Huawei, Microsoft expand in Africa with launch of low-cost Windows smartphone
The product's launch yesterday marked the start of the "Microsoft 4Africa Initiative", a new effort through which the software giant will actively engage in helping the continent improve its global competitiveness.
Huawei Technologies and Microsoft have stepped up their expansion in Africa by jointly introducing a low-cost smartphone that runs on the new Windows Phone 8 operating system.
The "Huawei 4Africa" smartphone will be available later this month in seven countries: Angola, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa. The internet-ready 3G mobile phone is a customised version of the Ascend W1, the first Windows smartphone from Huawei that debuted in mainland China and Russia last month.
Initial reports said the device would cost US$150 and come pre-loaded with applications designed by African developers for domestic consumers.
Ali Faramawy, Microsoft's vice-president for the Middle East and Africa, said Huawei's device represented the first in a series of "4Africa" smartphones to be sold to "tens of millions" of domestic consumers.
"We believe strongly that improved access to affordable and high-quality smartphones in Africa can have a strong impact on the continent's overall economic development," Faramawy said.