This week has been interesting in Tech from both a local and global scale. We have lined up our top stories this week including a device review. We also added a feature for our StartUp of the week.
Local News
Safaricom turns 15
Telco Safaricom turns 15 today. From innovation to CSR and even modern day culture Safaricom is part of Kenya. One other area where the Telco wins is in advertisements, which tend to remind us of how Kenyan the Safaricom brand is. We feature a list of the Telcos most iconic ads released to date
KCB M-Pesa account has 4 Million customers
KCB Bank announced its Q3 2015 results for the period ending September 30th 2015. The results highlighted the continued growth of its mobile banking platform which include KCB Mobi and KCB M-Pesa account. In the quarter, both platforms had been able to acquire nearly 6 million customers with 4.2 million customers on KCB M-Pesa account
Huawei Watch to hit the Kenyan Market in November
The Huawei Watch was unveiled early this year in Barcelona, Spain during Mobile World Congress. According to Huawei, Kenya will be getting the Huawei Watch this November. The Watch’s pricing is expected to start at Kshs 25,000.
50% of Equity Bank’s transactions performed on Equitel
Earlier this week, Equity Bank also announced its Q3 results, where an update for the Equitel platform was announced. The platform had been able to lock in 1.3 Million users with 88% as active users. This represents 162% growth over the last 10 months. The number of transactions per customer has also grown to an average of 21 transactions per month. The growth of the platform is so stellar that 50.4% of all transactions taking place at the Bank take place through Equitel surpassing both branches and ATMs.
GLOBAL
Facebook to Crush annoying Candy Crush invitations
Earlier in the month, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that he will visit India and host a Townhall Q&A. Zuckerberg asked users to post any questions they may have in the comments section below the post and users asked to vote for a question by liking it. The winner was however a question regarding the annoying candy crush requests with the post now having received over 7,000 likes. When answering the question, Zuckerberg said Facebook will prioritize shutting the tools allowing users to send the invitations.
MTN Nigeria fined $5 Billion
The Nigeria’s Communications Commission slapped MTN Nigeria with the $5 billion fine for failing to abide by rules requiring mobile phone operators to disconnect unregistered Sim cards bought before January 2015. MTN which is the largest operator is currently appealing the decisions besides holding meetings with the regulator to chart the way forward.
Screenshots of Apple Music for Android hit the web
Apple Music which launched early in the year has been able to sign up about 15 million users since its debut and 6.5 million of those are already paying for the service with the rest still on their trial subscription. That number is expected to rise when the service is finally made available to users of the biggest mobile platform in the world, Android, before the year ends. We expect Apple Music for Android to go into public beta some time soon before eventually becoming available to all users by the time 2015 wraps up.
Mixed fortunes for Samsung in Q3 Results
Samsung announced its Q3 2015 financial results this week. The Smartphone numbers for the company were more stellar than in Q2. For a consecutive quarter, the mobile division’s profits dipped despite registering increased revenues. Samsung Electronic’s overall results (51.68 trillion Korean won in revenues and 7.39 trillion won in operating profit) were boosted by its semiconductor division which supplies the likes of Apple with the chips in its best-selling iPhones.
DEVICE REVIEW OF THE WEEK
Samsung Galaxy J7
Every once in a while a smartphone shows up that seeks not to push the boundaries of mobile innovation by introducing previously unheard of features but to just cater for the everyday phone user. The Samsung Galaxy J7 is one such smartphone.
STARTUP OF THE WEEK
The Card Guys
Getting a business card for yourself isn’t a new or even innovative thing. It is an everyday occurrence. You go to a printer and ask if they do business cards. They give you a book with sample cards they have done, you chose one and that’s the end of the creative process. The Card Guys are out to change that.
