Zinox gearing-up for Tablet market as Mecer Xpress debuts

As Mustek officially launched its new Mecer Xpress slate PC, aimed at the consumer and business markets, all eyes are now on its Nigerian brand Zinox to follow suit and present its own Zinox (Mecer) tablet soon.

According to Mustek, which is a leading PC brand operating from South Africa but with interests in other home-spun PC brands across Africa including Zinox, the Xpress Slate device is aimed not only as a content consumption device, but also as a device for business use. It sports an Intel Atom N450 1.66 GHz processor, 2GB DDR2 memory and a 32GB solid-state hard drive. As connectivity options the device has 2 USB ports, 1 mini-HDMI port, and 1 SDHC slot. On the wireless front, the device has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi support. Powered by Windows® 7, the Mecer Xpress is said to feature trusted operating and application software, as well as easy integration and compatibility with all applications and devices such as printers and cameras.

It also sports a SIM card slot, though according to the Mecer website 3G support is optional. For multimedia purposes the Mecer Xpress has a built-in webcam and speakers.

Included with the device is a capacitive touch stylus pen and carry case. A docking station is also available at a price of around R500. According to the Mecer website the device ships with a one year warranty and is set to retail for R5, 959 (subject to exchange rate fluctuations).

Mustek retains a significant footprint in Africa, with anchor operations in Kenya and Nigeria. Mustek's African presence is primarily based on partnership agreements reached with competent local companies. Mustek has a huge stake in Zinox Technologies in Nigeria as well as in Kenyan in the form of Mecer East Africa. With the Nigerian market currently awash with various tablet PC brands like iPad, Samsung Galaxy, Huawei, Motorola Xoom, etc, the market may have become already saturated should Mecer introduce its Nigerian Xpress version under Zinox.

Though no official statement concerning this approach could be obtained from Zinox, with the marketing strategy of Zinox, which seeks to exploit the emotional nationalistic approach, the expected Zinox tablet may well find a veritable market in the public sector like all of its other computer products. Only time will tell. 

Lebara Mobile and Mastercard targets Nigeria, Int’l markets with new card

Low-cost international mobile communications provider Lebara Mobile has announced a new sub-brand in the UK called Lebara Money, targeted at ethnic minority customers. The first product to be introduced through Lebara Money is the new Lebara Prepaid Mastercard. Developed in co-operation with MasterCard and Newcastle Building Society, this will allow customers to send money overseas.
It will be targeted at key payment destination countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, the Philippines, China and Eastern Europe. It offers a two-card facility to provide the sender and receiver more control and security, card-to-card sending and withdrawals, and money loading. The money is loaded onto the UK-based card and then transferred to the beneficiary's card. The two linked cards can be purchased for GBP 14.90. The Lebara Prepaid MasterCard gives customers without direct access to a UK bank account to use direct payment and cash loading at over 30,000 Paypoints and Post Office branches across the country. Application forms for the Lebara Prepaid MasterCard will be available online at www.lebara-money.co.uk.
Launched in 2001, Lebara has steadily positioned itself as one of the most innovative MVNOs with an aggressive, highly strategic and community tailored marketing approach. Serving nine ethnic corridors including the 2.5 million strong south Asian community as well as the African and Caribbean, Chinese, Filipino and Eastern European communities in the UK, Lebara has defied the recession and maintained a steady growth thanks to its powerful community based campaigns.
Ratheesan Yoganathan, CEO of Lebara said of the move: "Lebara made making calls home easy, efficient and affordable. We want to offer customers the same high level of service and peace of mind when they send their hard earned money home. Working with NBS and MasterCard a leader in the global remittance field will ensure that this is exactly what they get at all times."
The global remittance industry is one of the few sectors that has defied the current recession and is estimated to be worth GBP 500 billion globally. The UK is one of the top 10 remittance-originating countries worldwide, with approximately GBP 2.4 billion recorded outward remittances annually from the UK to the developing world.

Etisalat Nigeria gets $650 mln loan to grow network

Etisalat Nigeria said on Thursday it had sealed agreements for a $650 million syndicated loan with eight local banks to expands its mobile phone network across Africa's most populous nation.

"The additional funds will be used to roll out both our 3G and 2G network on a national basis," Etisalat Nigeria chief executive officer Steven Evans said in a statement.

