Prime
Ugandan to launch own smart phone
A prototype of the Pixan phone
What you need to know:
- Mr Edgar Ofuyunu, the chief executive officer of Pixan, a technology company, said he got the idea after a research he did for years.
- A report by the National Information Technology Authority Uganda shows that almost 24.8m Ugandans own mobile phones.
- Pixan will have between three to five gigabytes of working memory and a storage of up to eight and 125 gigabytes.
A Ugandan product designer is set to launch what he believes is the country’s first locally designed smart phone.
Mr Edgar Ofuyunu, the chief executive officer of Pixan, a technology company, said he got the idea after a research he did for years.
“I found that for us to manufacture things and for Uganda to realise its full potential, the basics are in design,” he said in an interview last week.
The 24-year old industrial designer, who has so far sunk more than Shs820m partly sourced from various product designs believes the smart phone will create a shift from simply consumption to empowerment of Ugandans, especially through job creation and innovation.
“The current phones do not empower us, we are just consuming. There is a lot you can do with a smartphone,” Mr Ofuyunu said.
“The reason as to why people do not have phones is not that they are expensive, it is because they lack local content,” he added.
A report by the National Information Technology Authority Uganda shows that almost 24.8m Ugandans own mobile phones.
However, more than 99 per cent of theses exported from Asia and Europe, among others.
With 15.8 per cent of the population owning smart phones, the young (15-24 years), are at the forefront of smart phone usage at 28 per cent, the report notes.
Pixan is currently in manufacturing and should hit the market this July with 4,000 phones for the start.
The Android 7.0 device assembled in China and Vietnam is expected to evolve into eight different phones, starting with Pixan MA.
Pixan will have between three to five gigabytes of working memory and a storage of up to eight and 125 gigabytes, according to Mr Ofuyunu.
It will have gorilla glass screen while the back is opal glass in pink, black, blue and gold.
The phone will also come with 4G network system, 21 hour battery life on browser, 26 hours idle and a front and back eight mega-pixel camera.
