Mobile 360 Series Africa: Dar-es-Salaam hosts GSMA event

Mobile 360 Africa serves as an extension of established GSMA conferences which highlight the work of Mobile for Development focusing on increasing access to and use of life enhancing mobile services, accelerating socio-economic improvements for the undeserved, especially women, rural and youth, particularly in digital inclusion, financial inclusion and identity for the unregistered. The event will be held in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania on the 26th – 28^th July, 2016.

The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting nearly 800 operators with more than 250 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and Internet companies, as well as organizations in adjacent industry sectors.

Mobile 360 series Africa, an enriching and enlightening event will gather stakeholders; operators, regulators, policy makers, service providers, NGOs and so forth to meet and exchange invaluable experiences, visions, solutions, innovations, for the benefit of the mobile industry.

This event follows the previous Mobile 360 series Africa which was held in Cape Town South Africa on 7^th – 9^th October, 2015. It registered a huge level of success with over 550 attendees, 62% senior level attendees and brilliant line up of speakers addressing highly relevant topics for the market.

Keynote speakers of the event included: Fredrik Jejdling; President & CEO Ericsson SubSaharan Africa, Ben Moskowitz; Senior Development Director Mozilla Foundation, Sifiso Dabengwa; Executive Director, Group President & CEO MTN Group, Sanjana Bhardwaj; Chief of Health & Nutrition UNICEF South Africa, Erik Hersman; CEO, BRCK Founder, iHub Nairobi & Co-Founder of Ushahidi.

A wide range of topics were discussed such as;

• The Economic Impact of Mobile Money in the Digital Economy.
• Digitising Government Payments.
• Spotlight on Rural Supply: Critical Factors to Create Successful Mobile Money Agents.
• The Importance of Distribution in Mobile Insurance: Lessons Learnt.
• Accelerating Digital Literacy for Women.
• Approaches to Local Content Creation: Realising the Smartphone Opportunity.
  

Mobile 360 series Africa 2016 will focus on new strategies and cross-industry collaboration required to accelerate access across the region. This year’s programme includes, but is not limited to, enabling access for all, delivering quality of experience, creating local digital content and the next wave of value-added services.

Some of the topics of this conference include;

• The Disruption of Mobile Money in International Remittances.
• Creating an Enabling & Trust-Based Environment.
• Impact & Innovation and the Role of the Mobile Industry.
• Capturing the Importance of Data-Driven Analytics for the Mobile Money Industry.
• Bridging the Gender Gap in Mobile Money: Insights from Rwanda & Mali.
• Digitising Government Payments: Why and How, Benefits and Success Factors.
  

The two day programme will feature top notch keynote speakers, panel discussions and in-depth case studies from across many industries.

This event will also give a platform to GSMA’s Jumpstart where start-ups with regional mobile operat

Kongapay effectively disrupts the ecommerce scene...signs up DSTV

At the recently held Nigeria Summit in Lagos, the Ag Chief Executive Officer of Konga.com, Shola Adekoya revealed how his company is using an innovation, KongaPay to tackle epayment issues to aid e-commerce ecosystem in Nigeria.

Despite barriers hindering electronic commerce growth in Nigeria and the rest of the world, the system has received significant attention in the country as buying goods online with smart devices is fast becoming an essential part of life for many people in Nigeria. This is even as absence of adequate basic infrastructural, socioeconomic factors, regulatory environment, trust, among others have combined to create a significant barrier in the adoption and growth of e-commerce in Nigeria.

Kongapay is an attempt to democratize card payments.

That is: by deeply integrating with all major banks, they get users to link their bank accounts to the payments platform just once. After that, paying for goods and services becomes a one-click affair. The money is moved from the users’ bank accounts into Konga’s accounts in whatever banks. Of course, this also means that making refunds for defective products will be a lot easier, since there’s no inter-bank red tape to deal with. Previously, the option was restricted to purchases on Konga.com, where they offered a 5% discount on every purchase as an incentive.

But speaking at the summit during a panel discussion on ‘Meeting the Needs of Consumers,’ Adekoya told the gathering that in contrary popular notion, buying online is cheaper. “When you shop on Konga, you can choose to pay securely in advance with KongaPay, with your ATM/Debit card, or on delivery with cash or POS.

