National Bank bets big on mobile banking services to spur growth

Nairobi, October 19^th 2017:- National Bank is revamping its mobile banking services as it seeks to expand its retail banking business, the Bank’s Managing Director Wilfred Musau has said.  

Effectively, the Bank has upgraded its mobile banking capabilities to include new service offerings backed by enhanced safety. 

The app, NatMobile, now allows users to conveniently access an array of services via their mobile phones as it opens new opportunities for the bank to grow new revenue streams by deepening its digital banking offerings.

“Our customers want efficient and convenient ways to bank at their fingertips. With this app, we can more easily offer our customers the banking products and services they need to help them reach their financial goals and at the same time offers the Bank the opportunity to grow revenue streams," National Bank Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Wilfred Musau said.

The new mobile banking platform can be accessed through the Bank’s USSD code *625# or the mobile app. All transactions are authenticated by an OTP (One Time Pin) validation through customers’ registered phone numbers.

The services available on the new NatMobile includes account to account & account to mobile transfers, Mvisa, Pesalink, forex rate information, statement requests and applications for cheque books and cards. Other services available are school fees payments, Credit Card statements, NHIF contributions, and Kenya power utility payments.

The bank is also working to expand its mobile banking offering to include the mobile lending service to enable customers’ access financial facilities easily. It also provides additional widgets like Currency converter and loan calculator.

Part of digital transformation

The move to revamp the mobile banking offerings is part of the Bank’s digital transformation agenda which is expected to help the Bank leverage on technology to improve customer experience via self-services, improve efficiency in processing customer transactions, control cost, manage operational and market risk as well as adopt best practices in organizational performance.

“National Bank continues to embrace innovation while driving a digital bank agenda as a way of increasing efficiency in service delivery and driving financial inclusion. Our goal is to become the go-to digital bank and we are therefore excited over our unique mobile banking solutions, which offer versatility to our customers,” he said.

Over half of the Bank’s customers have already registered to use the NatMobile Banking platform and do an average of 6000 transactions per day.

GTBank becomes the first bank to launch fingerprint recognition on its upgraded Mobile App

The version 3.6 App also features card services where customers can manage their GTBank credit and debit cards

Nairobi: May 23, 2016: Guaranty Trust Bank Kenya has launched an upgraded version of the Bank’s mobile App introducing fingerprint recognition, a first in the market. With this new capability, customers will be able to log onto their accounts by identifying their individual fingerprints through the Touch ID on iOS devices. 

The introduction of the fingerprint recognition brings added security on the mobile banking platform. The enhanced security measure comes at a time when more people are choosing to bank on their mobile phones and security of the platforms is critical. 

Commenting on this innovation, GTBank Managing Director Ibukun Odegbaike said “At Guaranty Trust Bank, we are driven by the desire to continue enhancing our customer experience at every touch point. Security in the era of mobile and digital banking is absolutely critical. The fingerprint recognition on the new GTBank mobile App gives our customers the control and confidence to transact securely on the platform.”

At the same time, the Bank has introduced card services on the upgraded App. Customers will now be able to access all card services including check card balances, pay and top-up cards,  stop card payments and generate card statements. These services are applicable to both credit and debit cards.

“Our investments in a state-of-the-art banking platform one year ago enabled us to roll out our cards business in partnership with MasterCard. We have taken this a notch higher and added card management capability on our upgraded mobile App. This will enable our customers to check card balances, top up, generate statements and stop card payments real time when they need to,” said Ibukun.

Tigo subscribers to enjoy 36m music tracks on their smartphones

Music content is already the second most popular mobile phone feature in sub-Saharan Africa

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, January 14, 2015/ -- Tigo  today announced the launch of Tigo Music through a partnership with Deezer, the international music streaming service that will provide Tanzanians with unlimited music experience.

Announcing the launch of the new service in Dar es Salaam, Tigo Brand Manager, William Mpinga said through pre-paid data bundles from January 24, Tigo customers will be able to access more than 36 million tracks, including African and Tanzanian artistes, on their phones and tablets.

 Additionally, Tigo will also be sourcing exciting new and local content through a new venture with the digital music company, Africa Music Rights, which funds, acquires and manages music rights across the African continent. Mpinga said.

