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Transfer Charges Could Erode Value of Cash Remittance – What mPayment Must Provide

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We are very curious here, will government be allowing Nigerian mpayment companies to be making international cash remittances? We mean if paga, mpesa, and others could be allowed to play in the league of Western Union and MoneyGram.

 

We know that a big chunk of money could be lost via transaction cost. Western Union makes a great deal of this in two ways – the fees and then the foreign currency exchange float which always favor them. In some cases, you lose 10-20% just for sending cash to your family and business.

 

How will Nigerian government help customers in this area? Any insight will be appreciated. We have tried to understand the fees structure of these mpayment companies  with no luck.

 

We are proposing for government to allow these companies to compete with Western Union so that fees will go down. If someone in Germany can wire money to someone in Nigeria via cellphone, that means the world has gotten one big fee sucking Western Union cut-out. And we will want the central bank to build alliances to enable interoperability at the global scale.

 

Paypal should be brought into the game so that someone in London can send money to another person in Enugu just through Paypal and mpayment linked. Your email and phone connected! The one of 100 Time Persons of the Year CBN governor has the reputation to get all these acts done, now.

 

By having these more avenues, we will eliminate the risk of informal money transaction which could be cheap but very risky. And reduce the fees wasted via Western Union.

 

Android Worldwide S’Phone Market Share Improves to 35%, Global S’Phone Grew 83%

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This is from Canalys press release.

 

Canalys this week released its worldwide country-level smart phone market data for Q1 2011, revealing that Android led the market for the second quarter running, and, with 35.7 million units shipped, increased its share to 35%. At the same time, Canalys confirmed that Asia Pacific (APAC) became the largest smart phone market region, with year-on-year growth of 98% to 37.3 million units, putting it ahead of Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) for the first time since Q3 2007. On a country basis, mainland China, South Korea and India delivered strong volumes and registered triple-digit growth.

 

Overall, worldwide smart phone shipments grew 83% to 101.0 million units. Though its market share shrank from 39% a year ago to 24% in Q1 2011, Nokia held onto its worldwide leadership position with 24.2 million units shipped – a 13% year-on-year rise – despite the current realignment of its platform strategy, staying ahead of RIM in EMEA and Apple in APAC. APAC became the largest region for Nokia, accounting for 53% of its overall shipments, overtaking EMEA by more than 3 million units.

 

 

Nokia, Apple, RIM, Samsung and HTC were the top five global smart phone vendors, as in Q4 2010. Apple continued to make market share gains, reaching 19%. RIM’s share, however, dropped in Q1, as its portfolio awaited a refresh and the vendor focused on the PlayBook launch. Overtaking Motorola, LG moved into sixth place, with its Optimus series of Android smart phones doing well in all regions.

 

 

 

 

‘Nokia is under considerable strain in the smart phone market as it transitions strategy, platforms and people,’ said Canalys Principal Analyst Pete Cunningham. ‘Its worldwide reach, however, should never be underestimated. Canalys’ country-level data shows that the vendor remains number one in 28 countries, including mainland China, where it grew 79% to 8.9 million units, thanks in part to Chinese New Year shipments.’

At a platform level, Android’s continued dominance was boosted by good performances by a number of key vendors. ‘HTC, Samsung, LG, Motorola and Sony Ericsson drove Android shipments in the first quarter, with each vendor shipping well over 3 million devices,’ said Cunningham. ‘Samsung also shipped nearly 3.5 million bada operating system-based smart phones, outperforming total shipments of Windows Phone devices by more than a million units.’

‘Samsung’s own operating system development, combined with the branding and investment in its Wave smart phones at mid-tier prices, has led to good uptake in developed markets, such as France, the UK and Germany,’ continued Cunningham. ‘This achievement shows that there is still room for multiple operating systems, and that vendors can benefit from maintaining control of device development to hit the right markets and price points.’

Nokia, Apple, RIM, Samsung and HTC were the top five global smart phone vendors, as in Q4 2010. Apple continued to make market share gains, reaching 19%. RIM’s share, however, dropped in Q1, as its portfolio awaited a refresh and the vendor focused on the PlayBook launch. Overtaking Motorola, LG moved into sixth place, with its Optimus series of Android smart phones doing well in all regions.

The US remained the largest country for smart phone shipments, with Apple substantially extending its lead, achieving a share of 31% and growth of over 150% year on year. Volumes were boosted significantly by shipments of the iPhone 4 with Verizon Wireless. Android remained the leading smart phone platform in the US for the third consecutive quarter, with a 49% share. Growing by well over 200%, HTC became the leading Android vendor in the US and the second-place smart phone vendor in the country overall.

