave from Google as he creates a technology-inspired NGO for his charitable works to which proceeds from his book will be donated.

 

Ghonim will write the book in Arabic and is currently in final discussions with Arabic language publishers.

 

REVOLUTION 2.0 will be published on the anniversary of the uprising, Jan. 25, 2012. Inkwell Management served as agents.

 

The deal is worth $2.25m according to the author.

[Confirmed] Google Extends the Paid Reach of Android Market To Nigeria and Most African Nations

By
Tekedia Editors
-
0

Mobility broke the news today that one of its contributors was able to buy Android App with Nigeria bank issued naira denominated credit/debit card. They captured a user, Karmawa, who actually did make a purchase with evidence of completing the transaction. The really good part is that you can price the product in naira.

 

So, paid Android apps are within the reach of Android developers like our parent company, Fasmicro. They are having a meeting now on a change in strategy, considering that they plan to build a local app store on Android. Yet, that will still happen since not many Nigerians have access to credit cards or Google checkout that will be needed for the apps purchase.

 

Fasmicro will put the apps in the Android store as early as next week. And the apps store will be up within a week (the team has finally decided to remove 3 apps for the Google App Challenge).

 

Google is coming late on this game. But we are happy that it has arrived. As the market share is estimated to continue to increase, it will be unfair to keep Nigerian developers out of this domain. Blackberry and Nokia have been doing this for ages in Africa. In Kenya, especially, Ovi is pretty common.

 

This is the official press release from Google on this giant progress

 

Support for paid Android apps to consumers in 26 new African countries

 

12th May 2011 – Today Google announced that Android Market will increase consumer access and developer support for paid applications in several new countries. From today, consumers from 99 new countries – including 26 African countries – will be able to purchase apps from Android Market. This latest expansion of Android Market means more applications – including games, social, and productivity apps – for consumers and more selling opportunities for developers in more countries.

 

Over the next few days, the number of countries where Android users can purchase priced apps will increase to 131 including the addition of South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria. Consumers from these newly supported countries will have access to over 200,000 free and paid apps in Android Market, which they can access directly from their Android-powered device.

 

Android Market was launched to help developers distribute mobile applications on a level playing field, while enabling users to find and download apps which leverage the unique capabilities of the Android platform. Today, we’re pleased to announce the expansion of Android Market’s offerings in these additional countries to deliver more apps for more people.

 

A full list of countries can be found here: https://www.google.com/support/androidmarket/developer/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=138294

(Nigeria is in the list)

 

 

Yo! Is Mobile Money Version of Yahoo! – Ugandan Leading MM Aggregator

By
Tekedia Editors
-
0

We actually thought that this was a Yahoo! division. No, it is purely an Ugandan payment company. It plays in the domain of mobile money.

 

Yo! Payments is a mobile payments aggregation service. Yo! Payments enables businesses to conveniently receive payments from their customers via mobile money, as well as make mobile money payments to any  mobile money account holder.

 

Value Offered
• Convenient Handling of Large Number of Inbound Payments
• Convenient Handling of Large Number of Outbound Payments
• Secure Web-Based Access to Account
• Multiple Security Features Such as Sub- Accounts with Limited Access, Withdrawal

• Freely available API for Website / SMS integration

• Designed to interconnect Multiple Mobile Money Providers. Enables businesses to receive payments from multiple mobile money platforms through a uniform interface.
• Multi-Currency. Yo! Payments is built to function with multiple currencies, enabling businesses to receive payments from foreign customers.

 

Features
• Send and Receive Mobile Money
• Multi-Currency Support
• Internal Transfers
• API Integration
• Email Authorization for Withdrawals
• Sub-Accounts
• Withdrawal Limits
• Access Control and Audit Trail

Mobility and Telecoms: International Alliances and Deals – MM Report

By
Tekedia Editors
-
0

This is a fairly comprehensive deals in the telecoms and mobility industry in recent months.

 

Zimbabwe operator NetOne is deploying digital security fi rm Gemalto’s LinqUs solution for Mobile Money Transfer. The off er, being marketed as the OneWallet service, works on 100% of the handsets and will enable all NetOne subscribers to perform secure and convenient money transfer using their mobile phone. Subscribers can make secure and easy peer-to-peer money transfers, pay every-day bills and top up their prepaid phone cards. NetOne’s customers can have their salaries paid directly onto their phones – a feature that greatly empowers the unbanked with a secure and convenient digital wallet solution.

