Tecno and Zalego award top Kenyan mobile application developers

The top android developers were awarded as follows;
Platinum Winner

Mission Impossible, an android
game where Kenyan elite
squad protect their land from
invading aliens. One is given a
chance to join the recce squad
and help end the invasion. It
was developed by George
Gathoni.
The winner will walk away with
cash amounting to KSh.300,
000 and an android phone.

Gold winner

Followapp, by Stephen Mbuvi,

which is a finance
management app that helps
one keep contacts of debtors
and creditors alongside the
amount of money owed.
Additionally, one can keep
track of their bills and help
them make payments in time.
Also, one can capture
important contacts of people
they’d like to keep in touch
with and store additional notes
alongside the contacts as well
as a digital version of their
business cards.
The winner will take home
KSh.200, 000 and an Android
phone.
Silver winner

TronRacer app, developed by
Stephen Kimani.

Tron was a
movie in 2010 by Disney about
a programmer that gets sucked
into his computer and its
electronic world. The film was
centered on a game where the
players had to cut each other
off using motor bikes that left a
line behind them. It’s both a
racer and mind game.
The winner will bag KSh.150,
000 and an Android phone.

Bronze winners

Mbwa Wetu, an educational

app dedicated to informing and
giving people highlights about
Dogs, by Simeon Obwogo.
Solitaire, developed by Karanja
Kiniaru. It is a card game
played with a pack of 52 cards
that come in 4 suits with 2
colors, spades (black),
diamonds (red) and clubs
(black).

Accounts Tracker, which
allows users to keep track of
current balance in different
bank accounts held by the user
and the transactions of those
accounts. It was developed by
Josphat Karuiri.

Each of the bronze winners will
get one Tecno Android phone.
This will be the second time
Zalego and Tecno will be
coming together to reward top
developers since their first
coming together in 2013 during
the Tecno Afmobi Challenge.
The partnership between the
two companies has seen
android developers get training
in development of mobile
applications for free. The App
Challenge is aimed at
motivating and rewarding
excellent Kenyan android
developers.

Budget Siku. (coming soon on play store)

Deck version 1.1

Deck is an entertainment that enables one to mix music in the comfort of his android phone.. It has three skins
1. SINGLE DECK. it has one deck it enable u to mix music with two phones at the same time..
2. TWIN DECK CLASSIC. it has two decks they enable you to mix multiple songs at the same time in your phone.
3. TWIN DECK. STARTERS. it has twin deck but has a different layout from the twin deck classic..
the app allows you to record your music and share it with friends or listen to it later

The app gives you an option to record. what you are mixing... and also have per-installed sound effects and samplers..

Safaricom appwiz challenge. . 47teams took part

On the 27th of July @iBizAfrica in part­ner­ship with Safar­icom and Inves­ted Devel­op­ment hos­ted the Safar­icom App wiz Hack­a­thon. The Safar­icom App Wiz Chal­lenge is an ini­ti­at­ive by Safar­icom that is aimed at enabling youths in Kenya deploy applic­a­tions in the app mar­kets and at the same time make money in the pro­cess. Designed to identify and develop suc­cess­ful early stage mobile com­pan­ies, the chal­lenge will provide a three months incub­a­tion period for qual­i­fied par­ti­cipants who will be natured and ment­ored on all stages of applic­a­tion devel­op­ment and monetization.

The hack­a­thon attrac­ted applic­ants from all over Kenya. Developers sub­mit­ted applic­a­tions in six dif­fer­ent cat­egor­ies, namely; Agri­cul­ture, Edu­ca­tion, Health, Fin­ance, pro­ductiv­ity & util­ity and Games. Over 110 con­test­ants took part in the hackathon.

On the mater­ial day 47 ideas and teams made it to the semi-​final of the chal­lenge which took place at @iBizAfrica, the busi­ness incub­ator in Strath­more Uni­ver­sity situ­ated at the Stu­dent Cen­ter build­ing on the 5th floor. The aim of the hack­a­thon was to fur­ther short­l­ist the num­ber of sub­mit­ted applic­a­tions to 18 that would pro­ceed to the next stage which is a three month all expenses paid for busi­ness incub­a­tion at @iBizAfrica. This meant that three of the best applic­a­tions from each cat­egory will be picked to pro­ceed to the next level.

The teams worked hard on the present­a­tions they would pitch to the panel of judges. The judging panel was com­prised of lead­ing tech­no­logy and innov­a­tion experts who listened and judged the applic­a­tions in the dif­fer­ent categories.
The moment of truth came where the teams finally met the judges and pitched for ten minutes. Some teams came out jovial oth­ers depressed, but all have to wait for the judges ver­dict to know who will make it into the @iBizAfrica incub­a­tion pro­gram. Suc­cess­ful con­test­ants will join the incub­a­tion pro­gram on from the 12th of August to the 25th of Octo­ber this year. The final award cere­mony will be 1st of Novem­ber 2013.