There will be a launch ceremony for Tigo Music at Dar es Salaam’s Leaders Club grounds on January 24 where members of the public will be treated to live performances by leading local musicians such as Diamond Platinum, Ali Kiba, Professor J, Vanessa Mdee, Ben Paul, Isha Mashauzi, Malaika Band, Khadija Kopa, Yamoto Band, Msondo, Sikinde among others. Apart from giving Tigo customers unlimited access to local and international music, Tigo Music, according to Mr. Mpinga, will accord local artists with an opportunity earn extra payment from their songs listened to through the service.

Tigo will provide them training on how to use and benefit from the service, he said. “Tigo Tanzania is a company built on innovation. We are excited to be the first telecommunication company in Tanzania to give our customers such access to unlimited music. “As a digital lifestyle brand, our goal is to impact the music industry by providing a platform that not only allows for easy access to content by local artists, but also train our musicians on important issues such as intellectual property rights and marketing. This is our way of supporting local talent and growing the local music industry.” he added.

Tigo will introduce a variety of music service packages which will allow customers access through *148*00#. The introduction of Tigo Music in Tanzania follows the success of its launch in Ghana in 2014 and Latin America in 2013.

It has since become an integral part of people’s daily digital lives and synonymous with live music events headlined by some of the world’s best-known artists as well as with close-up studio recordings.

Music streaming is the fastest growing area for the global music industry and music content is already the second most popular mobile phone feature in sub-Saharan Africa.

Tigo Pesa returns TZS 3 Billion to customers as first quarterly payment !

The first mobile money service in the world to pay profit to its users

 Tigo announced today the first of its regular quarterly payments worth 3bn/- (US $ 1.8 million) to Tigo Pesa users.  

This payment comes three months after the company paid a staggering profit of TZS 14.25 billion (US $ 8.64 million) accumulated in the Tigo Pesa Trust Account to become the first mobile money service in the world to pay profit to its users. Tigo Pesa has a subscriber base of 3.6 million customers.

(Tigo Tanzania General Manager, Diego Gutierrez)

Tigo General Manager Diego Gutierrez said “This second round of profit disbursement shows the company’s continued commitment to benefit and improve the lives of Tanzanians. The payment goes to all Tigo Pesa users including super agents, retail agents and individual users of the service.”

“The first payment was bigger due to the fact that the profit had been accumulated over a period of three and a half years. This second payment is the profit accumulated from funds held in trust in commercial banks for three months in the quarter July to September 2014,” the General Manager said.

Mr Gutierrez explained that, as before, the average return to a customer will vary based on their average daily balance in their Tigo Pesa e-wallet. This applies to super-agents, retail agents and individual customers. 

The next installment for the quarter of October to December 2014 will be paid out in February 2015.  

I wonder if Safaricom will take a cue from its next door neighbor !

Nokia Lumia 2520:Why Windows 8.1 Tablet's Are Your Best Pick !

Without doubt Android based Tablets are the majority and most used Tablets in the market but if you are used to your Windows based personal computer(pc) and would like to engage the same functionality on other devices any tablet or phone that runs the Windows 8.1 is your best pick. Locally the Nokia Lumia 2520 may be your best pick .

This is not a review of the tablet as there is already much written on it especially since  its launch in 2013 (please watch the video for specifications and hands on demo)  but rather its my opinion as to why running the Windows 8.1 operating system by Microsoft is a game changer in the mobile devices market.

Most of us  have used windows desktop software for much of our social ,academic and business activities.We find it relatively easy to navigate Microsoft Office tools and platform.It therefore makes much sense that we would prefer having these functionality across our different devices.

It so happens that some of us have customized software  for different functions perhaps its research , business, tracking or other software and we find it a tad bit hard engaging a developer to generate an app that can run on our hand held devices.This is where Windows 8.1 devices become readily convenient.The guys up at Marketing at Nokia/Microsoft should actually take advantage of this and run with it ! but so far as yet their approach is down.!

Surprisingly Microsoft after purchasing the Nokia franchise have not been aggressive enough in pushing /advertising their Windows based Tablets in the emerging markets which is their largest consumers.For example just searching for the availability online of the Nokia Lumia 2520 Windows 8.1 Tablet will reveal just press releases by a number of bloggers and news websites.