‘Shipments of its EVO series, Inspire 4G and Thunderbolt enhanced HTC’s strong performance in this quarter,’ said Canalys Vice President and Principal Analyst Chris Jones. ‘The vendor has a wide and regularly refreshed portfolio, covering multiple network technologies, which puts it in a strong position both in the US and worldwide.’

The popularity of 4G-branded models, such as the Samsung Galaxy S 4G, HTC EVO Shift 4G and the T-Mobile myTouch 4G, heavily influenced US market shipments this past quarter. Q1 also marked the first full quarter of LTE smart phone shipments, following Verizon’s 4G network launch in December 2010. Canalys estimates that shipments of these devices reached over 600,000 units.

‘We are starting to see some significant benefits from marketing high-speed networks to consumers in the US, as end users become more familiar with the performance and technical aspects of their smart phones,’ said Jones. ‘It’s a trend that will inevitably spread around the world over the coming years as carriers upgrade their network infrastructures.’

Sony Ericsson Unveils Xperia Mini, Xperia Mini Pro – Both Come With Improved Specs

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Sony Ericsson has unveiled follow-up models to Xperia X10 Mini and Xperia X10 Mini Pro, improving them with better specifications. According to CNET

Both handsets feature a 3-inch touch display, 5-megapixel camera, and 1GHz Snapdragon processor. As was the case with the first generation of these Xperia phones, the primary difference between the two is that the Mini Pro features a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, whereas the Mini is touch only. Additionally, the Mini Pro adds a front-facing VGA camera and a pair of business-minded apps: Office Suite and McAfee Antivirus.

 

At first glance, these new handsets look nearly identical to their predecessors, but there are plenty of subtle differences. The screen size has been bumped up ever so slightly from 2.55 inches to 3 inches, adding Sony’s Reality Display with Mobile Bravia Engine for good measure.

 

Further, the 5-megapixel camera is now capable of recording 720p HD video, a point Sony is quick to promote. As it stands today, the Xperia Mini is the smallest Android phone in the world able to record video in high definition.

The Xperia Mini Pro is more business-minded than its counterpart. 

(Credit: Sony Ericsson)

 

The major problem with these efforts is just that Sony Ericsson  has lost the mojo and may be unable to stop the momentum of Apple. How users reach to this will matter if Sony Ericsson can compete in this business climate. Phone business is tough because iPhone raised the bar too much. However, a great product could make all the difference.

Disruptive Technologies, Innovation and Global Redesign – Nominate Three African Companies For Book Studies

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Prof N Ekekwe – our Founder – and Dr Nazrul Islam are working on two book projects. One is listed below and will be published by IGI Global. The book official page is here. He wants to do a case study on three African companies. Could you nominate innovative  startups, rampups or speedup firms in the continent that can make this study and eventually the book. Email tekedia@fasmicro.com or call any of our offices in Nigeria or just note them in the comment section.

 

Disruptive Technologies, Innovation and Global Redesign

Editors:

Prof (Dr) Ndubuisi Ekekwe, African Institution of Technology, USA & Babcock University, Nigeria
Dr. Nazrul Islam, Aberystwyth University, UK

Call for Chapters:

Proposals Submission Deadline: January 11, 2011
Full Chapters Due: March 11, 2011
Submission Date: June 30, 2011


Introduction
In the last few years, most parts of the world have morphed into an electronically interdependent economic unit where a disruption in one marketplace affects the others. New technologies have emerged, transforming the ways we do business and, consequently, redesigning the world. Innovation in disruptive technologies pushes new and more agile firms to set new benchmarks, and forces established companies to incorporate evolving breakthroughs into their models or re-invent themselves to stay competitive.

 

Innovation thus remains a key driver in wealth creation, but the way it happens is changing as a result of new technologies, processes and tools. As social media networks advance, outsourcing ideas to the crowd has become common, while inter-company R&D that pools resources together is a new normal. From agriculture to print media, finance to mortgage and across sectors, industries, and disciplines, the world is being redesigned. The emerging implications are enormous—less energy for processing natural resources, less waste in processed raw materials—and these translate to positive effects on the environment. Yet, few research works exist about these developments, despite the exponential growth rate of new technologies with the potential to massively impact business and society.

