2011 is gone and 2012 is here. We need to look back, not with regrets, but learn from the negative and positive experiences as we initiate and involve ourselves in challenges coming with the new year. As a techie, you are not suppose to be sitting and waiting for others to initiate new ideas while you chorus on the sidelines. You must have what you drive whether you are employed in a traditional company setting or simply self employed.
If your ideas are big enough to blow the roof and commotion at your employers premises, look for a yard and rope in some friends to cause a fracas. Such ideas must be good enough to either sustain you or if they cant sustain you then sustain a community. There is no need of starting ideas which sustain no one in particular but the idea itself.
Before I put my best foot forward for 2012, these are my predictions on what to expect as we dive into this Sea of nyangumis, Hippos, Papas, Catfish amid other very friendly animals.
Social Media with Be King
2012 is the year of general elections in Kenya. Politicians have been fighting for a piece of the social media community with all key players now having a good following online. Corporates are joining the bandwagon though some believe just like our politicians that they should come and sales pitch and not engage with users like peers.
One lesson anyone joining social media should learn is that gloves are off. You behave stupidly, in social media we will tell you. In other media they might try to baptise it in a way to make it sound nice.
Social Media will grow in a big way as we head for the general elections and as more and more corporates, self-prolaimed celebs and other influential parties join the networks. If Caroline Mutoko who thought that social media is for idlers and busy bodies can join and desperately look for audience on Social media, who are you to ignore it?
Smartphones, Tablets and Ultrabooks Will Grow Marketshare
Smartphone penetration in Kenya is still very low. The main obstacle to the growth of such devices has been initial investment required. Already, the Huawei IDEOS U8150 smartphone has sold more than 130, 000 units in Kenya. This is because the smartphone was priced so low and offered such unique experience you could not compare it to anything else. Nokia tried to use the strategy of pricing to market the C3 handset which did not work. The phone does not have a smartphone experience though it is suppose to be smarter. The experience in trying to locate cool apps to better the productivity, social media or just an experience on the phone is so hard.
The IDEOS had the advantage because of the Android OS touch interface which made most of the first-time smartphone owners get different experience from what they are used to. The IDEOS phone is famously referred to as IDIOT on Kenya’s social media circle. While travelling from Kisumu on 20th December, I asked 3 guys who were travelling with me in the same vehicle why they loved that phone. They say the experience is from out of this world. All of them could point to 5 apps which were making an impact into their lives.
Apart from the smartphones, we will see tablets become more common. Walking around Nairobi today, you will see Dell, Huawei, ZTE, Samsung, HP, Meccer and Apple’s iPads. The distribution is still concentrated in Nairobi with only Safaricom having a good stock of devices in its upcountry shops. Safaricom and other operators have great value proposition on tablets, smartphones and laptops. You can now purchase a tablet or laptop from Safaricom as an employee of such-and-such company or as a teacher or policeman. This specific bundling make it sure that we have more buyers understand the benefit of technology ownership as opposed to just buying because of need to own technology.
African Application Developers, Content Creators and Techies Will Shine
We have had few worthy mentions in 2011. I look at 2012 as the year when real techies will be separated from the joy riders. You are either someone who can survive the tide or you will continue to ride on the wave that your friends give you alms so that you can defend their misdeeds online.
In 2012, content creators and real application developers will break the bank. I see Kenyans making millions from selling apps and not winning contests which add no value to their endeavors apart from massage their egos. This is the year of Kenyan and African techies. Lets make an impact.
More Tech Giants Will Take Africa Seriously
Google, HP, Oracle and CISCO have been here while the likes of Twitter and Facebook are showing interests. Oracle is boosting its local operations even as the likes of Nokia are focusing on mature markets in Africa and Middle East as their fortunes dwindle locally. We will see other Asian, European and American tech giants enter the East African market.
Cloud Services Will Get More Traction
Safaricom has entered the managed services businesses. The company partnered with Seven Seas, CISCO and EMC2 as it entered the cloud services business. Safaricom is investing over Ksh 3.5 Billion in the business over a period of two years. That is so big money. Cloud services might be new in the enterprise level but at personal IT solutions, we have been using cloud services for as long as we can remember.
Already I have seen File IT Africa and IonaCloud enter the business to provide personal cloud solutions. More firms will enter this service in the coming days.
I will be updating this blog post as we move into the new year. What are your predictions? Leave them in the comments below.
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