With this system, the e-commerce giant has collaboration with banks and operators, by developing secure, flexible mobile financial platforms that help build an interconnected and transparent financial ecosystem. There is also an incentive for the buying public as by using KongaPay, each consumer gets a five percent discount on each and every purchase made on Konga.com.

Following up on this, Konga.com, and the country’s leading entertainment company, MultiChoice Nigeria, also announced a partnership for the provision of a new platform for making DStv and GOtv subscription payments. MultiChoice subscribers all over the country can now make their subscription payments using KongaPay, Konga’s online payment solution.

The announcement, which was made at a joint press conference held by the two companies in Lagos will allow customers using KongaPay to pay their DStv and GOtv subscriptions with ease.

Unlike other payment channels, the subscriber does not need to pay any processing charges or convenience fees. Payments can be conveniently made from any smartphone, computer, tablet or via the Konga mobile app.

KongaPay is a secure innovative solution that allows customers to perform one-click payments for their transactions. It was developed by Konga in partnership with leading Nigerian banks. With KongaPay, the inconvenience of entering debit card or bank token details to complete each transaction is eliminated.

While maintaining the highest security standards, KongaPay is also built to give instant refunds at the click of a button for goods or services that customers are dissatisfied with.

Commenting on the partnership, John Ugbe, the Managing Director of MultiChoice Nigeria, said: “MultiChoice is delighted that with this partnership we are further expanding the payment and accessibility platforms available to our customers”. He went on to say, “The inclusion of Konga in the suite of self-help options available to our customers, can only yield improved customer satisfaction, which is our key objective.”

Next Generation Broadband Network as focus at unique Atlanta event

The Broadband Forum has announced it will host a three-day special meeting in Atlanta where ten of the world’s leading service providers, as well as major manufacturers, will gather to share their vision of requirements that drive the Next Generation Broadband Network.

The event, hosted by AT&T, will include presentations from AT&T itself, NTT, BT, Sky, Deutsche Telecom, CenturyLink, Orange, Telecom Italia, Vodafone and Spark New Zealand.

“Since we launched our Broadband 20/20 Vision last October, we have been delighted with the industry response and have made significant progress in areas including Software Defined Networking (SDN), Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), Cloud Central Office and the whole concept of Broadband Assured IP Services,” said Broadband Forum CEO Robin Mersh.

“There is therefore no better time to bring the broadband industry together. Operators and vendors are going through many readjustments as new technologies open up new possibilities and new challenges. The Broadband Forum exists to support the whole broadband eco-system that delivers the capability to meet the needs of the users, and the Atlanta special meeting will make sure we are on track to deliver the exciting new services that we all want and are most critical for the industry.”

The Special Meeting – which will take place at the Renaissance Atlanta Midtown Hotel from May 18 to May 20 – will discuss the requirements driving the next generation network as well as some proposed approaches such as the Flexible Access System Architecture project from NTT and the Central Office Reimagined as a Datacenter (CORD) project, with OnLab delivering an interactive demo and presentations, which will also involve the wider CORD community.

“There are some interesting developments which complement the work we are already doing around SDN, NFV, ultra-fast access and 5G, and the CORD demonstration will be a valuable experience for both our members and our guests,” added Mersh.

The Atlanta gathering comes as the Forum nears completion of a landmark document, which looks at virtualized service delivery to the Residential Gateway. Final approval on this document is currently taking place, with the final version expected to be released next month.

Details of the Atlanta meeting were revealed during the Broadband Forum’s quarterly gathering in Prague, which took place last week. The conference also saw Drew Rexrode, of Verizon, and Marcin Drzymala, of Orange – who are stepping down as Board Members - presented with the Forum leadership award in recognition of their work as “outgoing, commendable leaders” by Broadband Forum chairman Kevin Foster. Both were thanked for their efforts to support the growth and development of the Forum over several years.
For more information on the Broadband Forum’s work, visit: www.broadband-forum.org.

Broadband Forum, a non-profit industry organization, is focused on engineering smarter and faster broadband networks.

CWG's Negative profit warning may contribute to Capital Market downturn

Exchange rate losses, reduction in margins in traditional reseller business and inability to transfer increased cost of doing business to customers has combined to affect the bottom-line of Computer Warehouse Group (CWG) for 2015.
The company, which is into systems integration, operating in Nigeria and other part of Africa, had sent a profit warning to the capital market community that it would end the 2015 year with a loss.