Etisalat said the banks involved were First Bank, Zenith Bank, Access Bank, Fidelity Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Bank PHB, Guaranty Trust Bank and Oceanic Bank. Ironically, two of the banks (BankPHB and Oceanic) were recently distressed and subsequently resurrected by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)

Etisalat's main rivals in Nigeria -- Africa's fastest growing telecoms market -- are South Africa's MTN, India's Bharti Airtel, and local firm Globacom. According to Etisalat Nigeria’s CEO, Steve Evans, the loan would be drawn in two tranches: the first tranche of USD550 million would be drawn in Nigerian naira, while the second tranche of USD100 million would be drawn in US dollars.

“We are delighted to have this facility and the additional funds will be used to roll out both our 3G and 2G network on a national basis, bringing our world-class service to every part of the country,” Evans commented, adding: ‘We are committed to continuing to be the fastest growing most innovative mobile operator in the market and believe that our focus on providing the highest level of customer service and quality of service is what Nigerian consumers have been asking for and deserve.’

Motorola To Drop Android for Own OS?

Motorola is said to be developing a web based operating system that would power their handsets in future. May be, the company finds their dependence on a single supplier is not a good idea anymore.

Information Week is quoting unnamed sources that indicate Motorola is developing its own mobile web-based operating system, possibly as a way to hedge its bets on the Android smartphone OS that it has been so successful with of late. When asked for comment, Motorola told IW that the project did exist, but that the company was firmly committed to the Android platform.

“We would like to note that any work on such an OS could potentially be part of Motorola's "lapdock" plans for its devices, such as the ATRIX, or could merely be a "plan B" in the event that something drastic happens to the Android platform or the company's relationship with Google.”

Though an official confirmation hasn’t yet come by from the Motorola head honchos, hints of an own web based OS being a practical alternative have trickled down from the company’s think tank. The hiring of ex-Apple and ex-Adobe engineers some time ago might be seen as something related to this thought. Or so, we guess. Hope you remember Motorola has hired a number of web engineers already.

Now that a web based OS that will sport the Motorola branding is on its way, we guess the company is seriously considering handsets that will be powered by the new creation.

Though no one knows what period it will take for development, it cant hurt to look forward to playing with devices that will have the Moto OS.

Google Awards More than N300billion for ICT Development in Africa

Google has awarded a $1.25 million grant to Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory in Johannesburg, South Africa, to help preserve and give unparalleled digital access to thousands of archival documents, photographs, and audio-visual materials about the life and times of Nelson Mandela.

The company in a statement explained that the grant which will assist in enlarging the online Mandela archive will include his letters and correspondence with family, comrades and friends, prison diaries and notes he made while heading the negotiations that resulted in the end of apartheid in South Africa. All these will be made available to global audiences, scholars and researchers in the future.

Equally, another $1.25 million was granted to Desmond Tutu Peace Centre in Cape Town, for the documentation and digitization of Desmond Tutu’s archives and an interactive digital learning centre.

Google also announced three additional grants given through the Google Inc. Charitable Giving Funds of Tides Foundation to support access to information across the continent.  Among the beneficiaries of the grant is the Nigeria ICT Forum, which was awarded a $500,000 grant to help in improving access to internet infrastructure in tertiary education institutions in Nigeria.

The Nigeria ICT Forum is a scheme of the Nigerian Caucus (a joint meeting of the Vice-Chancellors and ICT Coordinators) of the six Partnership Nigerian Universities. Its mandate is to develop an ICT-based capacity for strengthening Research and Higher Education, HEIs; Facilitate and nurture collaboration between HEIs to cultivate a favorable policy environment; develop, utilize and sustain ICT networks, services and shared resources consistent with institutional roles as focus for development.

Country Manager for Google South Africa, Luke Mckend, in summing up the grants said, “Google wants to help bring the world’s historical heritage online, and the internet offers new ways to preserve and share information. Our grants to the Nelson Mandela Centre and to the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre will facilitate new digital archives for South Africa’s past, giving the global public an unprecedented opportunity to engage with the history of some of the most extraordinary leaders of our time. We are also delighted to be announcing additional grants which will help many more people across South Africa and Africa access the internet and benefit from access to information.”

ToolsOnAir Introduces Hotel Infotainment Systems at NAB

At this year's NAB Convention in Las Vegas, ToolsOnAir introduces their innovative En-Suite Hotel Infotainment system. 

As an integrated part of the ToolsOnAir Broadcast Suite, the Infotainment system is the next logical step forward in hotel and resort-based interactivity. Providing valued guests with hotel and local information as well as an elegant and sophisticated, business-capable workspace, ToolsOnAir's Infotainment system is an ideal vehicle for providing guests with hotel offerings - dining, spa, guest services and special offers - in an elegant, state-of-the-art technology package. More than mere Internet access, the Infotainment system delivers One Stop shopping and communication.

