A low-cost Windows Phone for Africa

In Africa, smartphones represent only 10% of mobile phones, according to Microsoft. In order to develop smartphone customers, the publisher has now join the Chinese Huawei device to broadcast a low cost and running Windows Phone. Called "Huawei 4Afrika" it will be available in February in seven countries: Angola, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa.

A smartphone to $ 150

Intended primarily for students, small businesses and developers, this terminal is a variant of the Huawei Ascend W1. It has a 4-inch screen, a 1GHz Snapdragon chip doubles heart and 4GB of storage. It will be immediately provided with a selection of software "created by African developers for African consumers." Everything will be available for the modest sum of $ 150, according to the New York Times. "We believe this is the right time to invest in Africa and access to technology - especially the cloud and smart devices - will give a boost to the competitiveness of Africa," says Jean Philippe Courtois, president of Microsoft International, in a note to blog.
Ambitious

But Huawei is not the only ally in the conquest of Africa. Also according to the New York Times, Microsoft has also launched smartphones designed to Africa with his number one ally, the Finnish Nokia. Two terminals should also be launched in the coming months.
The "Huawei 4Afrika" is part of a wider investment program initiated by Microsoft, namely 4Afrika. Planned over several years, it is, for example, to accelerate the development of broadband access, facilitate learning technologies (Afrika Academy) or to assist SMEs. By 2016, Microsoft plans and contribute to the dissemination of "tens of millions" of smartphones among African youth, connect one million SMEs in the continent to train 200,000 African internet and new technologies.