Although the company recorded a gross profit of N2.443 billion, it ended with a loss after tax of N1.796 billion. According to CWG, foreign exchange loss to the tune of N600 million was recognised arising from the fluctuations in the exchange rate, the decline in United States dollars availability and the dearth of hedging options.

“This significantly impacted CWG’s traditional business which is in most part vulnerable to foreign exchange risks (payments from customers are in naira while the corresponding payments to Original Equipment Manufacturers and other partners are in dollars),” it said.
The company added that it wrote off  N431 million following technology changes and ongoing business model changes which made some previous investments such as the investments in Very Small Aperture Terminal(VSAT)) and Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) network obsolete.

“This performance occurred on the back of a challenging and uncertain macroeconomic environment including the general elections of 2015 and the subsequent takeover by a new administration which caused significant delays in investments by our traditional customers,” the company noted.

Looking ahead, CWG said despite the many challenges of 2015, it has stayed focused on re-inventing itself  to be in better control of its  costs, margins and product offering, saying it is in the last stages of  transition from a reseller of technology to being a provider of technology platforms that enable growth across a broad spectrum of the economy.

“The company is accelerating her strategic focus from the resale of technology to the provision of platforms and services sold on subscription basis or revenue share basis which are more predictable and guarantee annuity income. This is evident in a slew of new products and services including the Smart Utility Solution (SUS) provides a theft prevention solution, Energy audit, Demand Side Management, Real Time Billing Efficiency and Network Asset Management. SUS is offered to power companies in order to efficiently manage and monitor energy flow to end users.”

It added that there is the SMERP solution, which is  a business management tool that provides functionalities such as accounting management, inventory management, sales, and order tracking amongst others and   BillsnPay, which  is a  platform that provides a robust electronic bills presentment and payment service that can be carried out via channels such as mobile, web, bank branches, ATM or banking kiosks.

The Company was listed by introduction on the Nigerian Stock Exchange on 15 November 2013 at a value of $85million and a market price of ₦5.48.

The Company is ISO 9001:2008 certified across its subsidiaries and has over 334 certified professionals.

Over 80% of CWG staff are Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Certified.

The Company enjoys an industry Pioneer Status and is thus exempt from Company Income Tax payment for five years from 2012. CWG’s total assets amounted to ₦17.4 billion while the shareholders’ funds stood at ₦5.2 billion. During the nine months ended 30 September 2013, the Company generated turnover of ₦14.1 billion and recorded profit before tax of ₦511 million.

With the downturn in the ubiquitous Systems Integration sub sector, whereby businesses are built around building computing systems for clients by combining hardware and software products from multiple vendors (mostly international), there certainly must be a paradigm shift for the industry in Nigeria. Its already a known fact that 85% of ICT companies in Nigeria are systems integrators with little or no originality or bespoke solution for the local challenges in the country. With fluctuating foreign exchange, incursion of China in mainstream IT, and the quest for local IT solution patronage, the era of re-sale of OEM systems in the sector may be in the horizon.

Oracle harnesses opportunities in Ghana

Ghana's growing information and communications technology (ICT) ecosystem received a boost recently when global software giant, Oracle, opened its local office in the country. Oracle's direct presence in the country will come as a big relief for the ICT community, especially for companies that use large data and information and relies largely on IT software to drive operations.

The company's vast array of software and hardware solutions cut across industries – private and public. The company, which has been indirectly present in Ghana through partners for more than two decades, intends to push cloud computing and data centre applications strongly, one of the areas that oracle is competitive in.

Ghana Country Manager, Mr Joseph Asumang, told the Graphic Business ahead of the inaugural ceremony that Ghana remained an important market for the company adding that Oracle was committed to operating in the country for the long haul.

"We see that the African market in general is growing so there is a lot of potential, particularly for us. We see that the use of information technology is growing and Ghana being one of the key growth potential in Africa, we feel that it’s about time Oracle committed more resources to the market.”

Mr Asumang said coming directly into the market would bring Oracle closer to its clients to help them deploy IT solutions better. Oracle is a unique software company that has the widest portfolio of products and services and wants to push all areas, depending on market needs.

The company has backed its words by taking up office space within the Stanbic Heights at the Airport City where it has further retrofitted into a state-of-the -art modern office for its sales, engineers and service support staff.

Although the company has just made a triumphant direct entry, its products took a lead years ago and has been deployed in various forms for various entities including electronic banking, healthcare, insurance, human resource management, retail, aviation, for deploying enterprise and public sector portals, real estate, telecommunication and the likes.

