Korean electronic giant Samsung is to open regional headquarters in Nairobi by August 2011 to capture its expanding business interests in East Africa
Currently, East and Central Africa Samsung business is worth $250mn but the firm projects to increase this to $12mn by 2015. The company also intends to increase its workforce from 30 to 100 by 2015.
“Samsung has been registering good business in Kenya and will set up base here to drive it further”, noted Robert Ngeru, the firm's East Africa business leaders during the Samsung Africa Forum held at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre recently.
At the forum, Samsung showcased its products that included televisions, mobile phones, digital camera and home appliances.
Products
Among the products on show were Samsung Galaxy S, Fridges with eco-bubble technology, HD Camcorders, Super thin LED Smart TV (D8000 and D7000 LED TV), SENS Series 9, Twin Fridge, E-Board Solution, 3D TV, Digital Cameras (SH100, ST700, Q10, WB200, and NX series), Galaxy S 2, and Galaxy Tab 10.1.
Samsung announced that the pre-orders of Galaxy Tab 10.1 has reached 3 Million. The device boasts the Super AMOLED Plus screen just as the Galaxy S 2 phone.
Samsung‘s 2011 TVs premium series—above LED D5500 series and PDP D6900— offering Smart TV features were also on display. The Samsung Apps Market already has 400 apps to support the Smart TVs.
Camera SH100, ST700, Q10, WB200, and NX series of cameras all were displayed. Both the Q10 camcorder and the premium camera range deliver Smart Experiences through touch-based user interface called Smart Touch 3.0. This interface gives users the ability to drag, click and control ‘app-style’ icons, and easily flip through photos.
Samsung also showcased the SENS Series 9 Notebook. The laptop which was launched at the CES 2011 event boasts Core i5 processor, Windows 7 OS, 128GB SSD, 8GB RAM, 1366×768 display, Intel HD graphics, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports, LAN, micro-HDMI, microSD slot, Duralumin Design, Backlit keyboard and 6-cell battery.
Competitive
As the mobile phone market growth curve flattens, Samsung has in recent days introduced its latest smartphone brand in Kenya, aiming for a piece of the rapidly growing top-end mobile market.
The company has teamed up with Safaricom - the East African region largest mobile company- to sell the phone, S8500, and becomes the second firm after Huawei to ride on the back of the company's 16.2mn subscribers to grow their unit sales.
Dubbed the 'Samsung Wave', S8500 is positioned for the mass market.
"The Samsung Wave has been retailing exclusively at Safaricom outlets countrywide for $375 and comes with 100MB free data and Ksh1,000 free airtime," said Mr Robert Ngeru of Samsung Electronics Kenya.
Data business has proved to be the next battlefield for mobile phone companies across Africa as the voice market becomes saturated.
Recent information from Pyramid Research, data and broadband Internet revenue for Kenyan mobile operators is expected to grow rapidly over the next five years, generating $76mn by 2014, up from $20.6mn in 2009.
by Mwangi Mumero