 

Objective of the book

Accordingly, this project will assemble an edited collection of chapters on disruptive technologies, innovation, and the overall global redesign. The main objective of the book is to provide comprehensive evidence of research, case studies, practical and theoretical papers on the issues surrounding disruptive technologies, innovation, global redesign and their implications. The book will serve as a valuable resource on emerging and disruptive technologies, innovation and general global redesign.

 

Target Audience

This book will be a useful reference for academics, students, policy-makers and professionals in the fields of emerging and disruptive technologies, innovation, economic planning, technology and society, technology transfer, and general technology management.

 

Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

 

  • Different areas of global redesign: political, economic, institutional, etc as a result of new technologies and innovation
  • Different types of emerging technologies
  • Overview of disruptive technologies and their impacts
  • The patterns of modern innovation: open innovation, crowdsourcing, etc
  • Global overview of emerging innovations
  • Technology clustering and transfer
  • Innovation and government policies
  • Relevant topics on innovation, technologies and global redesign
  • Technology mapping
  • Social network analysis
  • Promise and pitfalls of process and production technologies, process economics
  • Infrastructures (education, research and industry) as they relate to new technologies
  • Models on technology transfer and diffusion trajectories
  • Technology as drivers for knowledge economy (KE) in developing and emerging nations
  • Case studies on global new technology programs
  • Management of disruptive technologies
  • Disruptive technology roadmapping
  • Legislative frameworks and legal issues on technology transfer
  • Environment and climate issues associated with disruptive technologies
  • Disruptive technology forecasting
  • Indicators for new technology assessment
  • Emerging diffusion paradigm of disruptive technologies
  • Virtual education, collaboration and technology flow from developed nations
  • Development and funding models from continental and global institutions like IMF, World Bank, IFC, ADB, AfDB, NEPAD, African Union, European Union, etc for technology and innovation
  • Disruptive innovations in NGO and intergovernmental organizations?
  • Legal, climate change, policy, etc issues on emerging technologies
  • Technology clusters and incubation centers
  • Entrepreneurship in disruptive technologies
  • Sustainability of programs focusing disruptive technologies in developed, developing and emerging nations
  • Roles and national technology policies as they pertain to adoption and diffusion

Submission Information

Academics, researchers, policymakers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before January 11, 2011 a 2-3 page manuscript proposal detailing the background, motivations and structure of the proposed chapter by clearly explaining the mission and concerns of their proposal.

Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by January 31, 2011 on the status of their proposals and sent chapter organizational guidelines.

Full chapters are due by March 11, 2011 and should range from 7,000-8,000 words in length. All submitted chapters will be peer-reviewed on a double-blind review basis. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project.

 

Publisher

This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), publisher of the “Information Science Reference” (formerly Idea Group Reference), “Medical Information Science Reference,” and “IGI Publishing” imprints. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit www.igi-global.com.


Important Dates

Proposal Submission Deadline: January 11, 2010
Notification of Acceptance by January 31, 2011
Full Chapter Submission: March 11, 2011
Review Result Returned: 31 May 2011
Revised Chapter Submission: 30 June 2011
Final Notification of Acceptance: 30 July 2011

Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded electronically (Word document):

Prof (Dr) Ndubuisi Ekekwe
African Institution of Technology, USA & Babcock University, Nigeria
E-Mail: info@afrit.org or nekekwe1@jhu.edu

Or

Dr. Nazrul Islam
Aberystwyth University, United Kingdom
Email: drnazrul201@gmail.com or mni@aber.ac.uk

Direct link to this page:
http://tinyurl.com/2bheesj

Nokia Controls More Than 70% of Nigeria’s Handset Market

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This is the concluding part of our examination of Buzz City report. The first part is here.

 

According to Buzz City, by the end of the first quarter, across the globe, the top phones

used for surfing ranked as follows:

 

 

a. Nokia (46.2%),

b. Samsung (12.5%) and

c. Sony Ericsson (8.4%).

 

But for Nigeria, Nokia controls 74% of the handset market. Sony-Ericsson  has 7.25%, Samsung 6.16% and LG 2%. The generic make up the rest.

 

Nigeria’s mobile ecosystem dedicates 64% to entertainment and lifestyle; 23% of mobile content; 10% community and 3% search/services/portal. Also, female contribute only 22% in the makeup of the mobility activity in Nigeria. The most active age group is 20-24 years with 41% of the space.

Accordingly to the report,

 

Nigeria’s seemingly unstoppable growth trajectory continued through the quarter, to end March with 189.9m ads served to 3.84m unique users.

 

 

This will surely grow when the WACS cables are completed.