There is everything to be liked by Visafone. They are very innovative and will surely move into the top three if they can seek for a GSM license instead of the sloppy CDMA which is yet to catch the right fever in Nigeria. Visafone has launched two sets of dual SIM touchscreen phones – Motorola XT 800 and ZTE R750. For a CDMA operator, this is commendable because they are always seen as non top-notch in the continent.
Visafone CEO, Sailesh Iyer, told newsmen during the luanch on the company’s efforts of becoming the first in the region to make these products available to customers:
“We are excited to be the first mobile operator to launch the Android dual SIM OMH touch screen phone into the African market. This further empowers corporate organizations and Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) with tool of having a mobile office on the go.”
His colleague, Joseph Ushigiale, the head, corporate communications, in Visafone, noted that the company has sold more than 600 units within a week of launch. It is indeed a good one but may not be as hot as Huawei IDEO who sold in thousands within days of launch in most parts f the world.
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The phones are powered by Google Android which controls 48% of the global mobile OS platform with more than 300,000 apps in the Android market.
Iyer explained that the Android Dual-SIM phones have been designed to enable users to easily access both their work and personal lifestyles via just one device,
“The launch of the dual SIM Android Smartphone also reflects our long term investment to develop high-tech devices which will enable our customers explore various unique applications that satisfy their needs,” he said.
“With the Android phone, Visafone customers can download applications like games, the Bible, Quran and access to social networking sites like YouTube, Face book, Twitter and news websites like CNN,” he pointed out. He said “Customers will also enjoy unique features of using their Visafone SIM and additional GSM SIM on one phone.
It also comes with mobile internet running on Visa Mobile Office (VMO) service, Email (Microsoft Exchange, Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, and AOL), EVDO and WIFI High Speed internet, Android market, Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo Messenger.”, he concluded
Android has been the most promising platform for many successful phones in Africa and the globe. Out of the total of 56 nations in the research, Android was top in 35 of them. In 2Q2011, Android commanded a global share of 48%. Asia Pacific was the largest regional market with about with 39.8 million units shipping there, compared with 35.0 million in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and 32.9 million in the Americas, according to the research firm.
