African rival to iPad launched

An African alternative to Apple’s iPad was launched in the Republic of Congo last week, with the Way-C tablet currently on sale only in Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire.

The Way-C tablet, to rival Apple's iPad in West Africa (image: VMKtech)

Invented by the 26-year-old Verone Mankou the tablet costs only $300. Way-C means “the light of the stars” in a northern Congolese dialect. “Originally the idea was to design a low-cost computer to bring internet access to as many people as possible,” Mankou said.

Mankou plans to market the device in 10 countries in West Africa, as well as in Belgium, France and India — which should get underway on 15 February.

On the official Way-C website, Mankou describes the tablet as affordable without being cheap, catering for Africans. “The Android tablet is a little smaller than the iPad, and weighs 380g. It has a 1.2GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal memory and supports Wi-Fi. Battery life is 6 hours,” CISA wrote.

“In technological terms, this tablet is equivalent to all those to be found on the market,” Mankou added to AFP.

Charlie Fripp – Online editor

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