First African-designed smartphone
A company based in Congo has unveiled the first African-designed smartphone. Its inventor, Verone Mankou, also designed Africa’s first tablet last year in a similar attempt to break into Africa’s fast growing mobile market.
According to ABI research, Africa – a continent with 1.08 billion people – reached 821 million mobile subscribers last year. The firm predicts that number to jump to 1.12 billion by 2017, which would account for 13.9% of the global mobile market.
The phone, called Elikia (“hope”), is Android-powered and will sell for US$170. It’s currently available in the Congo, but Mankou said it will soon go on sale in other countries.
[Read more via Hindustan Times]
Japanese smartphone for seniors
Japan’s Fujitsu announced plans last week to release a smartphone designed for senior citizens. Fujitsu president Masami Yamamoto told the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun he sees a marketing opportunity to sell phones to this market.
Though the youth smartphone market is dominated by Apple and Samsung, few mobile manufacturers target older consumers, he said.
The phone will have larger letters and an easy-to-read display, according to Asahi Shimbun. It will be available in Japan later this year before being released in the U.S. and Europe.
[Read more via United Press International]
Chinese bank and carrier create mobile payment infrastructure
The Bank of China has joined forces with China Mobile, the country’s largest telecom, to create mobile payment infrastructure in the city of Shen Yang.
The alliance also includes Shen Yang Badatong, an e-commerce company, and VeriFone, a mobile marketing platform. As part of the deal Shen Yang Badatong will outfit thousands of retail stores in the city with the NFC-based technology needed for consumers to pay with their phones. VeriFone’s platform will allow those merchants to then market to smartphone users with targeted ads.
Zvi Mitlanski, senior vice-president at VeriFone Asia Pacific, said, “Bank of China and China Mobile are implementing a true end-to-end NFC infrastructure, working with Shen Yang Badatong to make NFC payment and mobile commerce a reality for merchants and consumers.”
[Read more via NFCWorld.com]
India mobile payment service attracts 14 million customers
An Indian company is also gaining prominence in the mobile payment space. Beam Money has more than 14 million customers and currently processes over 1 million mobile transactions a month.
Beam Money founder Anand Srivastava said the system is helping to transform how banking operates in India, where many consumers still do not have bank accounts. “Currently payment systems in India are inefficient. Outstation cheques take 10-30 days to credit and postal money order up to 45 days,” he said.
[Read more via The Hindu Business Line]
Google creates ‘are you sure?’ button for ad click-throughs
Many mobile users accidentally click on banner ads while trying to swipe other areas of their smartphone screen, a problem Google is trying to solve with a new feature for its mobile ads. Google has released a new function for its mobile ads that will ask users whether they are sure they wanted to click if their finger slides the outer border of an ad.
[Read more via Chicago Tribune]