Their is hardly any review of the gadgets, scant information as to its availability in Kenya, East Africa or the Sub Saharan Region.All price quotations are in anticipated Dollar price rather than Kshs. A search on Midcom East Africa facebook page reveals that many people want  to know how much the device goes for and where to purchase it but there is hardly  any response, just a deafening silence.That's how a good product gets buried under in all the noise that is tech products!

GSMA AND OPERATORS WORK TO IMPROVE MOBILE ACCESS AND AFFORDABILITY ACROSS AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

18 March 2014, London: Further to a high-level meeting at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, senior leaders from seven major mobile operator groups, serving 506 million customers across Africa and the Middle East, plan to cooperate on network infrastructure sharing initiatives that recognise the profound impact of mobile broadband and Internet services on the citizens of both regions. The participating operators have made this commitment in order to provide Internet and mobile broadband access to unserved rural communities and drive down the cost of mobile services for all sections of the population.

“We are greatly encouraged by the shared vision of mobile operators and the common urgency to find solutions that will drive down the cost of mobile and Internet services and help connect the unconnected,” said Anne Bouverot, Director General, GSMA. “Unique mobile subscriber penetration is only 40 per cent in Africa and the Middle East, lower than the global average of 47 per cent, so we need to work together to expand the reach of mobile.”

The initial group of senior leaders from mobile operator groups who support this initiative includes:

·         Christian de Faria, CEO Africa, Bharti Airtel

·         Ahmad Julfar, Group CEO, Etisalat Group

·         Sifiso Dabengwa, CEO and President, MTN Group

·         Dr. Nasser Marafih, Group CEO, Ooredoo Group

·         Marc Rennard, Senior Executive Vice President, Africa, Middle East and Asia, Orange

·         Serpil Timuray, CEO, Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific Region, Vodafone Group

·         Scott Gegenheimer, CEO, Zain Group

They collectively manage 76 mobile network operations across 47 countries in Africa and the Middle East, where many of the unconnected population live in rural areas.

“This cooperation demonstrates that the industry is committed to innovating in order to serve the billions living in the rural areas,” said Manoj Kohli, Managing Director, Bharti Enterprises and Chair of the Public Policy Committee of the GSMA board, who also supports the initiative. “We call on governments to support and encourage the commercial infrastructure sharing arrangements that we aim to propose.”

The GSMA’s position is that telecom regulatory frameworks should encourage flexible commercial sharing arrangements and facilitate access to government-owned assets at preferential rates to help speed up the roll-out of new networks and support the business case to extend mobile networks into rural areas.

Nokia announces availability of Asha 210 in East Africa

A fast and responsive QWERTY phone - the most social Asha yet

Nokia today announced local availability of the Nokia Asha 210 across East Africa, bringing consumers more social experiences at an affordable price. The Nokia Asha 210, available in both single and easy swap dual-SIM variants, features a distinctly Nokia design, smart imaging and Wi-Fi to help people enjoy more of the Internet for less.

Available in yellow, cyan and black at a recommended retail price of:

Kenya:          KES 6,499

Uganda:       UGX 225,000

Tanzania:     TZs 140,000

Your social life at your fingertips

The Nokia Asha 210 has a QWERTY keyboard and a dedicated Facebook button for fast access to social networking. It also supports WhatsApp, Twitter and popular email accounts such as Gmail, to ensure that people are never more than a few clicks away from their friends and family.

Capture and share great images every time

The Nokia Asha 210 comes with a 2MP camera that can be accessed through a dedicated hardkey even when the keypad is locked. The smart camera also offers a choice of image capture, editing and sharing options, including: 

·         Self-portrait – for perfectly centred “selfies”, even without a front-facing camera. The built-in voice guides the user to ensure they are in the frame, before taking the shot.

• Fast editing of images directly from the camera app and easy sharing of images to social networks

People can also share photos and other content quickly by using Nokia’s innovative Slam feature, which comes built-into the Nokia Asha 210. It works by enabling the transfer of content such as images or videos to another Bluetooth-enabled phone without the need to pair devices.

