In an effort to pull more Kenyans from the feature phone space, Safaricom, through a campaign dubbed “Maisha ni Digital” aims to reach at least 10 million Kenyans with the offer of affordable 3G smartphones combined with payment plans and data offers.
“Safaricom’s purpose is to transform lives, and we want to do this by connecting people to people, people to knowledge and people to opportunities through our latest campaign,” said Charles Wanjohi, Safaricom Consumer Business Unit, Interim Director.
The first device being offered under this three-month campaign to increase smartphone adoption is the Neon Kicka 4. The device comes with:
- 4-inch display
- Android 8.1 Oreo (Go Edition)
- 512MB RAM
- 4GB Internal storage
- 3G connectivity
- 2MP Main camera paired with a 0.3MP selfie shooter
- 1500mAh battery
From the specs, it is easy to tell that this is an entry-level smartphone targetted at first time smartphone owners.
The device will retail at Kes.3,499 from all Safaricom Shop outlets or online from Safaricom’s Masoko platform. Despite the floor-low price, Safaricom has optioned a layby payment scheme that will see potential customers pay a certain amount over a period of three months after which they will collect their device from Safaricom.
The Neon Kicka 4 comes bundled with 500MB data bundle for the first month and an extended 500MB monthly for the next five months upon the purchase of any data bundle worth Kes.50 or more. Additionally, the Neon Kicka 4 includes a free phone case and a free digital Self-Education Starter pack.
The low-price of the Neon Kicka 4 has been made possible thanks to a partnership with Google. “Android’s mission is to bring the power of computing to everyone and part of that is ensuring a great experience across the broadest range of devices. The Neon Kicka 4 gives millions of people the opportunity to connect to the Internet for the first time via an affordable mobile device,” said Mahir Sahin, Director, Africa Android Partnerships, Google.
