Author: Cyrus

At long last, Samsung launched the much hyped Galaxy S2 smartphone in Nairobi. The phone has great features but the pricing really scares even the high-end market it seeks to tap on to. Most users we talked to believe that there should have been operator subsidy or introduction of contract plans. Samsung is planning to sell just around 10,000 units in Kenya according to Robert Ngeru, Samsung East Africa Business Leader. The pricing is not realistic considering that with the material the phone is made of, it wont last that long for a resell since with the many launches, you…

PR is a great career to be in but it is sometimes a job equivalent to toilet cleaning. Sometime you get shit dropped by someone who was careless and also seems to have eaten all the taka taka  from Dandora dumpsite. Sometime you get to work with shit droppers who are clean enough not to perch on toilet seats and spoil your day. And in the process, we have insane PR practitioners. Some are born insane, some acquire insanity along the way and others get insane by just joining a firm which has one or two major accounts and without…

Kenya Data Networks (KDN) yesterday invited journalists, bloggers and prospective clients to their new state-of-the art Data Centre which is housed at the Sameer Business Park. The facility which is served with a 11Kv 3-phase KPLC power line which is stepped down to just 420 volts for consumption by the facility. The facility also has six of the 1,500 KvA generators for back-up. The generators can serve the facility for a period of 55 days without stop in case of power failure. The Data Centre has a capacity of 120 – 150 racks per floor and with four floors built…

This is the phone which Samsung hoped to be its best. It is not disappointing. The phone is so fast, slim and runs smoothless on the Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS. Other phones like the Motorola Atrix, iPhone 5, LG Optimus 2x and HTC sensation are its closest competitor but it just impresses. The phone retails at Ksh 60,000 at FoneXpress outlets but might be lower at Safaricom and others when it launches. The phone will be officially launched in Nairobi on Wednesday 7th September. The Samsung Galaxy SII is very thin measuring 125.3 x 66.1 x 8.5mm meaning that it’s…

Airtel Kenya CEO, Rene Meza, has now moved to Vodacom Tanzania in a similar position. The new CEO at Airtel Kenya is Mr. Shivan Bhargava who will now assume the title of Chief Operating Officer. It seems that the management issue with the Bharti Airtel crew has pushed Rene Meza away bringing in a Bharti Airtel insider from India. Mr Bhargava moves to Airtel Kenya from the Bharti Airtel HQ having joined the group in 2003. He has more than 16 years in Commercial Operations both at Airtel and Coca-Cola. He has a Bachelor of Engineering in Telecommunications Engineering, coupled with post-graduate…

South Africa’s Deputy Minister for Communication, Mr Obed Bapela, has announced that the country might demand that RIM decrypt its BlackBerry messaging service as demanded by India, Saudi Arabia and UAE “because the service aides criminals in their activities.” The minister was speaking while officially opening the Telkom South Africa sponsored Southern Africa Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference (SATNAC) this morning. It is not clear if the country is seriously pursuing the case seriously with RIM but the secure BlackBerry messaging service has ruffled feathers all over with even the UK police finding a problem with it during the London…

So today Sunday, 4th September, we went to Dandora dumpsite for a tour with Juliani, Emmanuel Jal and a host of other Kenyans, The project was supposedly organised and funded by Boniface Mwangi (he of one CNN award fame) and his organisations. Before the event I received the invitation from Boniface Mwangi whom I have known and supported for a while. He wanted to be accompanied to Dandora with Juliani and Emmanuel Jal. So we went to Dandora and had a great time. People were talking how they can change the country and how we should ignore the current leadership.…

I got this printer about three weeks ago. The HP Deskjet 3050 all-in-one is a small, entry-level intended for the home or home office market. The printer is an improvement from the DeskJet 1050. I comes with a a mono colour LCD display with three soft buttons used to select the printer’s menu options. The DesJet 3050 printer’s paper feeds from a 60-sheet rear tray to a front tray and there it has two print cartridges, black  and tri-colour. Even though this is an entry level printer, it still manage to pack a standard wireless connection as well as USB…

He has been one of the most outspoken bloggers ever. Some of my readers have compared me to Mike which I am not. I loved the guts of Arrington and he seemed to have rubbed his AOL bosses the wrong way and at times controlling his guts seemed to be a tall order for even Tim Armstrong, AOL CEO. According to BusinessInsider, yesterday AOL leaders like Arianna and Tim were saying that Arrington was not heading TechCrunch anymore but would continue to write. BI is reporting today that Arianna Huffington has confirmed that AOL employs Mike Arrington no more. He…

Early this year (2011), mobile operators in Uganda were on a war bath trying to out do each other on the voice and to a certain degree on data. The rates fell by more than 50% to the range of Ush 1 per second or Ush 200 per minute. But that is set to change as Airtel and MTN are all saying that the “operational overheads” are forcing them to adjust the rates upwards. Starting Saturday (September 3rd) MTN has announced that it will charge Ush 4 per second from the previous Ush 2 per second or Sh 240 per…

Tech4Africa, the continent’s only web and emerging technology conference, is calling for entries to its inaugural Tech4Africa Innovation Award. Designed to recognize homegrown innovation and further inspire the industry to develop global solutions to uniquely African challenges, this prestigious award is open to individuals and companies alike. The 2011 Tech4Africa Conference follows last year’s successful launch of the event, which attracted more than 500 developers, marketers, innovators and business executives. Some of the industry’s leading minds gathered for two days to participate in presentations by and discussions with international speakers on the state of web and emerging technology on the continent. “The Tech4Africa Innovation Award is…

In the morning I did a post about the Kenyan Social Media Ninjas and the Politicians. And this evening I was proved right when I attended the #VPMeetUp which was basically a circus run by some psycophants in the name of moderators. From the start I knew that the Vice President was not running the @SkMusyoka account on Twitter. It was very obvious who the faces behind the account were. So AlKags realised who the people behind the event were and might have chickened out. So Tonee Ndung’u took over and it was instant disappointment. The guy is such an ass…

Guys, it is here. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is going on sale in Safaricom and FoneXpress stores all over Kenya. The iconic device is expected to retail at Ksh 70,000 while the older Galaxy Tab 7″ is retailing at Ksh 39,000 at Safaricom shops. It will be available at the two shops but I am not sure if that would be exclusively or not. The company is facing a host of legal battles in different markets pitting it against Apple’s iPad. The new Galaxy Tab supports Safaricom and the Orange HSPA+ network speeds of up to 21Mbps and comes pre-loaded…

There are DSTV subscribers and there are also real DSTV subscribers. The real ones are the ones who buy decoder and set up connection at home, office or in their business premises but the simple DSTV subscribers aka cable pirates are the ones who actually buy a a full DSTV set but make money out of it through illegally connecting other users by looping. They invest in modulators, receivers and cable hubs just for that purpose. The police knows not much about them but just go through Jamhuri, Highrise, South B, Ngummo, South C and any middle-class estate and you…

CCK has many problems and one of them has been management crisis out of first the attempted sacking of the Director general by the board which was ignored by the minister and later implemented, albeit through proxies, by a court order. Njoroge was good in standing by decisions which might not have been popular but were for public interests. So the mafia like cartel in the communications sector made it hard for him to operate and ensured that he was sacked. Enter Francis Wangusi (appointed acting CCK Director general) and the major fumbles and falls begins. You know CCK is…