Chinese mobile phone maker Huawei announced that it will be launching a low-cost Windows Phone 8 handset into the African market. The announcement was made as part of Microsoft’s 4Afrika initiative, which kicks off today.
“Smartphones in Africa still represent a very small percentage – 10 percent – of total phones across the continent. As a first critical step toward increasing the adoption of smart devices, Microsoft and Huawei are introducing the Huawei 4Afrika – a full functionality Windows Phone 8 which will come pre-loaded with select applications designed by Africans, for Africa,” Microsoft said on their website.
The Huawei 4Afrika devices will be made available in Angola, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa by the end of February 2013, and forms part of their strategy to release low-cost units aimed towards university students, developers and first-time smart phone users.
“The Huawei 4Afrika phone, which is the first in what will be a series of smart devices designed ‘4Afrika’, will to ensure they have affordable access to best-in-class technology to enable them to connect, collaborate, and access markets and opportunities online,” Microsoft said.
According to GSM Arena, “on the hardware side the Huawei 4Afrika retains the 4.0-inch, 800 x 480 resolution LCD, dual-core, 1.2GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB internal memory with microSD card slot, 5 megapixel camera with 720p video recording and a front facing VGA camera. On the software side, however, the Huawei 4Afrika comes with custom apps designed by local African developers for Africa, which Microsoft believes will make people switch from cheap feature phones.”
Charlie Fripp