Each hotel suite's iMac or Mac Mini is connected to the Infotainment system, providing a complete entertainment system including DVD player and a variety of TV stations sorted by language or themes, video on demand, music library and more. The system integrates all business needs, including email and Skype, and the system's interactive capabilities can address individual rooms or groups of rooms to provide hotel and locale-specific information and offers.

"With ToolsOnAir's involvement in regional theme and tourist-based broadcast channels, the Infotainment system represents the next logical step in implementing our TV Station in a Mac technology," said Gilbert Leb, ToolsOnAir's VP of Sales. 

The ToolsOnAir Infotainment system is  already in service at a number of five star hotels throughout Europe, and the hotels report significantly increased bookings for rooms equipped with the service.

Leading ODMs Select AMD Fusion Apus…as fraud case against ex-staff continue

AMD has announced that leading original design manufacturers (ODMs) are choosing AMD's 2011 low-power platform for a new generation of PC designs ranging from ultrathin notebooks to all-in-one desktops. Nearly two dozen unique ODM whitebook and high definition PC (HDPC) designs based on the AMD C- and E-Series Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) are expected to be available for distribution and purchase in the first half of the year.

"AMD Fusion APUs provide significant advantages in power and design simplicity over competing multi-chip solutions, translating into unique and innovative PC form factors, and ultimately an amazing user experience," said David Kenyon, corporate vice president, Worldwide Channel Marketing, AMD. "We are working closely with our ODM partners to help them build the small-form-factor, long-battery-life PCs that can help them differentiate from the competition and succeed in today's competitive market."

AMD Fusion-based whitebooks are available now for purchase from leading ODMs worldwide, including Clevo, Coby, Compal, ECS, Hasee, MSI and Shuttle. New generations of HDPCs powered by the AMD E-Series and C-Series APU are also expected to be available in the first half of 2011 by ODMs including JEHE, J&W, MSI, PCP, Tul and WeiBu.

HDPC systems powered by AMD Fusion APUs offer an incredibly vivid computing experience for home theater and small-form-factor PCs, made possible by an APU-based all-on-board (AOB) motherboard. A "plug-and-plug" AOB includes an AMD Fusion APU, heat sink/fan with video output capability enabling significant advantages in power and design simplicity in a variety of form factors. With its discrete-class GPU core, AMD APU technology supports the current graphics standards like DirectX® 11 and outputs like DVI and HDMI.

The case of Raj Rajaratnam vs the world continues with news that a Bear Stearns fund manager allegedly had an "intimate relationship" with then AMD CEO 2002-2008 Hector Ruiz.

Ruiz has not been caught up in the case, but the Bear Stearns manager, Danielle Chiesi, has been linked to having a relationship with him while he was at the top of AMD, according to a witness.

Meanwhile, the defence team for the Galleon Group founder has said that the Sri Lankan-born billionaire didn't spill any beans about AMD and therefore didn't make any profits on insider information. They claim instead that Rajaratnam's tips about the ATI-AMD deal were already in the media, so already in the public domain and not insider tips.

Rajartnam's lawyer's claims follow a case against the alleged inside-trader, which is part of a major US crackdown on hedge fund insider trading. Prosecutors claim that he was at the centre of a scheme which generated $45 million using leaked information taken from a network of traders. It is thought the alleged scam affected up to three dozen firms including IBM and Morgan Stanley as well as AMD.

However, AMD was in the spotlight when Rajaratnam's lawyer 69-year-old John Dowd showed Anil Kumar, a key government witness, evidence of a series of news articles, which he claimed showed was already available in the media.

But Kumar, who claims that Rajaratnam was paying him $500,000 a year for his "insight", said that the press reports were "speculative." He stuck the wooden spoon in further claiming he had given "more accurate facts than a journalist would".

Of course he has nothing to lose given that he's already pleaded guilty to providing insider tips to Rajaratnam between 2003 and 2009. He claims that he received more than $2 million for the snitching. He's also trying to tell the courts that he's the source behind the 2005-2006 AMD leaks.

Rajaratnam, who is charged with 14 counts of security fraud and conspiracy, could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Nokia poach Microsoft staff with N930Billion

The world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer Nokia has decided to pay its new President and CEO Stephen Elop a total of EUR 4.5 million (N9.3billion) in two installments as a compensation for terminating his contract with the American software house Microsoft and becoming Nokia’s President and CEO.

