ICTworks by Inveneo

Thanks to a tip from TechMataa, I see that HP has just introduced a line of battery powered Officejet printers in Kenya:

HP Officejet 100 Mobile Printer

Enjoy convenient, professional-quality printing on the go with our Officejet 100 Mobile Printer. Bluetooth lets you print wirelessly from a variety of mobile devices, including selected laptops and smartphones. Plus, this reliable, power-saving printer is compact and easy to carry.

- Print up to 500 pages when the long-life Lithium-Ion battery is fully charged
- Print fast, at up to 22 ppm black/18 ppm color and ISO (laser-comparable) speeds up to 5 ppm black/3.5 ppm color

And while I am impressed by the idea of a battery operated printer, like the HP H470b Office Jet Mobile Printer I saw at CGI, I wonder just how long something like this would last in rural Africa. Is a mobile printer a real possibility for schools and community centers outside Nairobi or is this just to print when the KPLC power goes out in a city center office?

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If you think the answer to, "Who sells the most laptops in Nigeria?" is a big western brand like HP, Dell, or Toshiba, you would be wrong. You may be surprised to learn that the leading laptop sales company is the homegrown, Nigerian compnay Zinox, as IDC confirms:

The Q2 2010 IDC report posted on the company’s web site reveals that Zinox laptops are the fastest growing and best selling Notebooks in the Nigerian market. Zinox is strongest in the laptop market where it leads six other international brands, including HP, Acer, Toshiba, Dell, Lenovo and LG Electronics, with a 53.6% market share and a year-on-year growth of 799 per cent, while its closest competitor, HP, achieved a 23.6 per cent market share.

Now Zinox isn't the only respectable Nigerian laptop manufacturer. in 2008, I had the luxury of inspecting a new Omatek Smartbook at the Ministry of Education in Ghana. The Smartbook is a low-cost laptop aimed at the education market: Omatek Computers is another Nigerian computer company, and its computer assembly factory is in Ghana. This allows Omatek to produce computers tax free for Ghana and Nigeria, within certain quotas, giving it a competitive advantage over international vendors. The lesson to be learned here is that Nigerians are advancing quickly up the technology value chain - from reseller to assembler - and in doing so, are challenging the major international brands across Nigeria. May we have more success stories like these across Africa.

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The the University at Nsukka, Enugu, Ituku Ozalla, and Aba is partnering with pretty much every major IT company operating in Nigeria to bring Internet connectivity of 1-4mbps per 1000 students and staff, and create 10-400 Terabytes of local data storage for students and faculty.

As reported by Daily Sun:

Other features, according to Dr. Christian Bolu, project coordinator and Director of the Innovation Centre, UNN, include a packet based voice service (VoIP), use of open source software for teaching and learning in several key subjects, provision of laptop charging bays as well as hardware repair centre and use of dedicated power supply.

Google Inc is lead sponsor of the UNN Wireless Network Infrastructure project and has committed to provide a minimum 25megabytes per second (mbps) of international Internet bandwidth to the university over an initial three-year period. Google would also contribute US$40 000 for the last mile/local loop costs, another US$15 000 for consultancy and training to ensure optimal utilisation of the IT services as well as email and collaboration tools and guidance.

MTN Nigeria Communications would lay the fibre optic cables...Other contributors to the UNN Wireless Infrastructure Network project are Hewlett Packard and Cisco Systems. Project contractors are Business Connexion of South Africa, while network infrastructure would be provided by Xirrus Inc of USA and Wavion Technologies of Israel.

Hewlett Packard Inc is providing switches, servers and storage equipment at highly discounted education rates while also providing manpower support for training. Cisco Systems Inc would also assist the University of Nigeria with training in Cisco certification as well as developing the capacity of students and staff for entrepreneurship through the establishment of a model incubator company.

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I wonder if this huge investment will have the $4 million dollar annual impact of ICT at Kenyatta University?