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Nigeria Tech News Summary – April 05, 2011

By
Tekedia Editors
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0

West African Aluminum Products Plc that purchased NECOM House where NITEL SAT-3 Station is situated has asked NITEL to vacate or pay annual rent of N961m on the property. But NITEL is fighting that due process was not followed in selling the property.

 

Panabiz International has introduced Canon’s latest Image Runner Advance, IRA, series of heavy duty photocopiers which will help to ensure advanced documents workflow and productivity in offices in Nigeria.

 

About 200 students from secondary schools across Lagos State participated in the just concluded Nigerian Digital Sense Africa forum held in Lagos last week. The school leavers have been tasked to seek self-employment through software writing, incubation, and development – the 21st century holds a lot of opportunities in this area.

 

The Nigerian Communications Commission has said in Abuja that it is ready to partner with the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria, ISPON, in the establishment of the national working group on telecommunications software services transactions and billing systems.

 

The Federal Government has named former Science and Technology Minister, Prof. Turner Isoun as the Chairman of Nigerian Communications Satellite, NigComSat Limited Board.

 

Networking and technology company, Cisco has enrolled at least its 1 millionth concurrent student for its corporate social responsibility program, the Cisco Networking Academy. A pioneering example of cloud-based education delivery, the Networking Academy teaches students how to design, build, troubleshoot, and secure computer networks for increased access to career and economic opportunities in communities around the world.

 

In appreciation of the contributions of its dealers and partners across the country to the successes and growth of its business in 2010, Samsung Mobile last week, in a ceremonial atmosphere, feted its dealers to hobnob with them on issues of mutual benefit.

The Minister of Science and Technology Prof. Mohammed Abubakar last week at the 2nd scientific briefing on the utilization of research and development, R&D, listed about 72 products, developed by its parastatals for commercialization to improve standard of living of the people.

 

A new report at the 11th edition of International Telecommunication Union’s, (ITU) flagship ICT regulatory report, Trends in Telecommunication Reform has revealed that effective ICT regulation is critical to all economic growth. It noted that access to mobile networks is now available to 90% of the world’s population overall. Of people living in rural areas, 80% now have mobile cellular coverage. Similarly, titans of Tech lectures conclude that effective regulation in the nation can check cyber crime.

 

Samsung Mobile last week advanced its fight with Apple, on who stays at the top of the growing Nigerian tab market. This is as it partnered with Nigeria’s leading telecommunications operator, MTN to load some of its phones, including the Samsung Galaxy tab with exclusive MTN bundle offers .

 

The global software giant, Microsoft Corp, Tuesday, announced the launch of the latest version of the world’s most-used browser, Internet Explorer 9 in 40 languages around the world, including English, French, and Portuguese for Africa

 

Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria, ISPON has alerted the nation on the poor interest in locally developed software.

 

Premier private submarine network cable company in West Africa, Main One cables has announced Cisco’s “Internet Protocol Next- Generation Network” (IP-NGN) as its choice solution to take its broadband capacity in West Africa to the next level.

 

 

Sources: Punch, Guardian, Thisday, Sun, Vanguard, TechLoy

Apple Development Index – Nigeria ranks 142

By
Tekedia Editors
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2

The news is again. Apple is going to release iPhone 5. The developed world is abuzz with all the hypes that herald Apple products.  Yet, Apple has not said much. The CEO is on medical leave. Earthquake has possibly affected the supply chains from its Japanese OEMs.  Nevertheless, the rumors are everywhere, the king of gadgets are going to do it again.

But one thing is certain. Apple product release is a barometer to ascertain the standard of living of any nation. The excitements are in US, Korea, Canada, Western Europe, and other developed parts of the world. Their college students and citizens will spend hundreds of dollars or equivalents to pick a piece of packaged silicon and etched polymers. In the developing world, Apple is far from the mind.  Why? The students and citizens are very excited but the wage structure does not allow that level of societal energy to show in the stores.

