ICTworks by Inveneo

How is this for a bit of hyperbole: Business Day says "Kenya tops list of EA countries worst-hit by computer viruses":

International data security firm Kaspersky says Kenya now tops the list of East African countries for computers that are infected with dangerous threats and malicious viruses.

“Given East Africa’s recent Internet connectivity boom, with the landing of SEACOM the number of security infections in Kenya has increased approximately 10 times and roughly four times during the last six months,” said Mr Sergey Novikov, head of the region’s research at Kaspersky Lab. Mr Novikov says such statistics are a cause for major concern as hackers infect computers to gain access to private and important information, from personal banking details to company data bases and information that should not be shared.

“Looking at the number of security detections in East Africa during the last eight months, Kenya ranked in first place with 40 per cent, Tanzania in second place with 14 per cent and Ethiopia in 11th place with 1.1 per cent."

But before you get too afraid to turn on your computer, realize that rankings are relative. Kaspersky notes that on the international scene, Kenya has less than one per cent of infections and ranks at number 37.

The Bayview Webspot is an Internet Cafe in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco, USA.  The goals of the Bayview Webspot are to strengthen low-moderate income communities by continually providing access to, and ownership of, high-end technology.  As well as provide an environment of education and accessibility for our clients in a safe, friendly manner.

This location proved to be an ideal setting for Inveneo to test some new Internet Cafe software, CyberCafe Pro made by OneRoof.  Inveneo was tasked by Cisco with installing a low-cost, effective Internet Cafe software in the Community Knowledge Centers (CKC) it is installing throughout rural Kenya.  It was ideal for a couple of reasons.  The Webspot clients are similar in skill and computer knowledge as the CKC target market.  Also they have similar computer needs and usage as well as income levels, which makes Webspot a good place to test.  Finally one of the owners also works at Inveneo so access and approval was made easy.

CyberCafe Pro by OneRoof is the perfect price point, FREE, however the free version has advertisements at the bottom of the page.  It is possible to purchase a non-banner version for $99 per year but this requires an international credit card which is difficult to come by in rural Kenya.

The ease of use and flexibility of the software is amazing!  CyberCafe Pro comes bundled with terminal time management, employee tracking and point-of-sale software.  These are the three most used tasks in any internet cafe and that they are in one program makes training and deployment so much easier.  It also allows for easy tracking and control.  

Finally, OneRoof understands that CyberCafe Pro is not always intuitive and has dealt with this issue by providing YouTube video tutorials.  They are simple to follow and easy to access.  Kudos to the OneRoof team.

Inveneo continues its experimentation of the CyberCafe Pro software at the Bayview Webspot but so far Inveneo has deployed this solution in three CKCs throughout rural Kenya and all is well.

Yesterday, Huawei introduced a revolutionary Android smartphone in the Kenyan market. The tech specs for the IDEOS mobile phone will make any hardware geek drool - 2.8-inch (240x320) touch display, 528MHz processor, 3.2-megapixel camera, 16Gig memory with a microSD slot, HSDPA, Wi-Fi (802.11n), GPS, Bluetooth, and 3G Mobile Hotspot support for up to eight devices. That's hot and all, but...

It is the $100 price that's revolutionary

Huawei and Google have noticed that Kenyan mobile Internet use grew by over 180 per cent in past 12 months and have teamed up to offer the IDEOS for 8,000 Ksh, or about $100 US Dollars, to increase that adoption rate.

At $100, the smartphone goes from just a techno elite bragging right to a phone actually accessible for the wananchi. $100 puts phones in range of schools, medical clinics, and other large organizations that need to equip their staff or clients with affordable, powerful information and communication technologies.

It's the netbook revolution for smartphones.

Do you remember Christmas 2007, when netbooks first appeared? These were small, cheap laptop computers that retailed for $200 yet could do almost as much as high-end $2,000 business elite laptops. Netbooks were born from the One Laptop Per Child program and its "$100 laptop" goal. OLPC's XO laptop never reached the $100 price point, but you can now buy real, respectable laptops for $400.

With the Huawei $100 Android smartphone, we're about to see the same revolution in mobile phones. We're about to see an explosion of cheap, sub-$100 smartphones that rival iPhones in function and cheap Nokias in price. In fact, the $100 smartphone price barrier was first broken when Nokia announced the 2730 Classic and Synchronica released the MessagePhone back in March 2010.

It's gonna change the way Africa gets online

With more, better, cheaper smartphones, the shift from computer to mobile phone for Internet access across Africa will only accelerate, changing the entire ICT industry. 2 out of every 3 internet users in Kenya connect through their mobile phone, which is already driving cyber cafes out of business and I see ISP's loosing business to Android 2.2 (Froyo)-enabled WiFi hotspots.

The shift to cheap mobile Internet devices also means there will be less margin for ICT companies. Gone are the days of selling relatively few high-end laptops or smartphones to elite business clients, with businesses trading on technical skills and support to gain market share. The $100 smartphone era will see businesses compete with lowest price, speediest sale, and cheapest staff. A predicament, not progress. C'est la vie

Mobile phone manufacturer Sony Ericsson will finally be entering the Kenyan mobile market by partnering with Safaricom to distribute Xperia X10 line of Android smart phones, according to Capital FM Kenya.

Country Manager Jonas Gronqwist said on Tuesday that the company aims to capitalise on the mobile phone boom in the country as well as introduce internet-enabled phones that will enhance internet penetration.

"If you look at the Kenyan market there are more mobile phones than fixed lines; the internet penetration is going straight up. I believe the possibilities are enormous for the coming two to three years," Mr Gronqwist said.

All I can say is its about time. Nokia, and now Apple are already all over the Kenya market. Safaricom even launched its own solar power phones. Sony Ericsson needs to step up and join the sales frenzy.

Hat tip to Kiwanja/Ken Banks.

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