People walk while speaking on the phone on October 1,2024 in Nairobi. Kenya performed a switch-off of counterfeit mobiles. AFP/Getty Images/Simon Maina
Microsoft is not usually associated with the words “small market share,” but when it comes to the mobile market, the PC maker is struggling to compete with Apple, Samsung, and Google. As PC sales decline worldwide, and users gravitate towards mobile devices for work and play, Microsoft has been the lagging dog behind manufacturers and software developers. Its latest Surface tablet has not created the impetus for increased sales Microsoft had hoped for (although it’s possibly too soon to tell, since the Surface launched in the fall of 2012) and adoption of Windows Phone 8 has been slow. The company’s recent teaming with Huawei, the world’s third-largest smartphone maker, might rectify these less-than-impressive moves into mobile.
Africa holds huge potential for mobile growth, according to the GSM Association, but expansion there is hindered by spectrum availability and current pricing structures for smartphones. On February 5, Microsoft and Huawei launched the Huawei 4Afrika operating Windows Phone 8, specifically allowing for African developers to create and customize apps. Spokespeople from Microsoft have indicated that African users, who are mostly middle-wage earners, are not necessarily calling for phones that are cheaply made, but simply less expensive than the higher-end ones running around U.S. $600 each. At $150, this device could very well achieve that happy medium.
Microsoft and Huawei are not the only ones eyeing Africa’s potential. As Baidu, a major Chinese search engine, partners with France Telecom to deliver mobile web browsing to Africa and the Middle East, phone manufacturers and carriers are turning their heads to the market searching for low-cost internet-capable gadgets. But what to do about the spectrum issue? Low-cost smartphones are no good without networks to run on, and Africa’s chronically underdeveloped spectrum can be held in a significant way responsible for thus-far slow uptick in mobile tech.
It looks like Microsoft might be ahead of the game on this last point. On February 4, the company revealed a partnership with Indigo Telecom, an African telecom provider, and Kenya’s Ministry of Information and Communications to work on bringing low-cost wireless broadband to sections of Kenya by 2016. While this project is localized to the Nanyuki and Kalema regions currently, it is part of Microsoft’s bigger plan – the 4Afrika initiative — to develop affordable wireless internet access across the continent by the same year. These steps into the African mobile market may be the clincher for Microsoft’s success with its latest mobile operating system and continued partnerships with global smartphone makers that will propel it out of the PC slump.