Simply, people can be interested on these devices, but most times, the economics will decide what one gets. We wish that Nigeria will move much quicker in the development index so that when iPhone 15 is out, young men and women can make the buzz a reality in stores. It simply shows that people have got lesser worries than to join the Apple cult.  And when a nation joins that, that nation has got many things right. That is what we call Apple Development Index – the more a country develops, the more it cares to track Apple products and press releases. U.S. seats in the top ten of the Index, while Nigeria is #142; but in 2020 – that wonder year – we will bulldoze our way into #20 and knock out many other nations. We have got a lot to be positive about. Because it is in the law.

iPhone  – could you help us to create urgency to move our citizens out of mass poverty. We want to buy you and get excited when your news makes it in the blogosphere – in 2020.

 

Nigerian Developers – Fasmicro says Focus on Android Platform

By
Tekedia Editors
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6

In the last few weeks, Fasmicro (tekedia is a division of Fasmicro) has received emails from potential customers asking us if we could do developments on iOS and Blackberry platforms which are respectively Apple and Blackberry mobile operating systems. (We are yet to get calls on Windows Mobile. Of course Symbian is now history). We politely told them that we have built capacity in Android and we do not want to expand into these platforms. As the foremost Android trainer in Owerri and perhaps the whole of Eastern Nigeria, we have a regular base of customers to serve from universities, freelance and corporate institutions; we have started first and could define the roadmap. We understand that Blackberry is popular today in Nigeria, but Android will eclipse it within the next few months.

Now, you are a young graduate or a freelance who wants to get into the App business. You want to know what platform to build. We have a direction and suggestion. And these are some reasons why you should focus on Android development in Nigeria.

Universities

It is already penetrating into the schools. For universities we have provided trainings and training right now like Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and Federal University of Technology Owerri, we have made a mark that their preferred choice of mobility computing is Android.  We made the decision and they are adapting their curricula into the platform. We are so confident that these students upon graduation will possibly decide to concentrate on Android platforms. So the people you will hire are already trained on Android. Why bother with another platform?

Affordability

Another reason has to do with market. Apple and Blackberry are premium. Nigeria may not need them at the lower class of the market. Sure, the bank CEOs and corporate titans can afford them, but the regular Aba trader and Ibadan driver may prefer something cheaper. Android provides that platform for affordable mobile systems. Our studies before we made Ovim tablet (with our partner, Microscale) show that the future of smartphone and tablet in Nigeria lies in the mass market and not serving the 2% richest Nigerians as NITEL did for decades.  Android gadgets are more affordable simply because you do not have to pay for any software – it is free by default. So the equipment manufactures and chipset makers are free from those contracts that, for example Windows Mobile, will tie your hands.

Android Market Share

In the next 6 months, the number of Android devices in Nigeria will eclipse all the Apple and Blackberry combined. Our studies show that customers MTN will make this possible with its advertising power and brand. Etisalat did not make much impact with Galaxy Tab because of the cost. Even myPad from Starcomms is built on Android. Of course, Fasmicro and Microscale new Ovim Plus and Ovim MiE are all Android devices. Encipher Inye and Inye 2 are also Android. They will compete against the high premium Blackberry and will surely win. The notion that iPad can do well in Nigeria is not supported by any data. It is expensive and that brand is not structured for the Nigerian market.

Globally, Apple has more users but Android ships more phones every day than any other OS, currently. We project that Android will take a very commanding lead in the mobile ecosystem after Dec 2011. In Nigeria, Android has a potential to get to 70% of the market with Glo selling Galaxy when MTN, Etisalat and Starcomms have aligned in that direction. If you want to make money developing, focus on Android – you will have more users and market globally and locally.

OEM-Independent

Android is not tied to any hardware maker or original equipment manufacturer (OEM). This makes it very great. Blackberry could lose appeal if its hardware fails to wow consumers. Same applies to Apple. But for Android, there are legions working on it. One fails, others will succeed and you are sure of users for your Apps.