"Yes we had reached the market through our partners, but we think the time has come to be closer to our customers so that we will be able to deliver superior service and deploy products to the market much quicker," Mr Asumang said.

The company’s presence is also good for young Ghanaian IT enthusiasts and professionals, as the company has a policy for using local talents as much as possible. "One of our key objectives is that we rely on local skills sets to settle in the market. This means we are going to give opportunities for Ghanaians to develop and utilise their skills. So there is a correlation between our physical presence and the development of local capacity.”

This will also mean that Ghanaian IT professionals can be deployed within the Oracle global network, irrespective of geography. Already, the company, through its training academy, has worked with two IT students of Ashesi University and Valley View University to develop apps for the hospitality industry.

However, with cloud computing fast catching on in Africa as in the rest of the world, Oracle also intends to work towards adoption of cloud services either as a service or platform. This is expected to give the market the choice to either deploy its own small data centres for cloud solutions or rely on Oracle Cloud services which has servers hosted elsewhere.

Currently, the company does not have a data centre in Africa. Oracle Cluster Leader for Africa, Mr Cherian Vanghese, said the company believed in the economic potential of Ghana and its human capital, saying Oracle would help train the local professionals and deploys them within the group.

Mr Vanghese said the cloud adoption was considered a non-starter in Africa some few months ago but the service was catching on fast, which makes Africa one of the rapidly changing markets across in the world.

Global Tech Companies That May Be Acquired in 2016

2016 will be a robust M&A market and there are several already public companies that might be ripe for picking, a new Merrill Lynch analyst note predicts.

The large cash balances of large cap internet companies combined with the suddenly attractive small-cap valuations of others may contribute to an uptick in public companies cannibalizing each other.

Here are the seven companies that Merrill Lynch singled out in its analyst note as M&A targets for 2016.

Groupon

Potential acquirers: Google

Reasoning: "Groupon was a target of Google before it went public in 2012, has had recent management changes, and according to press reports some companies may still be interested." Merrill Lynch writes. "However, newly appointed CEO, Rich Williams, was quoted as saying the company has not received any takeover offers."

Stock performance: In January 2014, Groupon traded for more than $11 a share. Two years later, the company is priced at $2.60, a 76 percent decline.

Yelp

Potential acquirers: Google, Yahoo, or Priceline

Reasoning: "Yelp could be a good fit for Google, Yahoo and even Priceline per press articles. Its large user audience and advertiser base has taken years to build, and could be an interesting asset for companies trying to build a bigger mobile or local presence," Merrill Lynch wrote.

Stock performance: At its high in March 2014, Yelp was trading for $98 a share. Since then, the company has lost nearly three quarters of its value and is listed for $22.15.

GrubHub

Potential acquirers: Yelp or Amazon

Reasoning: "GrubHub could be a fit with local services providers such as Yelp to support their own restaurant delivery businesses. In 2014, Nasdaq reported that Amazon could interested in acquiring GrubHub as a way to accelerate its expansion into new markets. Amazon operates its own local restaurant delivery service in select markets and could look at GrubHub as a way to accelerate its expansion into new markets," Merrill Lynch wrote.

Stock performance:The drop-off for GrubHub didn't come until April 2015. Throughout 2014, GrubHub's stock rose from $34 to around $46 a share at its peak. Since April though, GrubHub has lost half its value and now trades around $21.

Pandora

Traders work at the kiosk where Pandora internet radio is traded on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange June 15, 2011.

Potential acquirers: Sirius

Reasoning: "Pandora could be a target for another music service provider. At an investor event earlier in 2015, the CEO of Sirius indicated that Pandora could fit with the company's strategy of monetizing the large number of automobiles that are not subscribing or actively trialing a music service," Merrill Lynch wrote.

Stock performance: In February 2014, Pandora stock reached its high at $38 a share. Since then, the stock has been tumbling lower and two years later, trades closer to $10.

TripAdvisor

Potential acquirers: Priceline or Google

Reasoning: "TripAdvisor could be a fit for OTA rival Priceline or Google for its wealth of traveler review data, according to Bloomberg. Priceline could also look to acquire TripAdvisor to consolidate its share of travel bookings or limit dependence on Google for traffic," Merrill Lynch wrote.

