Software giant Microsoft and Chinese telecoms giant Huawei are gearing up to spread the Windows Phone widely. Microsoft and Huawei have jointly announced that they are going to bring affordable, low-cost Windows Phone powered devices to capture the African market.
African continent has more than 1 billion people. In fact, the huge African market is one of the fastest growing markets in the world. But somehow, modern smartphones such as iPhone 5 or Samsung Galaxy S III or Nokia Lumia 920 haven’t reached there on a large-scale. On the other side, most of the African people are waiting for low-cost but modern smartphones. So Microsoft and Huawei announced on February 4 that they will bring low-cost Windows Phone powered smartphones for the African people as soon as possible.
Huawei will bring a Windows Phone-powered smartphone called Huawei 4Afrika that will have 10.15 mm thickness, a 4-inch WVGA 480 x 800 display with Zero-Gap Touch technology, a dual-core 1.2 GHz Snapdragon processor, 4GB of storage, front (5MP) and rear facing cameras, and a 1730 mAh Li-Polymer battery that would provide up to 420 hours of standby time and up to 560 minutes of talk time on 3G like the current Huawei Ascent W1 phone. Besides the phone will include some “locally-relevant” apps and content created by African developers for that continent’s consumers. The device would go on sale in 7 markets – Angola, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, and South Africa starting the end of February 2013 and will be offered in blue, red, black and white versions.
On the other side, Microsoft is focusing on Africa and it’s population of more than 1 billion to get a stronger hold on the smartphone market. Microsoft International President Jean-Philippe Courtois said in a statement, “We believe there has never been a better time to invest in Africa and that access to technology—particularly cloud services and smart devices—can and will serve as a great accelerator for African competitiveness.”
Neither Microsoft nor Huawei revealed the pricing of the upcoming Windows Phone-powered smartphone for Africa. But we have come to know that he smartphone is intended for middle-income users, such as students, small-business owners, and developers. According to The New York Times, these Windows Phone powered smartphone will cost around $150.
Source: Windows Phone Blog, 4Afrika
Thanks To: ITWeb
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