At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in the US, Huawei unveiled a Windows smartphone called the Huawei Ascend W1. The phone has a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB internal storage and a 5MB pixel camera. In short, low to mid-range brain & power. Today, the two companies announced a slight and gave it made for a Africa tag. It’s actually called exactly that; Huawei 4Afrika.
According to the announcement, the phone will be available in Angola, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, and South Africa. Yep, Zim not a priority, unless maybe if the mobile operators here call the local Huawei office and ask for it.
Pricing is not disclosed in the announcement, a sign it will vary from country to country probably depending on network infrastructure deals and general size of business Huawei has with operators in those countries. Its big brother, the Ascend W1, however is said to cost about $260 in China. So maybe just thereabout or a little more. Which of course might be a problem for Huawei & Microsoft considering sub $100 entry level smartphones are aplenty on the continent. All this is just speculation though, better we all wait and see…
Microsoft says in the announcement that this Windows 8 smartphone is targeted at students, small businesses, developers, and first-time smartphone owners. We have lots of people included in that wide profile of course so if the pricing is right, they have a winner.
As for what makes this phone more Afrikan than your regular smartphone, well, apparently it comes with custom apps created by African developers made for African consumers as well as a market-specific store within the larger Windows Phone Store so its users can download apps relevant to their countries.
Via: gsmarena.com
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14 comments
Why is a phone made for Africa advertised with a big BBC News tile?
dont be shallow minded my friend. Who says its a crime having BBC as a tile screen, when all apps you use probably are not made in Africa. I’m sorry to say this but you have a baboon mentality, it a wonder how you even got on the internet
-1 you must be self-hating or totally clueless how insulting your statement is.
Because BBC paid for that, my friend. Nothing’s free in the world 🙂
As for the other commenter with the “baboon mentality” blahblah … amheno. Why do the moderators accept this?
Sometimes takes time to find and moderate the offensive ones. Your mention helped, so thanks a mil for that…
Voting the comment down also kinda takes care of it automatically.
They could have called it something else and market it in Africa. 4Afrika is more like saying lets make something cheap which Africans can afford. On African aps cant we choose apps we want in Africa. The Huawei Ideos was a success without this 4Afrika tag. I am hating it already.
Almost posted a similar message myself. their 4afrika implies for e poor. we have iphones here they shoulld know. besides a Lumia610 is costing just around 250us, some awkward branding there
The more, the merrier. Make them cheaper (in MTN make-them-smaller tone).
Spelling AfriCa with a K doesnt tickle me at all. Stereotypic
dude, it only depends which african country you hail from. In some, Afrika is actually spelt thus. neighbouring SA is an example close to home. Africa is an English spelling. so perhaps they wanted to give that native ring to it. like one would say “Visit the beautiful land of Dzimbahwe!” in a tourist ad.
Ok, I partially concede. I’ve googled a bit. the “k” choice actually aligns with a protestant/ pro-African-activist view. I suppose (maybe) it’s more identifying than the “c” version. Reading through those links, realised I didnt know just how “political” that spelling is…
it’s a windows phone smartphone, not windows smartphone. 😉
All in all this is a great project that allows more people, well known for their limited income, to access the next “people’s radio” phenomenon but however associating 4Aftrika with cheap keeps cementing a believe system that we are working so hard to dismantle to finally emancipate our brains…. This is not good for our AfriKan brand but hey who’s making the goods…
Why all this sensitivity about 4Afrika??? And why assume that because its branded with 4Afrika it highlights that we are poor. Are we so self-defeating in our midset that if something is branded 4Afrika it cannot relate to something worth boasting about. What emotions do these words, which include the word Africa, evoke within you? South Africa…African Banking Corporation….African Distillers…..if those names conjure up feelings of negativity, poverty and inferiority then my friend, you trully are still mentally colonised, if not, good on you and stop complaining about the 4Afrika Brand, there are 8 billion+ active mobile phones out there and only 1 or so billion are smart phones. If we have at least 4Afrika-branded Windows Phone smartphone made by the largest Telecom equipment supplier in the world, Huawei no less, that is something to celebrate. Now repeat after me, dont be scared, I am an African, I come from Africa, and I love it!!!!