Stock performance: Unlike the other companies on Merrill Lynch's list, TripAdvisor's stock has not been on a clear downward trend the past two years. In January 2014, the stock was priced at $84, only $12 more than the $72 it was trading at two years later. During that time though, the company's shares have sold for as high as $110 in June 2014 and as low as $62 in September 2015.

Twitter

Potential acquirers: "a search engine", likely Google, AOL, Yahoo, or Facebook

Reasoning: "Twitter is struggling with growing users and press articles have highlighted that Twitter content could be a good fit with a search engine looking for more real-time social content to index," Merrill Lynch wrote.

Stock performance: For the first time ever, Twitter shares have crossed below the $20 mark in January 2016. Two years ago, the social network was trading around $60, so it's lost two-thirds of its value.

Shutterfly

Potential acquirers: Unknown

Reasoning: "Shutterfly initiated a sales process in mid-2014 and decided to remain independent following a strategic review, according to Bloomberg," Merrill Lynch wrote.

Stock performance: Reaching a high of $54 in early 2014, Shutterfly's stock has fluctuated up and down in the past two years. While it hit a low in October 2015, trading at $35, the stock has improved slightly to be valued at $39 to start 2016.

(via Merrill Lynch)

Is it another End of an Era? As Lexmark is Bought by Chinese group for $3.6bn

Lexmark, the global printing and software company, has agreed to be sold to a consortium led by Apex Technology of China and PAG Asia Capital, a private equity firm, for $3.6 billion, including debt.

Lexmark had been looking into strategic alternatives for a while. The consortium buying it, which also includes Legend Capital Management, a venture capital firm, will pay $40.50 a share in an all-cash transaction. Lexmark said the deal represented a 30 percent premium to its closing price on Oct. 21, when it became known that the company was looking into its options.

Lexmark said the deal would allow it to expand in Asia. “With the Consortium’s resources, we will be able to continue to invest in and grow the business to more fully penetrate the Asia Pacific market for hardware, software and managed print services,” Paul Rooke, Lexmark’s chairman and chief executive, said in a news release.

Jackson Wang, the chairman of Apex, added that the two businesses were likely to be complementary, as Apex manufactures parts for ink cartridges. “Apex has traditionally been successful in emerging markets and in cost-effective production,” Mr. Wang said in a news release. “We are excited to work alongside Lexmark as they continue to invest in advanced technologies and solutions to best serve their customers and business partners, while simultaneously pursuing untapped opportunities in emerging markets particularly in Asia for future growth.”

Lexmark said that it intended to keep its company headquarters in Lexington, Kentucky, and that Mr. Rooke would remain in his current role. Shares rose about 11 percent in after-hours trading.

Lexmark’s board has approved the transaction, but it is still subject to shareholder and regulatory approval from agencies including the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2016.

Towards the end of 2015, it was reported by the Wall Street Journal that Lexmark was reviewing strategic options including a sale. It was said then that Lexmark was working with Goldman Sachs Inc on the process and could have possible buyers in private equity firms and other technology companies, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the matter. However it was flatly denied. "Lexmark does not comment on rumor or speculation," company spokesman Jerry Grasso had said.

Lexmark actually started showing distress as far back as 2013 when it announced that it'll quit the inkjet printer business as part of efforts to improve its profitability. It subsequently closed its inkjet supplies factory in Cebu, Philippines last year. After shedding 1,700 jobs, the company claimed it expected the move to save it $95m (£60m) a year in savings. It also intends to sell some of its 1,000 inkjet-related patents.

The firm will continued to sell laser printers and also focussed on its imaging software and document management services.

Huawei launches Africa's first 4.5 G demo in Namibia

The Chinese company Huawei Technologies in conjunction with Namibia's MTC have launched the 4.5G demo for the first time ever in Africa. The launch of 4G advanced and 4.5G live demo, attended by President Hage Geingob and several ministers, was held in the capital Windhoek. Speaking during the launch, Huawei strategic director Eliz Liu said the 4.5G works three times faster than the 4G that was launched in 2012. According to Liu, the 4.5G has shown that it works fast at 8.2 MB per second. She also pledged Huawei's support of the Harambee Prosperity Plan that was launched by Geingob last week to speed up implementation of projects.

"We voluntarily want to be part of the Harambee Prosperity Plan," she told the guests among them Geingob. "We want to contribute to this society."