The new device also takes full advantage of the Nokia Xpress Browser which uses Nokia's cloud technology to reduce data consumption by up to 90 percent, helping people enjoy more affordable Internet access. The Nokia Asha 210 also features Nokia Nearby, a web app that lets people discover points of interest such as restaurants, shopping and ATM machines close to their location.

“The Nokia Asha range has already gained popularity in East Africa, especially amongst the youth,” says Bruce Howe, general manager Nokia East Africa. “Consumers love the freedom of choice that Asha offers. The new Asha 210 expands the family and brings a fresh design and great features for those that value being socially connected.”

Other key features for Nokia Asha 210 include:

·         Social phonebook integration

·         Preloaded YouTube launcher for direct video streaming

·         Chat screen notifications that keep users up-to-date on new conversations

·         WiFi On/Off control button

·         Long battery life: up to 46 days with Single-SIM and up to 24 days with Dual-SIM

SAFARICOM LAUNCHES APP FOR COW FARMERS

June 25, 2013... Leading integrated communications service provider Safaricom has in partnership with Green Dreams Limited officially launched iCow, an SMS based mobile application aimed at promoting smart dairy farming.

By subscribing to the short code, *285#, Kenya's 5 million dairy farmers can now access tips on better farming methods which will help them improve their dairy output and subsequently, their revenues for Kshs. 3 per message.

"iCow survey data shows farmers who have been on iCow for 7 months begin to realize an increase of milk of between 2-3 litres per animal per day. This is an increase of about 610-930 litres a year which translates into an average increased income of 25-30k per animal per year. iCow data shows farmers have reduced cow and calf mortality thus enabling farmers grow their greatest asset base," Su Kahumbu, Green Dreams Limited.

iCow, has three main features namely: Kalenda, Mashauri and Vet. Kalenda offers farmers nutritional and vaccination tips for their cows during the gestational period up to and birth.  Mashauri on the other hand is a service that sends farmers three SMS tips every week on dairy farming while the Vet and Artificial Insemination service links farmers with professional veterinarians within their respective geographical areas on demand.

"iCow is an easy to use, affordable and convenient mobile phone application which will empower Kenya's dairy farmers with global best practices. iCow is a clear demonstration of how technology is positively impacting key spheres of our economy," said Safaricom CEO, Bob Collymore who spoke as he launched the service during this year's Brookside Breeders' Show.

Speaking during the launch, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Felix Koskei commended Safaricom for the innovative approach towards addressing farmers concerns.
He said, "ICT has over the years given the Agriculture Sector a wide berth. As a result farmers' yields have been on the decline and this has gradually seen the country lose its competitive edge to other countries."
"As a government, we believe that Kenya has the potential to provide agricultural produce to meet the country's need and even have enough for exports. We will therefore be looking for other innovators who will provide solutions to boost efficiency in our crop and animal rearing management, to help achieve this objective", he noted.

Nokia & Zynga Partnership Grows To Bring Blockbuster Games To Nokia Asha Touch Feature Phones

Draw Something and Zynga Poker Coming to Over 100 Million Nokia Consumers

Nokia today announced they will bring Zynga’s global hit games, Draw Something and Zynga Poker, to Nokia Asha Touch devices in Q3 2012 as part of their partnership announced recently. Nokia Asha Touch users can soon challenge their friends to a round of the popular social drawing and guessing game, or enjoy their own virtual poker match. Zynga’s Draw Something and Zynga Poker will both be free to download from Nokia Store.

The announcement reinforces Nokia’s commitment to delivering must-have app and gaming experiences to consumers of Nokia Series 40 devices, including the Nokia Asha Touch range. Nokia Asha Touch users already enjoy a variety of mobile gaming experiences enabled by global partners such as EA, Gameloft, Rovio, NAMCO BANDAI and now, Zynga.