Visit link for more details about the Safar­iom App Wiz Challenge

Technos Phantom A developers cheap smartphone

Phantom A is a dual SIM Smartphone which has 5 inch HD touch screen and runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with dual core processor/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 15 – Competition in the smartphone market continues to increase after Tecno mobile brand launched its android smartphone, Phantom A into the Kenyan market.
Phantom A is a dual SIM Smartphone which has 5 inch HD touch screen and runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with dual core processor.

Tecno Group Vice President Arif Chowdhury said the Phantom A will retail at Sh20,000 at all Tecno authorized retailers countrywide.

“Our capability to offer highly-advanced devices has promoted brand uptake in new African markets,” Chowdhury said. “Kenya is not only a market with only low-end phones, but also willing to explore high-end services and innovations.”

With the dual core processor, the device offers users a fast processing speed and the ability to use multiple applications at the same time.

Chowdhury said the 9.1mm thick Phantom A is the fruit of collaboration between Tecno’s labs in France and Korea.

The smartphone, running on a stunning 5″ high definition touch screen, presents users with an amazingly smooth operation experience while viewing messages, multimedia, playing games preloaded.

Other notable features of the android-driven smartphone are the 8 mega pixel rear camera with flash and powerful front camera.

“We want to satisfy the rapidly growing smartphone market in Kenya without compromising on quality,” he said.

Samsung To give away ksh.68 million

Record $800,000 in prize money to be awarded along with marketing benefits and the chance to get the opportunity investment review by ‘Samsung Venture Investment’. Total of 10 applications will be selected as ‘Applications, can be used for GALAXY S4’s ‘Group Play’ service.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a leader in mobile technology and digital solutions, today introduced the Samsung Smart App Challenge 2013, a global app competition aimed at finding new applications utilising group communication function.

With the launch of the global contest, local android operating systems mobile application developers have been, invited to participate in the Samsung Smart App Challenge 2013 where they stand a chance to win more than Kshs 68million in prize money, now up for grabs.

While confirming the opportunity for local Mobile Application Developers, Samsung Electronics East Africa Chief Operating Officer Robert Ngeru said the second Samsung Smart App Challenge 2013 will seek to pick ten entries, which will be selected as winners.

The winners will subsequently receive a record total of $800,000 in prize money along with a variety of marketing benefits. As part of a corporate talent development programme, Ngeru pointed it out that executives drawn from Samsung Group Venture investment arm – Samsung Venture Investment- will review the final winners for financial investment.

“With Samsung Smart App Challenge 2013, Samsung is setting the stage for an elaborate initiative to discover practical, demand driven Apps as we seek to boost the global mobile ecosystem,” said Ngeru.

And added: “At Samsung, we will continue to encourage local mobile developers to develop new and innovative applications for a global audience. In Kenya, just as in many parts of the world, Samsung will continue to encourage mobile developers to create innovative applications integrating some of the new features on our GALAXY range of devices. The Samsung Smart App Challenge will greatly enhance application choices for GALAXY S4 so users can enjoy a valuable experience.”

Contest entrants will be one category. “Smart Chord Apps,” which can be used for development of ‘Group Play’ service on GALAXY S4, a panel of judges will decide the winning entries, which will consist of 10 innovative applications, which use group management functionality in interesting and experiential ways. The applicants have to use “Samsung Chord SDK” which helps developers create a group with multi-devices in real-time, automatically, requiring no manual processing of devices, which join or leave the group.

Winning entrants will be, rewarded with prize money and a variety of promotional benefits through Samsung’s global channels. They will be given a chance also to be pitched their app to Samsung Venture Investment just after the ceremony for the winners

Samsung Electronics East Africa has continually supported young upcoming techies at the iHub Nairobi; by sponsoring the annual Mobile garage Exhibition for  programmers, computer scientists, software engineers, and web developers drawn from universities and colleges across the country develop mobile app for listing on the Samsung Apps store. However, such Apps would need to meet a global audience threshold

The Samsung App store, is accessed by millions of mobile phone subscribers’ globally seeking to download quality android applications in diverse categories such as Entertainment, Education, Games, Lifestyle, Travel and Productivity among others. Kenyan Application developers on the Android platform therefore, have equal access to other global developers to showcase their solutions on the Samsung Apps store which is a gateway to global tech-preneurship.

The challenge, Ngeru said, is open to all mobile application developers across the globe. Local developers who wish to participate should sign up directly on the App Challenge website: http://www.smartappchallenge.com and register their apps on Samsung Apps from 20th June to 31st August 2013.