Android Open Source

This platform is free from all those difficult clauses that stymie innovations and speed for OEM. All you need is buy a chipset, download the OS and you can get a tablet or phone out in two weeks. Mediatek has made things very easy (Fasmicro and Microscale use Mediatek for our tablets) – you just focus on manufacturing after configuring the chipset. The good aspect is that with good electricity in Nigeria, one can buy the chipsets and make phones and tablets in Nigeria easily. Fasmicro and Microscale are moving to ARM based chipsets to ensure we can support and upgrade easily later.

This kind of neutrality makes the future of Android promising. No player will like to kick others out and let the phone companies focus on ergonomics and design while the software is handled by the global legion. That is a place to be over being restricted to an OS that is developed maybe by few guys in one giant building in California or Canada. Innovation lives here and it can easily improve faster than other OS.

Android Apps Distribution

Got a good app, you can have it in the Android market within days for just a small fee. Apple will ask for 4x of that and you will still wait for weeks.

Evolution

Why the world has to wait for few special days in the year for Apple to release new devices, Android does that every day in China and across the globe. This makes the evolution of Android fluidic and deeper than others.

Java/Linux

Android is Java and Linux – two great platforms for developments. You might have known Java and going into Android is a piece of cake. Java is matured and the guy that built it is just going to Google now. There is no information you cannot find online for Java – the books are there, the tutorials, the demos, etc.  And when it is time to say bye to Android, you take your Java skill to other areas. But for Apple, you are stuck with Objective C which Apple invented and you may not get much help.

Our recommendations

If you are a young developer that wants to start developing Apps, now is the time to make a decision. Use Android as your platform. It is better and will surely succeed in Nigeria. Fasmicro is running a free training now on Android App development. Due to demand, we will do the same next week and we welcome you to attend. We were rated Excellent by all our trainees and we are confident you will find our training to be world class. We have a founder who is a first rate engineer and professor and has built a team and teaching structure that delight our customers.

Fasmicro Android Development & Training Center

Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria

Starcomms New Executives – Logan and David

By
Tekedia Editors
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0

Last month, Starcomms introduced two new executives. Here are their corporate profiles:

Logan Pather Chief Operating Officer, has over 25 years of work experience. He has worked in several telecom communication companies in Africa. Logan is bringing with him his wealth of experience as managing director in other African countries.

Prior to joining Starcomms, he was managing director of Roamwave Africa (responsible for 20 African countries). He was responsible for the set up of the organization in SA and also ensure sales channels along with marketing strategy and partnerships. His career is highlighted by strong and in-depth knowledge and exposure across all core business functions such as finance, sales & marketing, human resources, customer service operations etc.

He worked in Nortel Southern Africa and Telecel – Zambia as Managing director responsible for operational strategy and growth. He holds a Diploma in Business Management and MBA (Short Course Programme).

David Ordman – Chief Financial Officer, has over 18 years work experience in various sectors. Prior to joining Starcomms he worked as Finance Director within EMAAR, The Economic City in Saudi Arabia, with responsibility for all aspects of Finance within the Utilities & Telecoms division of EMAAR, delivering a multi-utility solution within King Abdullah Economic City, a $2bn megaproject.

Previously David has also worked as Chief Financial Officer in United Utilities Plc (Estonia and Bulgaria) and Millicom International Cellular, Pakistan.

He studied Civil Engineering from University of Birmingham, UK. He then trained with Price Waterhouse Coopers, and achieved Order of Merit from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales. More recently David received his MBA having attended a joint program at London Business School, UK and Columbia Business School, USA.

Twitter – Influence and Popularity Measurements

By
Ndubuisi Ekekwe
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0

We live in the Google, Facebook and Twitter world as they dominant our online lives. For Twitter, its convenience and simplicity have made it a critical tool for product launch and brand management. It provides the pulse of the nation, seconds and seconds, and has attained a status that the Library of Congress is archiving its contents. From celebrities to politicians, iconic Wall Street firms to charities, a Twitter strategy is no more an afterthought.