"It’s great to expand our offering of Zynga games to deliver more blockbuster titles across our portfolio of mobile devices, giving consumers great choice and tremendous value,” said Bryan Biniak, VP & GM, Global Partnering & Application Development, Nokia. “With premium design, powerful hardware and outstanding gaming capabilities, we’re redefining what consumers expect from today’s feature phone experience.”
Nokia Asha Touch devices have been designed to provide an incredibly rich, fast and engaging experience to consumers and are all available across East Africa:

• The beautifully crafted Nokia Asha 311 is a fast and fluid 3.5G capacitive touchscreen device, powered by a 1GHz processor to provide a great internet experience.
• The bright and edgy Nokia Asha 305 is a fun and affordable phone, featuring the exclusive Easy Swap dual SIM.
• Its sister, the Nokia Asha 306, is a single SIM model, and becomes Nokia’s most affordable Wi-Fi handset to date.
The devices feature the new, fully re-designed Asha Touch user interface, which combines proven ease-of-use from Nokia’s heritage with new, digital design innovations. The cloud-accelerated Nokia Browser 2.0 makes Internet surfing up to three times faster and 85% cheaper than comparable browsers, and is available to download for free from Nokia Store.

Recently, Nokia Store broke the five billion downloads landmark. From January to April 2012, 42% of all content downloaded from Nokia Store was delivered to Series 40 devices, including the Asha Touch range. To-date, more than 500 Nokia developers have apps which have achieved more than one million downloads, while India Games, Pico Brothers and Inode have all achieved more than 100 million downloads.
*data costs may apply

Western Union Partners With M-Pesa In Enabling Local Mobile Money Receipts

It is now possible to receive funds sent from abroad through Western Union Money Transfer services via the M-pesa Platform ! This comes as particularly good news to Kenyans both in the diaspora and locally who have been seeking an efficient and seamless service when it comes to money transfer.

On 16 July 2012 the global payments service provider announced  a promotion set to run till 7 September 2012 with intent to popularize the service especially among Kenyans in America. Customers who tell at least three friends and family members through a qualifying referral about the Western Union^® Mobile Money Transfer service from the U.S. to Kenya will receive a coupon for a $0-fee* transaction. To qualify for the coupon, U.S. customers must “tell a friend” through www.westernunion.com/mpesa using e-mail, Facebook or Twitter.

The new service enables consumers to be able to send money to Mpesa subscribers from nearly 170,000Western Union Agents located in 91 Countries and Territories including the USA.According to the press release from the Company:

 The service operates on Western Union’s worldwide network and trusted global “hub” for processing cross-border remittances. It also builds on the unprecedented success of M-PESA, a mobile money transfer service in Kenya offered by Safaricom that has attracted nearly 15 million customers since its launch in 2007. Funds are delivered directly to M-PESA subscribers and are usually available in minutes.

This facility is a ready welcome and enabler for e-commerce within the region.It is expected that the service will prove very popular among Kenyans.According to a recent Central Bank of Kenya report Kenyans in the Diaspora remitted back home a whooping US $891,107,000 in 2011.This is a lot of foreign exchange and definitely indicates that both Safaricom and Western Union are targeting an already existing and lucrative market.For Kenyans the "Mobile Wallet"service will certainly ease transactions and  enhance money transfer services and usage.

Wordplay App Review

Nairobi, 1 May 2012: Many of us will remember the feeling of excitement when we learnt a new word or phrase when we were young. We would run home eager to tell our parents, or looking forward to the next writing assignment, so that we could use our new word. Fast forward to adulthood and you tend to treat words differently. We rarely push ourselves to work on our vocabulary and new words are often forgotten or not used.

We are all guilty of not challenging ourselves as much as we should, but with the new Word play game for Nokia devices there is a tool to help with just that. For example, can you figure out what – if you move the letters around - sinageroer or ertmienedd actually spells? With this new game you can now keep your mind alert and work on your spelling in an entertaining way.

The app is developed by Robert Langat and has to date been downloaded more than 100,000 times. It is available in the Nokia Store for devices based on both the Series 40 and Symbian platforms. WordPlay has three levels, presenting the player with a number of mixed up words to unscramble.

So as you write your stories, articles or even interact with your friends you can use the words that have been brought back to you via Word play.

By the way, sinageroer spells reorganize and ertmienedd unscrambled gets you determined.

