Top Kenyan tech brains raring to take the new year by storm

2011 was a good year for Kenya’s technology scene. Despite a volatile financial atmosphere, the country made huge strides in various aspects of business and consumer technology re-affirming its position as the regional ICT powerhouse.
Notable among these achievements included advancements made in mobile software development, digital marketing and adoption of cloud technology. In addition to this, a growing middle class and renewed marketing strategies saw increased adoption of smart phones and pay TV.

Data from ICT regulators and industry experts indicate that 2012 is set to be an even bigger year for the country not only in matters political, but also on the technology front.
According to survey results from Julisha, the national research study commissioned by the Kenya ICT Board, 2012 is the year that the country’s IT market value is expected to cross the $1 billion mark.
Business Daily takes a look at the achievements recorded in some of the most active areas in Kenya’s IT scene over the past 12 months and examines what lies in store for the industry in 2012.

Mobile software development

2011 will be remembered as the year that mobile software applications, riding on the buzz generated the preceding year, became recognised as a niche in the local IT market.

At the head of the mobile application gravy-train were young men and women fresh out of colleges and brimming with talent and innovation. The result was astounding creations showcased in several competitions and developers’ meet-ups held in the country.

This saw substantial investment directed into the sector through creation of incubation centres like mLab, NaiLab and Strathmore University’s iLab. In addition to this, InMobi, the second largest mobile ad network in the world set-up shop in Kenya as a further testimony that mobile apps in Kenya are bankable.

The affordability of smart phones gave mobile developers impetus to create even more products for the local market. Smartphone vendors, led by Chinese firm Huawei made a beeline for Kenya’s growing middle class with affordable handset offerings.

Currently, Google’s Android operating system is the most popular platform powering smartphones in the country with the Huawei IDEOS alone reportedly moving 130,000 units this year.

In 2012 the focus will shift towards monetising mobile applications to generate revenue for the thousands of developers most of who, so far offer their products free of charge.

This has already started with the launch of the country’s (and Africa’s) first application store, HewaniLife by tech company Virtual City.
HewaniLife seeks to become the regions market place for mobile applications and offers developers a central portal through which they can market their applications.

Similar Apps stores like Google’s Android Market, Nokia’s Ovi and iPhone’s Apps Stores only stock Apps specific to Android, Symbian and IOS phones respectively. This gives HewaniLife a competitive edge because the store includes applications designed to run on Android, Symbian, Windows and Blackberry devices.

In addition to this, HewaniLife also provides local developers a chance to market their applications in other countries.

Local software developers have always stated that the quality of applications produced locally is good enough to be exported successfully in the regional and international markets. Though this has proven true in a few select apps like M-Pesa and Ushahidi, 2012 will be the year that many mobile developers will be called to step up to the challenge of going beyond the borders.

The Cloud

While cloud technology has been in the Kenyan tech scene for the better part of the last three years, it was not until the beginning of this year that corporates began warming up to the idea of adopting Cloud services.