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Dell Releases Dell Streak™ 7 – America’s First 4G Tablet from T-Mobile!

By
Tekedia Editors
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0

The computer maker, Dell has released a new tablet – Streak. Dell Streak is available on T-Mobile USA. Nigerian customers – not yet because none of our networks is 4G.

 

These are some of the features of Streak:

 

  • Android™ 2.2 based tablet with over the air upgrade capabilities.
  • Watch, listen, play and connect with a 5-inch high-quality multi-touch screen with Corning® Gorilla® Glass that fits perfectly in your hands and your pocket.
  • Snap pictures on the fly or grab video with a rear-facing 5MP camera or the front-facing 1.3MP camera and chat on popular services such as Qik® or ooVoo.
  • Talk on the phone, listen to music or surf the web while navigating turn by turn with the built-in GPS.

Nielsen Research Says Android Holds 50% Market Share. Now Is The Time To Make The Move in Lagos

By
Tekedia Editors
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0

 

Nielsen Research has released an updated report on mobile OS market share. Android now holds 50% share, for recent acquirers. We quickly want to update our early post where we suggested to Nigerian developers that Android is the future. We stand by that and ask guys to move to Android.

 

–original post, less the photo—

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

For more inquiries on this article, contact usa@fasmicro.com

Who Told You That Grandma Did Not Create Technology? Cured Snake Bites, Repaired Bones. Tougher Things Than Click Algorithms

By
Tekedia Editors
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0

Aham lives in Atu, a village in Osimiri in Nigeria. Atu is peaceful with energy of a typical African tropical climate. Boys and girls enjoy life in this agrarian society. Bird hunting was part of fun.

 

But one day, Aham and his friend, Uche, had gone for bird hunting in a forest few miles away from the village square. While in the forest, Uche was bitten by a very poisonous snake, avuala, and in the mayhem that followed, Aham ran away. While running, he fell down and broke his arms.

 

Luckily, Nkwo, the palm wine tapper was on duty that moment. Right on his tree, he saw what happened and quickly made it straight to where the boys were crying in pains and agonies. Within few minutes, the boys had been taken to the local herbal doctors: one to the local ‘orthopedic surgeon’, the other to a master specialist on snake poison. Both survived. That was eighty years ago.

 

Today, western education has brought many promises. It has opened opportunities for boys and girls to dream big. And become great not just in villages but anywhere.

 

Parents send their kids to schools because schools make them great. However, western education has facilitated a broken succession across villages in Africa. A generation of indigenous knowledge acquired, refined and transferred for more than ten generations are endangered.

 

That creates a problem in some villages because the rate at which development from western education is coming is slower than the rate the indigenous are losing grasp of their own technology.

 

When one orthopedic hospital serves a region comprising of many states with underpaid doctors and experts, few get quality solutions. The other alternative which their parents had depended upon has been destroyed because the skilled people have died or dying. The children of the ‘experts’ have migrated to the urban areas and no one knows the herbs or the processes which can help people in need overcome their challenges.

 

It is a double tragedy! You have lost what you have in the promise of new things which have refused to materialize. That is the challenge, not just in Africa, but in many developing countries where modern technology has not diffused to fill the vacuum created by a broken indigenous technology succession.

 

The question that must be asked is this? Why can’t the government identify these people and develop a process to document what they do in order to preserve knowledge.

 

Better, can the government support them to transition to the new level and use the new (educated) generation to innovate on those trades? We want all children to go to school, but we also want a process that understands that in many rural Africa, we have got technology that must be preserved.

 

A process that does this is very important in Africa. Film them, send them government paid interns, pay them to talk and find ways to conserve that knowledge. Anyhow, we need to preserve what has evolved over generations of Africans. Now is the time to harvest them and put some intellectual property rights which can help them become great.

 

Yes, Africa can be made big from within and our indigenous technology must be strengthened.

IEEE Boston GOLD African Students MentorNet – Now You Can Have An Expert Guide You In Your Projects

By
Tekedia Editors
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0

 


IEEE Boston GOLD African Students MentorNet 

African Engineering Students to Receive Mentoring from IEEE Boston GOLD

 

[Also available on IEEE Boston GOLD website]

 


Members of IEEE Boston GOLD are very excited to announce a mentoring program it has developed to assist engineering students in Africa working on their undergraduate senior (final year) projects. This project is poised to help the students access a pool of experienced professionals who are practicing at the cutting edge of science and technology. The mentors will guide the students, providing important directions as they work with their local universities or polytechnics on their projects. Only projects that involve electrical, electronics, computer engineering and related fields will be supported.


This service is completely free. We emphasize that the goal is to help the students develop skills with directions on how to approach some engineering problems. Members of GOLD will not be solving their problems for them. The support could range from helping to design a circuit to developing a test strategy.


Interested students are asked to send a two page free application, describing their projects and what they will need from us. Upon receipt and approval, the project will be assigned to one of our members whose skills and interests align with the students projects. Through email and video communication, the mentor and the student will work together as the former helps to direct the latter.


This program will be administered by the African Institution of Technology and technically driven by the IEEE. It will run as a pilot project from August 2010 to August 2011 and will be continued, if necessary.
To submit a project, kindly send the application to ieee@afrit.org.

 

To become a mentor, please email Ndubuisi Ekekwe, nekekwe@ieee.org


About IEEE: IEEE is the world’s largest professional association dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity. IEEE and its members inspire a global community through IEEE’s highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities.


About African Institution of Technology (AFRIT): AFRIT is a technology focused non-profit organization with the aim of facilitating emerging technology diffusion in Africa. It has organized more than 35 engineering workshops and seminars in the continent.

Thank You – Tekedia Overtook 1000 Websites in Nigeria Within 5 Days

By
Tekedia Editors
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1

 

Hello People,

 

Thank you for showing up in Tekedia everyday. We noticed that traffic peaks at 8am in the morning (perhaps the Banks allow Internet access then or students are not in classes;  we do not know why) and then after 5pm in the evening. At 7pm, we get the highest traffic in Nigeria.

 

The good news is that many people are coming. We were 3000+ in Alexa ranking in Nigeria last week. Today, we have overtaken more 1000 sites  to become 1732 most visited Nigerian site. This is still poor but remember that we have not even celebrated a month birthday. So, in a way, it is an achievement.

 

Also, Tekedia has not advertised in any media except Tekedia. We want to know how great contents spread. It is true, good products sell themselves. But we are not yet close to what we hope to be. We will get better.

 

Our page views now top the thousand benchmark daily and everyday it is hitting up. We will be adding business technology content. We just started a report on Omatek (a public company) and will share when we are doing. We want to do tech journalism here and we ask you to continue to come here. Our focus remains technology and entrepreneurship. But you cannot have both without business – so business is implied!

 

Again, thank you for this progress.

 

Tekedia Editorial Team

 

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