Launch of Nokia Asha Range Phones In Kenya

Nokia yesterday officially launched its "Nokia Asha " range of phones in the Kenyan market at the Loft Lounge Westlands.The launch featured many celebrities, tech gurus,graffiti artiste bloggers and media personalities.The launch was definitely fun filled with a lot of trivia,rap contest,street dancing ,goody bags and fanfare befit of the brand name that Nokia is especially in relation to easy to use ,and quality smart phones that Nokia is , in the region.The  twitter hash tag for the event was #LetsQWERTY 

According to the press release the three phones immediately available in the market include:

Nokia Asha 201

The single SIM version of the Nokia Asha 200, the Nokia Asha 201 is ideal for young consumers who wish to stay socially connected, are price conscious and like listening to music. The Nokia Asha 201 has great music features including a high performing loudspeaker, enhanced stereo FM radio and ringtone tuning. It supports up to 32 GB memory cards and provides a battery for 52 hours of music playback time. The Nokia Asha 201 also supports push email as well as the popular messaging app WhatsApp. The estimated retail price for the Nokia Asha 201 is KES 7,300.

Nokia Asha 302

The Nokia Asha 302 is Nokia’s first Series 40 phone to support Mail for Exchange, giving people access to their emails, contacts and calendar on an exchange server. That and a stylish QWERTY keyboard make it ideal for young entrepreneurs and professionals seeking a beautifully designed phone. Additionally, the Nokia Asha 302 connects to popular social networks and enables chatting through Whatsapp and other IM services. The Nokia Asha 302 is powered by a 1-GHz processor and supports 3.5G data speeds. Great multimedia capabilities including a 3.2 MP camera, enhanced stereo FM radio, a music player as well as up to 32 GB memory card support. The estimated retail price for the Nokia Asha 302 is KShs 10,000.

Nokia Asha 303

The Nokia Asha 303 is designed with sophisticated materials and metallic finishes, combining a large 2.6” capacitive touch screen with a high quality QWERTY keypad. The device uses a powerful 1 GHz processor, 3G and WLAN to deliver a fast Internet experience. Social networks, email and instant messaging are at the centre of the experience, easily accessible from the home screen. Entertainment and applications are also a core part of the Nokia Asha 303 offering. Angry Birds Lite comes preinstalled on the phone. The estimated retail price of the Nokia Asha 303 is KShs 13,730.

Airtel Partners with VER SE’ Innovation to develop holistic m-Health platform

• GSMA report predicts that mHealth market’s worth will reach $23 billion globally in terms of revenue by 2017; Africa is predicted to make a revenue of $1.2 billion
• Airtel’s mHealth platform aims to inform and educate consumers about medical and non-medical issues and help overcome some of the healthcare challenges being faced in Africa
• Airtel plans to roll out Call a Doctor, Drug Authentication, Medical Directory, Hospital Reminder & Insurance Alerts on SMS amongst a basket of services that will boost the Company’s vision of mHealth.

 

March 2, 2012, BARCELONA – Airtel Africa today announced a key partnership with VER SE’ Innovation, taking its first step towards the development of its mobile health (mHealth) platform. The partnership, which is marked by the launch of the teleco’s ‘Mobile Health Tips’ feature, will see the two companies come together to provide low cost, easily accessible mobile health services to consumers across Africa. The initiative aims to bridge the information gap about healthcare issues, raise awareness and enhance understanding about these issues, and educate customers on how to lead a healthy lifestyle. Through the ‘Mobile Health Tips’ feature, Airtel hopes to improve overall health of the population by encouraging behavioural changes that can reduce or prevent diseases such as Malaria and HIV.

“Our goal is to work with our consumers to overcome the healthcare challenges being faced on the continent,” explains Andre Beyers, Chief Marketing Officer, Airtel Africa. “The growing need for consumers to be informed and educated about healthcare provides us with a huge opportunity to help educate those who do not have constant access to healthcare services and professionals. Our first initiative under the mHealth platform – ‘Mobile Health Tips’ - will enable Airtel customers to receive reliable health education through their mobile phones at any time during the day.”

Currently, a majority of the population faces several challenges in accessing quality healthcare advice and services in person. Many rural areas, for example, lack medical health professionals and facilities. According to reports by the World Health Organization (WHO), on average, most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have less than 20 doctors per 100,000 people. Furthermore, in areas of increased accessibility to healthcare, many are unable to afford the services. The reports suggest that inhabitants of SSA spend an average of $6 per capita on healthcare services compared to inhabitants of more developed nations who spend over $200.