Kenya The Next Big thing in Tech

The M-Kopa lamp, and its control padThe M-Kopa lamp is one of numerous innovations coming out of Kenya
Kenya is making an international name for itself as a technology centre. They call it, in the manner of these things, Silicon Savannah.
As I explained in my previous blog from the country, first came the mobile phone, bringing connectivity to vast numbers of people who were never connected before.
Then came mobile money, empowered by the phone. And now the pace is quickening.
IBM and Google have set up regional centres in Nairobi, promoting innovation and research as well as selling. Google's chairman Eric Schmidt spoke highly of Kenya's tech prowess during a recent visit.
There are several tech hubs and accelerators in Nairobi. At one called 88mph, the other afternoon, I met a succession of start-up businesses trying to create new companies out of that convergent potential of mobile phones, and the mobile money launched by the Kenyan phone company Safaricom six years ago.
Tech-savvy
People say that just as many developing world countries skipped the copper-wire stage of telephony and jumped straight to mobile phones, so Kenya (in particular) skipped the desktop computer and laptop era of computing.
Now very clever young people are leaping into business with new ideas about how to use these new mobile platforms.
Although many Kenyans have rushed to get mobile phones, most cannot yet afford smartphones. So applications using all those Africa phones have of necessity to be simple, probably text-based ones.
As we know from other tech-savvy places, constraints like that are actually inspiring - not limiting - for ingenious young entrepreneurs.
What is very striking about Kenya is the number of returnees - and adventurers from overseas - who are starting businesses, endorsing the country's reputation by putting their money and energy into where Kenya's mouth is.88mph's homemade DeLoreanTechnology hub 88mph got its inspiration from the DeLorean time travelling car in the hit Back to the Future movie series
It is a signal moment when people educated abroad think - with their global perspective - that home is where the grass of opportunity is greenest.
The vertical takeoff of mobile telephony has started non-government organisations and entrepreneurs thinking about the grassroots possibilities of using all those phones.
And the rapid acceptance of mobile money has started deep thinking about what can be done in connection with it - addressing many of what the late Prof CK Prahalad called the Bottom of the Pyramid, the poor.
And the Kenyan government seems to have lost many of its inhibitions about letting daylight into how it works and the decisions it takes.
Funeral financing
One of the moving spirits behind the digitisation of Kenya is a local techno-enthusiast called Bitange Ndemo, who has just left the Ministry for Information and Communications after eight years as chief civil servant.
He's been a bold champion of using the internet to create transparent government, believing that information transforms societies and brings prosperity in its wake.
He says Kenya has used the internet to open up government to the people, and the people are responding to it.
The result of all this is an extraordinary flourish of new businesses or almost-new business, often no more than a few people with laptop computers gathered together in buzzy tech hubs. They are very like the places in Berlin or New York or San Francisco, or Silicon Roundabout in the East End of London.
But there seems to be a difference - many of these prospective businesses are being built from ground-level African needs, not around consumer fads or fashions like so many of those in Europe or the USA.
The 88mph hub is named after the speed it takes that famous DeLorean to get Back to the Future in the film of the same name. One start-up I ran into there is M-Changi. Changi means collect. It's a rather tragic application addressing a real need in Africa - the financing of funerals, many of them victims of Aids.
M-Changi enables friends of family of the deceased to make mobile payments into an easily created fund for the funeral or (more cheerfully) the wedding or any other social event. You can use it to fundraise for anything of course, and people are doing so.
A few steps further on across the open floor of the hub, there's M-Kazi (it means job). It's a recruitment platform that works not on the internet (which many Kenyans have little access to) but simply, on a mobile phone.
Next door is another start-up writing the software to organise mobile phone payments for Kenya's many rental property companies.
That is just a sample of the new businesses developing in one Nairobi hub.
Cheaper alternative
Meanwhile the company that started the mobile-payments revolution, Safaricom, is itself busy getting involved in more projects related to phones and mobile money to help Africa and (naturally) drive mobile use.
Safaricom's current chief executive is a genial Guyanan, Bob Collymore. He told me about a new service launched in connection with a local bank to enable phone users to save tiny amounts of money, regularly. Micro-saving is a significant extension of the now familiar micro-lending. Why shouldn't the poor be able to save like the rich?88mph logoThe 88mph hub is home to a number of Kenyan start-ups
He also showed me a solar-powered lamp for the 80% of homes in Kenya without power. It's activated by daily mobile money transfers - and switched off by the company when the money is not paid.
The M-Kopa lamp comes from a company co-founded by Nick Hughes, the man who helped invent mobile-phone-based money transfer service M-Pesa for Vodaphone. It is cheaper than the kerosene-fuelled alternative, says Bob Collymore.
The buyer makes daily mobile money transfers, which are micro payments for the lamp, and they can become credits or savings when the system is paid for over a year or so.
M-Kopa is thinking of using its technology to organise payments for fridges, or irrigation, and in many developing countries where regulators allow it. Other companies will be setting up similar systems soon.
Kenya seems to be erupting with ideas about how to use technology to address the problems of places without money or resources, and some of them are going to be turned into businesses that may become of international size and significance.
Africa shows technology in a different light from the way it has so far evolved in rich places. I think that Western entrepreneurs may soon have quite a lot to learn from their counterparts in places such as Kenya.Share this