Nokia Taps Kenya's App Talent to Increase Sales

Mobile handset manufacturer Nokia will establish a regional research and development centre in Nairobi in an effort to capture the growing number Kenya’s software developers to cultivate applications for its African market. Nokia’s chief executive officer Stephen Elop said in Nairobi yesterday that the mobile telephony giant intends to use the local talent to develop mobile applications to rejuvenate its falling handset sales.

The move is set to boost the earnings of local software developers and catapult the country’s IT experts to global prominence. “Kenya not only has the pool of talent required but has also demonstrated that it can produce mobile applications that can be used globally,” said Mr Elop, adding Nokia will use a yet-to-be established regional research unit to develop applications that are relevant for Africa’s users.

Mobile application are Internet based software such as the Safaricom’s mobile money transfer services M-Pesa or Ushahidi that run on smartphones and other mobile devices designed to help users to solve their day to day problems...