It was for this reason that Airtel decided to partner with VER SE’ Innovation. Founded in 2007, the company creates a range of value added services which are specifically crafted for emerging markets of the world. VER SE’ services over 390 million mobile phone users worldwide through its various products applications ranging from Utilitarian to Classified and Local services.

Virendra Gupta, CEO of Ver se’ Innovation says, “Mobile VAS services are not only about Music, Gaming, & Entertainment. The real value of mobility is driven through services and applications that deliver significant value to the lives of consumers in emerging markets across the world where technology has made it possible for people across all walks and situations in life to access information that helps them improve their lifestyles. Ver se’ is committed to delivering such products and services that help MNOs worldwide deliver added value while also pioneering new revenue streams in VAS

The mHealth market’s worth is predicted to hit $23 billion globally in terms of revenue by 2017, according to a recent report, ‘Touching Lives through Mobile Health: Assessment of the Global Market Opportunity’, released by the GSM Association (GSMA). The report predicts that $1.2 billion of this revenue will come from Africa, but that this milestone must be driven by mobile technology which will play a significant role in providing healthcare services.

“These results are very telling of the scale and potential of mHealth both on the continent, and on a more global level,” explains Andre Beyers, Airtel Africa. “Indeed it is true that mobile service providers will play an integral role in propelling mHealth to reach this potential. However, we cannot work alone. Collaboration between service providers, local governments, regulators, the healthcare industry and consumers is absolutely vital.”

Echoing Mr. Beyer’s thoughts, the GSMA report explains that the entire healthcare ecosystem must work together to adopt mHealth services. The report suggests that governments worldwide must embrace policy agendas on mHealth and encourage its use by public healthcare providers. It also suggests that governments should incentivise private providers to deliver mHealth services. Furthermore, widespread acceptance amongst the healthcare industry and medical professionals, as well as user adoption, will help drive the growth and market opportunity for these services.

Airtel’s first mHealth product to hit the market, ‘Mobile Health Tips’, will offer subscribers a comprehensive range of tips from different categories. Based on their needs, customers can subscribe to one or more packs with multiple categories that include medical conditions such as Malaria, Cancer, HIV; life issues such as parenting, beauty & personal care, and exercise tips; nutritional information; and many more. All tips are delivered directly to the consumer’s mobile phone through an SMS.

In the coming months, Airtel will continue to add more features and services to its mHealth platform including SMS appointment reminders for health institutions and a pan-African drug authentification service that will help prevent the use of counterfeit drugs. The teleco also has plans to launch a medical helpline that will allow consumers to speak directly to medical professionals about healthcare issues.

 

 

Nokia expands Lumia experience to new price points and geographies

- New Nokia Lumia 610 provides a younger audience with the perfect introduction to the rich social, Web and entertainment experience of Windows Phone.
- The Nokia Lumia 900 brings high speed connectivity and a superior content experience to more countries around the world

Barcelona, Spain and Espoo, Finland - Nokia today announced the next stage in its plans to introduce unique Lumia experiences to more people around the world.

The new Nokia Lumia 610 is Nokia’s fourth and most affordable Lumia smartphone, designed as the perfect introduction to Windows Phone for a younger audience.  The Nokia Lumia 610 makes it easy to keep in touch with friends, providing instant access to social networks and bringing all mobile, email, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn contacts into one place.  It also makes it easier to browse the Web with Internet Explorer and to access games through Xbox Live. Available with Nokia Maps, Nokia Drive, Nokia Transport and Nokia Music, people can also choose from thousands of apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace to further personalize the experience.

Image: Nokia Lumia 610

With a distinctive profile and finely beveled metallic edges, the Nokia Lumia 610 is built to convey both quality and aspiration.  It comes in white, cyan, magenta and black, is priced at EUR189* and is expected to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2012.

The Nokia Lumia 610 was made possible thanks to a new software release from Microsoft delivering enhanced capabilities to the Windows Phone 7.5 platform.  The software release, available from April optimizes Windows Phone to support lower memory and processor requirements, while still delivering the same great experience for more affordable products.  In addition, Windows Phone will now include the network and language requirements for China. As a result, Nokia announced plans to make a range of Lumia smartphones available in China, covering both CDMA and WCDMA technologies, in the coming months.