Elop joined Nokia at the end of September 2010 and in October, Nokia paid Elop EUR 2.3 million to offset the income he lost after handing in his notice of resignation at Microsoft. In October 2011, Nokia will also pay him another USD 3.0 million, which is equal to EUR 2.2 million according to the current exchange rate.

In practice, the payment is a compensation for signing an employment contract. In 2010, Nokia paid Elop a total of EUR 3.8 million, including salaries and remunerations. In mid-February of this year, Elop announced that he had sold his entire holding in Microsoft stock and purchased 150,000 Nokia shares, currently worth around EUR 1 million.    

On the Finnish scale, Elop’s fixed annual salary is at the same level as the basic salary paid last year to Jouko Karvinen, the President and CEO of the forest company Stora Enso, and to Jussi Pesonen, the President and CEO of the forest products company UPM.

When it comes to Nordic companies, the fixed annual salary paid in 2010 to Hans Vestberg, the President and CEO of the network equipment provider Ericsson, was EUR 1.3 million.

The fixed remuneration received by Elop is on the same plane as the basic salary of many presidents and CEOs in the US telecommunications companies. However, in the United States the salaries of corporate executives easily tend to rise to tens of millions of dollars, thanks to hefty share-based incentive and option schemes.

The 47-year-old Canadian also received €509,744 to reimburse fees he was obliged to repay Microsoft and €312,203 to cover legal expenses. Mr Elop became the first non-Finnish head of Nokia last September after the ousting of Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo amid shareholder unrest over the company’s plummeting stock price and sinking market share. Mr Kallasvuo received a severance payment of €4.62m but forfeited nearly €14m in pension payments, stock and options because of his departure.

The disclosures came in Nokia’s annual 20-F filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which also included a stark assessment of the company’s efforts to claw back lost ground from Apple and Google in the smartphone market. In a radical strategic shake-up, Mr Elop last month announced Nokia planned to forge an alliance with Microsoft that would see the US group’s Windows Phone software become the main operating system for Nokia smartphones.

Mr Elop said at the time that Nokia and Microsoft would create a “three-horse race” in the smartphone market by creating a powerful competitor to Apple’s iOS operating system and Google’s Android platform.

Nokia’s filing admits that the strategy is fraught with risks. “The Windows Phone is a very recent, largely unproven addition to the market, with currently very low adoption and consumer awareness relative to the Android and Apple platforms,” said Nokia.

It added that its partnership with Microsoft “may not succeed in developing it into a sufficiently broad competitive smartphone platform”. The document acknowledged many of the criticisms leveled against the alliance by analysts and investors, including the risk that Nokia’s transition to the Windows platform “may prove to be too long to compete effectively in the smartphone market longer term given the ongoing developments of other competing platforms.”

Moreover, Nokia said the Microsoft alliance “may erode our brand identity in markets where we are strong and may not enhance [it] in markets where we are weak.”

Mercury Xcell Series Computer Chassis Launched

Mercury unfurled its latest Xcell series of Computer Chassis.  As the name suggests it’s an Xcellence series from Mercury, India’s one of the most admired Chassis brand. The Xcell series brings a range of new features and technology bringing a little glitz to the Chassis range available to Indian consumers. Mercury Xcell casings have 11 new models wherein 2 models, Enigma & Maze, are with 3Dimensional Front Panel . It displays an amazing new look and feel to the regular Computer Casing.

They are available in two eye-soothing colours of Violet and Sea-Blue. The other 9 models – each with a unique design and a piano finish glossy panel promises to complement the lifestyle. The chassis are built with high metal gauge plates and is powered by Mercury SMPS which carries 3year warranty from Kaizen Infoserve across the country. Mercury 450W SMPS supports the latest i3 & i5 processors & the chassis supports all ATX & MATX Motherboards.

Mercury XCELL Series cabinets are equipped with 4 USB ports, Audio connector, two Cooling fans one in the front wall and the other at the back wall to facilitate proper ventilation which is essential to achieve greater processor performance and to keep the components within their safe operating temperature limits.

“Mercury Chassis has been the first choice for our channel partners, institutions and SI fraternity for many years and thus we are very excited every time we launch a new series of Chassis for them. Features and looks are consistently improving and we keep to our promise of bringing the latest trends affordably to our partners.” Said Ms Sushmita Das , Country Manager – India .