4.5G is an extension to 4G LTE and is an emerging technology being worked upon by Ericsson, Nokia, Qualcomm Huawei and a host of other network service providers. 4.5G or License Assisted Access (LAA) works by aggregating licensed and unlicensed (5 Ghz) LTE frequency bands, using massive MIMO and 256-QAM modulation (LTE uses 64-QAM usually). 4.5G is said to offer download speeds of upto 300Mb/s and is expected to play a big role in Internet of Things (IoT).

Officially launching the 4.5G and the LTE Advanced technologies, Geingob said he appreciated Huawei's contribution to Namibia's information and technology sector. "Without high-tech, one cannot catch up with the world," Geingob said. MTC spokesperson Tim Ekandjo said they were excited about the partnership and the launch of the 4.5G. "Huawei has been our technical suppliers for the past eight years," Ekandjo said. He also said Huawei is one of the best tech equipment suppliers in the world.

Are They Doomed or Will HTC 10 save HTC?

HTC has announced the HTC 10, an Android 6 (Marshmallow) smartphone that seems to touch on all the design and feature wishes of any high-end smartphone customer. However, those plums won't be enough for the HTC 10 to sell well in a crowded Android field, analysts said, even with its 5.2-in. display, fast Snapdragon 820 processor, metal case and superior camera technology. HTC is facing slipping market share and desperately needs to score a success, they said.

"Even with a device like the HTC 10, which has a clean design and … improved internals, HTC simply lacks the scale to effectively compete with Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, ZTE, LG and Lenovo," said Jack Narcotta, an analyst at TBR.

"On paper, HTC has the right strategy and the right products," Narcotta added. "The problem is that the premium Android space is toxic to nearly all Android manufacturers. Only the largest are able to endure there, and HTC is simply outgunned." Narcotta further predicted that unless HTC's recently announced Vive VR headset "vaults into a billion dollar business, HTC is doomed."

TBR estimated that HTC's global market share in 2015 was less than 4%. Analyst firm IDC said HTC hasn't been among the top five smartphone makers for several years and ranked 15th globally in smartphone shipments in 2015. It was seventh in the U.S. In terms of sales, Gartner said HTC went from a 2.2% share globally in 2013, down to 1.3% last year.

HTC began 2015 on an optimist note, thanks to slowly improving financials and high expectations for the One M9. Smartphones aside, the Re camera seemed to signal a widening of HTC’s focus, and there were rumors of an HTC tablet to follow up the Nexus 9, as well as an Android Wear smartwatch. The worst seemed to be over, or, as one company executive put it at the time, HTC had “been through hell and survived.”

"HTC 10 hits all the high points -- design, music, screen and camera -- but you have to come up with something else to juice the game," said IDC analyst Will Stofega. By comparison, Samsung may have hit on something effective in its marketing of the new Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge smartphones bundled with the Samsung Gear VR.

Soon, Samsung will sell the Gear 360, a spherical VR camera. "Samsung has it right with bundling its newest phones with other products that are not overly expensive," Stofega said.

Likewise, Huawei and its new P9 smartphone with the Leica branded dual-lens camera, announced last week, could be distinctive enough to make some difference in a highly competitive market, he added.

Smartphone companies have always had to find a singular but sometimes elusive quality to market in a new device and then spend marketing dollars to back it up. Innovations, such as flexible and foldable screens and faster 5G wireless, that are clearly different from today's products, will take much longer to arrive, possibly not until 2022.

"Right now, it's a very saturated market and there's no special thing coming up, so manufacturers are resting on their laurels," Stofega added. While high-end Android smartphones face competitive problems, there is a general recognition -- even with Apple -- that customers in the U.S., as well as other places, are slow to upgrade to new phones.

"Even Apple has to take stock of what's happening in the U.S. and other saturated markets," Stofega said. "You need more than faster speeds and something that's incredibly different, which is not an easy thing to do."

At a recent conference, Stofega said he heard that LTE phones will sell well in Africa in the next year, "but even they don't make up the volumes needed." Overall, there is smartphone growth, albeit slower than in recent years, so smartphone makers are not about to walk away. But U.S. sales in the last quarter of 2015 were down 6%.

At Mobile World Congress in late February, LG Electronics officials were especially candid about the need to find new strategies to sell smartphones. Two years ago, LG said it knew there would be a plateau in smartphone popularity so it launched the G5 smartphone with a modular design, and heavily marketed the phone in the U.S.