Image: Nokia Lumia 900

After launching the Nokia Lumia 900 as its first LTE smartphone, Nokia is also making the phone available around the world in a DC-HSPA variant, for high speed data connection (42Mbits download) in countries where LTE is not available.  The Nokia Lumia 900 features a 4.3 inch ClearBlack AMOLED display for a superior touch and viewing experience.  It also features Nokia’s highest capacity battery making it the perfect Lumia phone for enjoying media and entertainment on the move.  The primary camera on the Nokia Lumia 900 has exclusive Carl Zeiss optics, a large aperture for improved performance in low light conditions and wide angle focal length for capturing full 16:9 images.  It is also the first Lumia phone to feature a front-facing camera, with large aperture and wide-angle lens for sharp, bright images and video calling out of the box.

The Nokia Lumia 900 will be available in white, cyan and black, is priced at EUR 480* and also expected to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2012.

The Lumia range will also benefit from the launch of new signature Nokia experiences on the Windows Phone platform:
- Nokia Reading is the next milestone in Nokia’s strategy to offer a comprehensive entertainment experience on Lumia. Nokia Reading provides a single, integrated hub experience, leveraging a panorama design to make it easier and faster to enjoy news, ebooks and audio books, including the ability to access content offline and pin dynamic content to the start screen as a Live Tile.  With an emphasis on local language materials wherever it becomes available, Nokia Reading delivers a highly personalized and locally relevant service. Future updates will include the ability to build dynamic magazines from feeds for a single integrated view of favourite online content. With no sign-in or subscriptions, Nokia Reading will be available from April.

- Nokia Transport, coming to Lumia for the first time, provides convenient door-to-door, underground, tram, suburban train, and bus directions for over 500 cities across 46 countries.  With step-by-step directions to the nearest station as well as timetable information on when the next bus or train is arriving for more than 80 cities, Nokia Transport will be available to download from the Windows Phone Marketplace in March.
- A new update to Nokia Drive, the free voice-guided, turn by turn navigation app that turns any Lumia smartphone into a personal navigation device will provide full offline use and features speed limit alerts. The update will also be available to download from the Windows Phone Marketplace in March.

Nokia 808 PureView ushers in a revolution in smartphone imaging

Nokia sets a new industry standard with the first in a range of high end experiences based on exclusive Nokia PureView imaging technologies.

Barcelona, Spain - Nokia today ushered in a new era in high-end smartphone imaging with the Nokia 808 PureView.  This is the first smartphone to feature Nokia PureView imaging technologies, bringing together high resolution sensors, exclusive Carl Zeiss optics and Nokia developed algorithms, which will support new high-end imaging experiences for future Nokia products. 

The Nokia 808 PureView features a large, high-resolution 41 megapixel sensor with high-performance Carl Zeiss optics and new pixel oversampling technology.  At standard resolutions (2/3, 5 and 8 megapixels) this means the ability to zoom without loss of clarity and capture seven pixels of information, condensing into one pixel for the sharpest images imaginable.  At high-resolution (38 megapixel maximum) it means the ability to capture an image, then zoom, reframe, crop and resize afterwards to expose previously unseen levels of details. With superior low-light performance and the ability to save in compact file sizes for sharing in email, MMS, and on social networks, the Nokia 808 PureView makes it possible for anyone to capture professional looking images in any conditions.

Image: Nokia 808 PureView

In addition to superior still imaging technology, the Nokia 808 PureView, also includes full HD 1080p video recording and playback with 4X lossless zoom and the world’s first use of Nokia Rich Recording.  Rich Recording enables audio recording at CD-like levels of quality, previously only possible with external microphones.  The Nokia 808 PureView also features exclusive Dolby Headphone technology, transforming stereo content into a personal surround sound experience over any headphones and Dolby Digital Plus for 5.1 channel surround sound playback.

“Nokia PureView imaging technology sets a new industry standard by whatever measure you use,” said Jo Harlow, executive vice president of Nokia Smart Devices.  “People will inevitably focus on the 41 megapixel sensor, but the real quantum leap is how the pixels are used to deliver breath-taking image quality at any resolution and the freedom it provides to choose the story you want to tell.”