 

NetOne also intends to work with the Government of Zimbabwe and Pension Fund schemes to allow the OneWallet to be used for pension payments and thus remove the need for traveling long distances for purposes of collecting pension payments. Gemalto conducts Mobile Money events in countries such as Ghana.

 

Bangalore-based value-added services provider OnMobile has announced a partnership with Starfi sh Mobile, a leading content aggregator, to off er ring back tones (RBT) and interactive voice response (IVR) to mobile subscribers in Africa.

 

Under the agreement, Starfi sh Mobile’s content would be deployed on OnMobile’s RBT & IVR technology platform, enabling telecom operators in the African continent to off er innovative music services to their subscribers, the company said in a statement today.

 

Starfi sh Mobile International has operations in 21 countries in Africa, and has announced relationships with operators like Vodacom, MTN, Tigo, Zain (now Airtel Africa), Qtel, and Warid. It has partnerships with over 65 diff erent content suppliers, covering Text based Information on Demand, Wallpapers, Ring Tones, Games and Applications, and Video.

 

Starfi sh also has partnerships with the likes of the BBC and German media company Deutsche Welle. The OnMobile partnership allows Starfi sh to leverage its relationships with content partners and telecom operators to off er RBT and IVR services. In Africa, OnMobile has deployments in Tanzania and Egypt.
Deutsche Welle is now off ering a new text messaging (SMS) news service for its listeners and users in the Republic of Tanzania. The initial launch will focus on text-based services in Kiswahili covering news from Africa and around the world as well as sports-related services. In order to disseminate content to the widest possible audience, multiple language services and products will follow the fi rst phase of launch. Deutsche Welle’s Kiswahili service is among the most popular radio programs in

 

Tanzania. Around 70 percent of Tanzanians are familiar with Deutsche Welle and 33 percent are frequent listeners of the Kiswahili program. Deutsche Welle has appointed Starfi sh Mobile East Africa Limited as its technology provider in Tanzania, where the broadcaster will have the opportunity to deploy mobile services in the Kiswahili language to more than 19 million subscribers from the Vodacom, Tigo and Airtel mobile networks.
With a current audience reach of nearly 90 million around the globe, Deutsche Welle is aiming to widen its reach in countries like Tanzania, where Web penetration is low. By making news services available through mobile technology, subscribers will be able to access news updates. Deutsche Welle viewers and listeners also have the opportunity to view and listen to television and radio programming via mobile.

 

“To some extent, mobile phones have succeeded in an area where the Web has struggled,” according to Naser Shrouf, Deutsche Welle’s Head of Sales and Distribution Africa and Middle East. “Mobile communication has made it possible, both in aff ordability and accessibility, for people who are in the most remote areas to communicate not only with family, friends and colleagues, but also to be a ‘voice’ in current events by interacting in polling and comment activities via SMS,” according to Reshma Bharmal-Shariff , Managing Director of Starfi sh Mobile East Africa.

 

Alcatel-Lucent has its contract renewed with Etisalat Nigeria.

 

In other deals, Bangalore-headquartered Subex has been chosen for a $12 million licence contract by a mobile group operating in Europe and Africa to implement its Revenue Operations Center (ROC) platform for fraud management and revenue assurance. ROC fraud management is built to help CSPs (Communication Service Providers) move toward fraud prevention by eliminating known frauds, reducing freerun time, augmenting internal controls and continuous fraud management process improvement. ROC revenue assurance also assists an operator with its investigation, diagnosis and recovery of these revenues.

 

Sources: Tekedia,  Mobile Monday, ITU

 

 

Mobile Money Transaction Cost in Uganda – Up To 10%

By
Tekedia Editors
-
0

African regulators must step up and be ahead of the mobile money players. The transaction cost is really high. Some people that signed for Nigeria are already watching that cost.

 

The plot above obtained from Equity Bank Uganda shows that customers that engage in lower transactions can spend more than 10% on fees for mobile money. As the value of the transaction increases, the costs drop.

 

Nigerian authorities must stay ahead of these costs and not be reactive. We cannot afford a repeat of the golden days of MTN where they cleaned the people with fees. We also have to look at encouraging group transaction, if permissible,  as volume reduces  costs.

1...7,8637,8647,865...7,979Page 7,864 of 7,979

© Tekedia. All rights reserved.

Term & Privacy

© Tekedia. All rights reserved.

Term & Privacy