Even Apple is feeling the impact of customers' putting off smartphone upgrades more often than they once did. Brokerage firm BTIG last week cut its estimates for iPhone sales through 2017, based on long upgrade cycles, and indicated that structural changes are underway for the market.

"HTC still has some of the best designs out there today, but they don't have the necessary marketing budget to go out there and push and don't spend — or can't spend," Stofega said. "I've always been a fan of their designs. They have always been spot on."

Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Creative Strategies, added that the HTC 10 is "good-looking, but it's not the only one that is." She said its primary market will be loyal HTC fans who are upgrading from an HTC M7 or M8.

Before 2012, HTC was considered a smartphone market leader, but "the market grew up so quickly around it that new competitors were able to quickly gain scale," said TBR's Narcotta. "HTC misfired when it mattered most by changing its strategy [to lower-priced devices] when Samsung and Apple were competing in the premium space, only to change it back again when Samsung's smartphone business began to slow down."

Report Links Apple and Samsung suppliers to child labor in Africa

Cobalt mined by child laborers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo may be entering the supply chains of major tech companies like Apple, Samsung, and Microsoft, as well as auto manufacturers like Volkswagen and Daimler AG, according to an investigation from Amnesty International and Afrewatch, a DRC-based non-government organization. Cobalt is used in alloys for aircraft engine parts and technology gadgets in alloys with corrosion/wear resistant uses. Cobalt is widely used in batteries and in electroplating. Cobalt salts are used to impart blue and green colors in glass and ceramics.

The report, released recently, lays out how cobalt mined by children as young as seven is sold to a DRC-based subsidiary of Huayou Cobalt, a Chinese company. The subsidiary, Congo Dongfang Mining International (CDM), processes cobalt ore and sells it to companies in China and South Korea, where it is used to manufacture lithium-ion batteries for use in smartphones and electric cars. Amnesty contacted 16 multinational companies listed as customers of the battery makers, based on investor documents and public records. Most said they were unaware of any links to the companies cited in the report, while others, like Apple and Microsoft, said they were evaluating their supply chains. Amnesty says that none of the companies provided enough information to independently verify the origin of their cobalt supply.

The investigation is based on interviews with 87 people who work or have worked in informal, artisanal cobalt mines in the DRC, including 17 children between the ages of 9 and 17. Amnesty and Afrewatch obtained photographic and video evidence of the hazardous conditions in which many of the miners work, often without basic protective gear or safety guidelines. The children interviewed for the report said they work up to 12 hours a day to earn between $1 and $2, and typically work above ground, gathering and washing rocks from defunct industrial sites or nearby lakes and rivers.

They carry heavy loads, face physical abuse, and are regularly exposed to dangerous chemicals and dust, the report says, risking long-term lung disease and in some cases, death. Prolonged exposure to cobalt dust has been linked to "hard metal lung disease," which is potentially fatal, and many artisanal mines are poorly constructed and ventilated. At least 80 artisanal miners died in the DRC between September 2014 and December 2015, according to information gathered from a UN-operated radio station, though the report notes that the true figure is likely much higher since many accidents are not reported.

"It's a real tragedy, and we think that the companies that are profiting from the cobalt, which ends up in our smartphones, should be part of the solution," says Mark Dummett, business and human rights researcher at Amnesty. "It wouldn't take a great deal to help these children's lives."

The DRC accounts for at least 50 percent of the world's cobalt supply. The country's mining industry used to be dominated by a state-run company, but it collapsed with the rest of the Congolese economy during the 1990s. Since then, the government has encouraged artisanal miners to dig for cobalt in areas deemed unsuitable for industrial mining, and it has passed regulations on environmental and safety practices. But Amnesty argues that the government has not authorized enough zones for artisanal mining, forcing many to strike out in unregulated areas, and has done little to enforce its rules. The report also documents cases where government workers extorted money from artisanal mine workers by making them pay for access to unauthorized areas.

According to estimates from UNICEF, there were about 40,000 children working in mines across the DRC's southern region in 2014, and the US Department of Labor has listed Congolese cobalt as a good produced by child labor since 2009. A DRC government study, cited by Amnesty, estimated that there are between 110,000 and 150,000 artisanal miners in the country's southern region, most of whom are self-employed. Nearly 64 percent of the Congolese population lives in poverty, according to the World Bank, and the country ranks next-to-last on the UN's human development index. Ongoing conflict in the country has been fueled in part by its vast supply of natural resources.