 

Traditionally, people measure the popularity based on the numbers of followers an account has. That is certainly a good metric in the Internet age where more always win. As I wrote recently, a blog post that is read by hundred casual people is more valuable in the world of online marketing than one only ten people read but was cited by a professor. The former could bring more ad money since it was read by more people though the latter might have been better in quality.

 

So to estimate popularity, we usually check the number of followers for an account. The problem with that is that it gives an inaccurate measure of effective popularity or influence. In this case, I try to differentiate between popularity and influence. Someone could be popular in Twitter and yet not influential. By influence I mean when a post does generate a buzz or attention in the network.

 

To examine this, I used the very simple metrics on every account: “following” and “followers”. In the Twitter world, the former is the number of people an account is following while the latter gives the number of people following that account. With the followers, we can directly obtain Twitter Popularity Index (TPI) and ascertain how popular someone or brand is.

 

To move beyond popularity and ascertain influence, I divide the numbers of “followers” by the “following”. If you have a number greater than unity, you are indeed influential since more are following you than you are following others. To me, this is a better metric of ascertaining the effective popularity for each account and that eliminates the inflation people could create on their profiles. I call this Twitter Influential Index (TII). I initially called it Twitter Effective Popularity Index (TEPI). Either goes.

 

If you notice in Twitter, celebrities will not only have high followers, but also high TEPI. Britney Spears has a TEPI of about 13.9 (Sept 5, 2010) with 5,851,463 and 419,016. That is very interesting when one considers what it takes Ms Spears to add 419,016 people. How many of those friends are effective followers? Possibly, some added her just to appease her for adding them in her network. And they may not be actually interested in her posts! They are followers, but may not be influenced by her.

 

Twitter has this robust expansion tool that puts peer-pressure on members. By sending that email to you when someone adds you, it basically informs you that you can return the favor and add that person in your own network. (I estimate additional 5% hits on Twitter because of that email; they want you to get back to Twitter website). If not, why must Twitter do that assuming your account is already public? It is unlike Facebook where you have set your profile private and need to guard the contents.

 

With that system, we have bloated and fake popularity indices where someone can decide to add 1000 people in a day and will hope to get a favor back from say 80 people. Those 80 people may not even care for this person, but they just do.

 

For marketing executives, this is very important. A comparison between a person with 1000 following and 2000 followers with TEPI of 2, and one with 5000 following and 2500 followers and TEPI of 0.5 could give an impression than the latter could move the product easily since it has more followers. That is wrong. Most of the followers in the latter may be casual that reciprocated an aggressive “marketing” of the account even though they are not interested in the account. In the former, there is a sense the person is influential since more people are interested in the account than the account is to others. Personally, I will use the former with TEPI of 2 to launch my product in Twitter.

 

In the last few weeks, I tested this principle in Twitter by carefully adding people and noticing how my followers increased. The more friends I added, the more followers I got, though I did not retain most after few days. However, most of the accounts that added me without my covet marketing are easy to retain. And they are the ones that followed my posts more. Many of the marketed ones rarely bothered to comment on them.

 

So in summary, it is not the number of followers that matter, rather, it is the TEPI of an account that shows its vibrancy and influence over its networks. Use TEPI in planning your Twitter strategy and you will be better off. The followers could give you popularity, but TEPI provides you with level of influence. I consider George Stephanopoulos with TEPI of 2823 as more influential that Ms Spears though he has only 1,654,492 followers, millions less than Ms Spears’. My algorithm shows that he generates more comments and secondary patterns on his posts and it is possible that a brand pushed through him will penetrate more.

 

Finally, by combining TEPI, TPI, network preferences (music, politics, news, etc), location, post update rate, etc, I came up with Twitter Brand Composite Index (TBCI). TBCI provides a near accurate assessment between a brand and each account in Twitter. This is what the marketing executives must look for.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4990109
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