New RDS Encoder with RT+ for Launch at NAB 2011

Audemat are delighted to announce the launch of their new RDS Encoder, the FMB50 at this year’s NAB Show in Las Vegas. Using the same hardware platform as Audemat’s highly-acclaimed FMB80 RDS encoder, the new FMB50 has been specifically designed for broadcasters wishing to exploit the full interactivity of RT+/Song Tagging and still offer key RDS features such as RT & PS Scrolling.

Keenly priced to be affordable for the budget-conscious broadcaster, the FMB50 also offers the user a simple upgrade path to the top-of-the-range FMB80 should they need full ODA functionality in the future.

Commenting on the launch, Chris Poulain, President of WorldCast Systems Inc stated, “The new FMB50 is perfectly placed in terms of features, performance and price to fit the requirements of a vast number of broadcasters and we are extremely excited to be launching it at NAB 2011. Audemat have a fantastic reputation throughout the US and worldwide for producing top quality RDS encoders and the FMB50 can only add to this reputation.”

In addition to the scrolling PS which scrolls dynamic messages such as song titles and artist information, the interactive functionality offered by the FMB50 enables listeners to access web-related data or a music store, use an EPG to schedule program recording, contact the station directly by SMS, email or phone or gain easy access to information on commercials.

Also supplied as standard is Audemat’s new RDS Viewer monitoring application. This displays the RDS data broadcast by the encoder and allows the broadcaster to verify integration with automation software. The RDS Viewer is also now available as a free upgrade to users of the FMB80 RDS Encoder. Those wishing to avail of this upgrade should contact the Miami Sales Office.

Together with APT and Ecreso, fellow members of the WorldCast Systems group, Audemat will be at Booth C750 at the 2011 NAB Show in Las Vegas from April 11^th to 14^th. The FMB50 will be available for demonstration on the booth.

New BrightSign Media Player Bundles with IPad

BrightSign has announced that AVR's new TheSolution product features the BrightSign HD1010 Interactive digital media player wirelessly controlled by an iPad. The complete bundle also includes a router and an iPad loaded with AVR's proprietary remote control software. With TheSolution, the iPad Multi-Touch screen can be used to select, play, pause, resume and reset videos and graphics on the BrightSign player from virtually anywhere.

A key component of TheSolution, the BrightSign HD1010 is a versatile, expandable media player with a very low profile that enables users to tuck it out of sight.  The features that have made BrightSign solid-state media players so popular for digital signage applications also make TheSolution ideal for trade show and hotel lobby presentations, corporate meetings and video kiosk applications. For easy deployment, high reliability and a low operating cost, BrightSign players have a solid-state, PC-less platform that has no moving parts to fail. With support for a broad range of aspect rations and the ability to co-mingle Standard and High-Definition media on the same BrightSign player, deployment and use is further simplified.

In addition to easy updates using an SD card, the BrightSign HD1010 is network-enabled

to deliver updates remotely and to synchronize multiple units for applications such as video walls, live video and RSS feeds. Already a proven success at recent trade shows, TheSolution by AVR has been used to playback HD content on more than 35 displays for WarrenZ Productions.

Fisher Price used TheSolution at a recent trade show for a kiosk. With the HD1010's support for basic looping and interactive presentations, attendees were attracted to the kiosk with a looping video and could then choose a video from the iPad screen to learn more about a specific toy.

TheSolution was also used with an iPod to control the HD1010 as part of a video wall package installed for Buick Motors. With the iPod and player mounted on the dash of a Buick Regal, potential buyers can call up videos on the car's various features while comfortably seated in the car.

Like all BrightSign players, the BrightSign HD10 bundled with TheSolution includes BrightAuthor, a PC software application that makes creating, publishing and managing BrightSign presentations simple and dependable. Users can design full-screen or multi-zone layouts using the application's preset screen layout templates and custom layout tools or they can create their own. Interactive playlists and day-parting can be added using the graphical interface, which eliminates the need to use text files and commands.

The software also makes it simple to add triggers or buttons on touch screens to initiate the playback of image, video or sound content files within playlists.

Completed presentations are faster and easier to prepare for publication because the software automatically creates the playlist file and bundles it with the selected content, ready to drop onto an SD card or send via the Internet for BrightSign playback.

Available in quantities of one to five, or 25 to 50, TheSolution rental pricing can be as low as $200 per system for typical weekly rental cycles. The complete package includes a BrightSign HD1010 media player, a router and an iPad loaded with AVR's proprietary remote control software. The iPad display can be customized with a company logo and graphics. AVR's software can also be used with Apple's iPod Touch.