A US law that went into effect last year under the Dodd-Frank Act requires public companies to disclose whether their supply chains involve so-called conflict minerals — tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold — which have been linked to violence in the DRC. Dummett says similar regulations are needed for cobalt, which has not been linked to any armed groups in the country, though some question the effectiveness of the Dodd-Frank approach. A 2015 report from Assent Compliance, a Canadian IT firm, found that 90 percent of the 1,262 companies that filed conflict minerals reports couldn't say for certain whether their products are conflict-free. Others fear that the high costs associated with the regulations could entice businesses to leave the DRC altogether, which would only exacerbate the country's poverty.

"Whether or not this could have any impact is questionable given the rather mitigated impact of Dodd-Frank on the ground," says Christoph Vogel, a researcher at Zurich University and senior fellow at NYU's Congo Research Group, who was not involved in the Amnesty investigation. "Rather than improving human rights conditions and livelihoods, the law's practical implementation has so far contributed to increasing poverty and economic exclusion while the previous criminal networks largely continue to operate."

In written responses provided to Amnesty, Apple and Microsoft said they could not verify whether the cobalt in their products originates from the DRC, or whether the cobalt is processed by CDM or Huayou. Samsung SDI, which supplies batteries for Samsung and Apple, said it is "impossible" to determine whether its cobalt is sourced from the DRC, and that both CDM and Huayou are not in its supply chain. It acknowledged having a relationship with L&F Material, a South Korean battery maker that was also implicated in the report, though it claimed that its materials were sourced in Japan. Volkswagen, Daimler, and Huawei denied doing any business CDM or Huayou. Volkswagen acknowledged a relationship with Tianjin Lishen, a Chinese battery maker implicated in the report, while Daimler could not confirm whether cobalt in its parts originates in the region "due to the high complexity of automotive supply chains."

"We are currently evaluating dozens of different materials, including cobalt, in order to identify labor and environmental risks as well as opportunities for Apple to bring about effective, scalable and sustainable change," Apple said in its statement. "As we gain a better understanding of the challenges associated with cobalt we believe our work in the African Great Lakes region and Indonesia will serve as important guides for creating lasting solutions."

Mitsubishi To Use Military grade Tech For self-driven Cars

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, the electronics arm of the Mitsubishi group will adopt technology used in Missile guidance systems for use in automated cars. According to a Bloomberg report, Mitsubishi Electronics, which supplies the air-to-air missiles to the Japanese armed forces, is looking to use the technology it used for military purposes to help automated cars detect and avoid obstacles.

Mitsubishi will use components such as millimeter-wave radars, sonars, sensors and cameras which are used in missile guidance systems to help guide automated cars that will be on the roads by 2020. Katsumi Adachi, Senior Chief Engineer at Mitsubishi's Automotive Equipment Division told Bloomberg, "All we have to do is to put together the components that we already have. None of our competitors have such a wide array of capabilities."

Millimeter-wave radar is used to see through fog and other battlefield obscurants—fitted on cars, it can help cars see (and avoid) other cars through inclement weather. Sonar, meanwhile, has already fitted to cars, letting them "hear" objects and determine their distance by bouncing sound waves off of them. It's particularly useful for self-parking applications.

Mitsubishi is a titan of Japanese industry, a manufacturer of everything from space rockets to rice cookers. Mitsubishi is also one of Japan's key defense contractors, building the Type 10 main battle tank and Soryu-class attack submarine. Its AAM-4B medium range air-to-air missile was the first with advanced electronically scanned array radar, making it even more advanced than the American AMRAAM missile.

Now Mitsubishi wants to get into self-driving cars, and it reckons that its military technology will give it a leg up on the competition. According to the article, Mitsubishi Electric is planning on using sensors developed for defense applications to give autonomous cars the eyes and ears to navigate the road.

Most autonomous cars use more than one sensor: Google's driverless cars use sonar, stereo cameras, lasers, and radar. As a defense contractor, Mitsubishi Electric provides sonar for submarines, stereo cameras for tanks, and lasers and radar sensors for all kinds of ships, armored vehicles, and aircraft. Theoretically, that's about all the ingredients it might need.

Mitsubishi is playing catch up in the self-driving car field, but believes that since it produces most of this technology in-house it can quickly catch up. It just better be sure not to accidentally include anything that explodes.