Comments on: The “Nokia: Innovating Africa” presentation

By: Nokia World in a Time of Flux — WhiteAfrican

Nokia World in a Time of Flux — WhiteAfrican — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 10:40:13 +0000

[…] couple months ago I gave a talk on “Innovating Africa“to some of the Nokia executives in Nairobi, they largely dealt with Africa, as well as […]

By: Huawei IDEOS U8150: $100 (KSH.8000) Smartphone Anyone? | Afrinnovator

Huawei IDEOS U8150: $100 (KSH.8000) Smartphone Anyone? | Afrinnovator — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 07:34:16 +0000

[…] the pricing even further down. Nokia has traditionally been the king of the mass market but as Erik challenged them while talking to their top brass, they simply have to push out of the traditional box where […]

By: niti bhan

niti bhan — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 14:41:16 +0000

the beginning of the start, I’d say, wiki on demand

By: Tariq Khokhar

Tariq Khokhar — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 15:44:20 +0000

Better late than never I guess - sitting here at #barcampnairobi with my wikireader having a chat it struck us - shouldn't Nokia include an offline version of Wikipedia on all new "smarter" phones sold?

By: Tonee Ndungu

Tonee Ndungu — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 09:43:54 +0000

This is a real pull in the ear for Nokia. Great stuff. I like tha part where you told them everything the needed to hear..oh wait. That was everywhere! Data, Bluetooth, African markets don’t have to be low-end markets, deal with the continent as one entity, the hardware over software..that was a well done presentation man! Cheers.

By: steve finikiotis

steve finikiotis — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 05:12:52 +0000

Erik, well said. Very helpful. Steve

By: justinbryan

justinbryan — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:32:05 +0000

Its good news for mobile lovers.

By: Merryl Ford

Merryl Ford — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 08:25:51 +0000

Great comments and ideas – agree with all of them. I didn’t see this soon enough, but I would have supported you re the importance of not stereotyping Africa and assuming that “dumbed down”, cheap phones are the way to reach the market. Africans are aspirational and the need is more for affordable smartphones! That includes the prevalence of SMS-based services for development – start thinking of services that support feature phones and smartphones too, because the secondhand market for these devices is set to expand dramatically (and China is making large strides into Africa, making new devices affordable too). Believe it or not, there is a lot you (Nokia) can learn from Africa that can be applied anywhere in the world. The cell phone is the “PC of Africa” and the challenge has changed from getting access to ICTs to how can this PC of Africa be appropriated for new kinds of products and services.

By: jke

jke — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:20:50 +0000

Asante sana, Erik!

Also, this may be a bit off-topic, but here’s another nice post on why Dual Sim phones matter, who dominates the market and why Nokia is still a bit too clumsy on the dual sim issue: http://mobile-review.com/articles/2010/dual-sim-phone-market-en.shtml

I think quite a few of the mentioned points from the talk also apply to the European market, i.e., I’d like to see more and more innovations and case studies (like m-pesa, best example) being implemented in (Western) Europe. You said it before: If it works in Africa, it will work anywhere… dual SIM phones, prepaid instead of postpaid, mobile banking – these things also work in Europe (if only Nokia wouldn’t be too shy – operators setting the pace, not manufacturers…).

By: Kevin Donovan

Kevin Donovan — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:37:59 +0000

If you have a follow up, see if they have plans to implement NFC: http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2010/06/apple