Dell Chromebook sends a clear signal

The unveiling of a new Chromebook is the clearest signal yet from Dell that it wants to cross the divide between the business user and the consumer.

For a company that is moving aggressively towards a software and solutions focus, Dell is making a lot of noise with its new hardware.

At the Dell World conference in Austin, held mid-Dec, it made yet another product announcements that signaled a reinforcement of its computer offerings. It unveiled its first Chromebook – a laptop using Google’s simplified Chrome OS operating system – targeted specifically at the education market in the United States and United Kingdom, and claiming 10 hours battery life.

The device follows the launch, in October, of two tablets – the Venue 7 and 8 – running Google’s Android operating system and a further two – the Venue Pro 8 and 11 – running on Microsoft Windows 8.1. And that’s just the beginning.

“We’re launching a lot more devices, a lot more form factors,” said Dell executive director of end-user computing, Margaret Franco in an interview. “How are all these devices making any sense? In this new world, it starts with the use case of the customer. By understanding the end user and the application of the device, you can marry the right device to the right customer.”

Combined with Dell’s growing software and services capability, the wide range of devices appears to make for a solution range rather than merely a device range.

source: www.marklives.com

African Tech Deal of the Year

Nokia shareholders in November voted in favour of the sale of the company’s devices and services section to Microsoft, at a price tag of US$7.36 billion.  Microsoft is also granted a 10 year non-exclusive licence to Nokia’s patents. The sale is likely to conclude in early 2014 – currently awaiting regulatory approvals – with approximately 32,000 Nokia employees expected to transfer to Microsoft. The deal sees the Windows Phone platform united with its biggest hardware supplier, and paves the way for Windows Phone/Nokia devices to take over the African market, in which Nokia handsets have proven popular to date. With the Windows Phone platform already being touted as a favourable solution for African markets – under Microsoft’s 4Afrika initiative – and Nokia producing a range of low-cost smartphones suited to lower-income environments, the deal sees the beginning of a potential African market titan.

Richard Cutcher: As news broke that MTN had invested US$75 million in Amadeus Capital Partners, a technology fund targeting emerging markets, at first it appeared Africa’s best-known telecommunications brand was giving something back to the industry it profits so immensely from. However, after interviewing the managers of the fund, HumanIPO established MTN is more interested in taking advantage of the growing mobile sector by boosting foreign ventures to serve the African industry rather than any of the continent’s talented developers and entrepreneurs. As a single indicator of the stupidity surrounding moneymen of African telecommunications, this was surely the ‘African’ tech deal of the year.

source:www.humanipo.com