Microsoft will use gadget dubbed Xbox One, which gives users ability to play video games while watching TV or listening to music. The Xbox One is positioned as a portal for games, videos and music and users can also stream movies and other TV channels for a fee.
Nairobi will be at the heart of this strategy in Africa, leading to the appointment of Nigerian Kunle Awosika as the Kenya country manager to steer the plan.
The Xbox One will be released in the US on November 22 with a price of $499 (Sh43,000) and Nairobi will be one of the first African cities to test the gadget.
Microsoft Kenya will enter the country’s television market in what will up competition in the pay TV segment as the tech giant moves to cut its reliance on software and boost sales.
The firm will use gadget dubbed Xbox One, which gives users ability to play video games while watching TV or listening to music.
The Xbox One is positioned as a portal for games, videos and music and users can also stream movies and other TV channels for a fee.
This is part of a global strategy that will see the firm accelerate development of computing services and hardware, a move that saw it agreeing this month to buy Nokia’s handset unit for $7.2 billion (Sh626 billion).
Microsoft has focused on Window’s software over the past decade as rivals like Apple were revolutionising computing through products like the iPhone.
Nairobi will be at the heart of this strategy in Africa, leading to the appointment of Nigerian Kunle Awosika as the Kenya country manager to steer the plan.
The television product is expected to be the most revolutionary of the tech giant, putting it in competition with operators like DStv — which maintains a stranglehold of Kenya’s pay TV business.
“Going forward, our strategy will focus on creating a family of devices and services for individuals and businesses that empower people around the globe at home, at work and on the go, for the activities they value most,” Mr Kunle said.
“Our family will include phones, tablets, PCs, Television attached devices and other devices to be imagined and developed.” The Xbox One will be released in the US on November 22 with a price of $499 (Sh43,000) and Nairobi will be one of the first African cities to test the gadget.
Rivals collapse
Microsoft is strengthening its push into hardware as demand weakens for programmes such as Windows that made it the world’s largest software maker.
Its foray into TV will offer competition to firms like DStv, which have so far not faced a rival with the financial muscle at the disposal of Microsoft.
DStv has largely been riding on the exclusive rights it holds on key content such as sports, including the English Premiership League, to win a following of about three million subscribers in several African markets.
Its dominance led to the collapse of rivals GTV and Smart TV.
