- E-commerce platform Copia, which targets low-income households has reportedly fired about 50 people from its workforce. According to people privy to the matter, the company cut the said number of people as the tech industry continues to lay off tens of thousands of people across the globe. Copia,…
- WhatsApp has made available a beta version of its native macOS app that is compatible with Apple Silicon. Mac users with Apple’s own chip and running macOS 11 Big Sur or later can download the test version. Those with Intel Macs that can run apps created using Mac Catalyst, which is Apple’s program…
- Pesapal has introduced a new Forecourt Management Solution in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, which is the first solution specifically designed for Africa that offers integrated payments and monitoring and data tools. This tool aims to streamline fuel and retail management processes by connecting…
- Various Microsoft services such as Teams, Outlook, Microsoft 365, OneDrive for Business, Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Graph, and Azure are currently experiencing downtime. Microsoft’s own status website confirms that users are unable to access Microsoft 365, previously known as Office 365.…
- This week, we extensively discussed the state of digital lending apps in Kenya, and the consensus is that the companies behind online loan apps are not having it easy following the institution of a number of laws that were long due, and which appear to be doing great work in taming their previously…
- The Communications Authority of Kenya has published a draft of the Framework For Emerging Technologies Regulatory Sandbox, and it wants public input in terms of comments before February 3, 2023. A regulatory sandbox is a specific set of rules and guidelines that allow companies to test new products…
- Amazon and Stripe have announced that they have entered into an agreement on a global scale, under which Amazon will expand its use of Stripe’s primary payments platform. According to a statement by Stripe, Amazon Web Services (AWS) will provide critical computing infrastructure to assist Stripe in…
- Digital insurance platform mTek has partnered with digital informal retail aggregator Kyosk.app and Fin, a focused fintech platform, to provide insurance coverage to over 100,000 Kenyan informal retail businesses, commonly referred to as dukas. Although it has employed over 80 percent of the Kenyan…
- The High Court in Kenya has decided against continuing a previous order that prevented banks and mobile money providers from imposing fees for money transfers between their platforms, a report by Business Daily has revealed. The judge, Justice Mugure Thande, noted that Safaricom and the Central…
- Seems like Meta is trying to hold the hooks on every panel ends! After the recent Instagram update, it’s now WhatsApps’ time to juggle the ball on hooking the users. This imminent update is rumored to be having “automatic”, “best quality”, and “data saver” as options for image quality…
- According to Surfshark’s annual report on internet censorship, in 2022, 4.2 billion people were affected by internet censorship worldwide. Asia accounted for nearly half (47%) of all new cases in 2022. The Jammu and Kashmir region had the highest number of recorded internet disruptions with 24, and…
- Mobile technology has become an integral part of our daily lives, and the epicenter of innovation. At the moment, we have become attached to our devices to create and consume content, stay connected with others, work and manage every aspect of our lives. This means that it is almost impossible to…
- A lot of people are unhappy about the new app by lender NCBA, Loop. It replaces the NCBA Loop app, which has been a favourite among users for over five years. NCBA announced last week that it would revamp the platform with new features and services, and it has done just that following an exercise…
- The tech space is always in ‘motion’ – constantly evolving with new trends emerging every day. In recent years, we’ve seen the sprout, growth, shift, and rise in areas such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and the Internet of Things. These technologies are shaping the way we live and work…
- NCBA Loop app has been revamped to Loop. This is a new super app by the lender, which also falls under the NCBA umbrella, but was launched primarily for the youth, with a touch of digital products and lifestyle features. It has been around for more than five years, and this is the first time […]
- Tech companies are not done firing people if the current wave of news is anything to go by. According to a report by Bloomberg, music streaming platform Spotify is prepping to lay off a number of its workers. This could happen as soon as this week. If that happens, then Spotify will join the likes…
- Digital lenders have been in business for an extended period, but their operations have since been halted by the Central Bank of Kenya and new laws following years of harassment of customers. These companies, which found a thriving business environment in Kenya, at least during the earlier periods…
- We argued that tech companies have been copying each other in terms of the number of workers they lay off, starting as early as 2020 during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. This can largely be described as copycat behavior, where one company in the technology industry lays off a significant…
- Instagram has launched Quiet mode to help users focus and to encourage people to set boundaries with their friends and followers. Once enabled, you won’t receive any notifications, your profile’s activity status will change to let people know and we’ll automatically send an auto-reply when someone…
- Wananchi Group’s Zuku has never been viewed positively in the past few years. The company, one of the first to offer fixed home internet, has been experiencing difficulties and it appears that it is unable to address its technical issues based on social media complaints and overall customer…
- Google is laying off a significant amount of their workforce, around 12,000 jobs, which is 6% of their global workforce, due to the rise in inflation and anticipation of a downturn in global markets. The CEO, Sundar Pichai, announced the cuts in an email to employees and a blog post. This follows…
- In October 2022, NCBA Loop hinted that it was planning to improve its banking platform for its users. It did not give any details about this plan, but promised that the changes were to take place over the following weeks. According to a blog post, Loop said that it wants to re-examine the LOOP…
- Late November WhatsApp was rumored to be testing the ability of Voice Notes as statuses. This is no longer a rumor as WhatsApp for Android beta version 2.23.2.8 has brought Voice Status updates to some beta users, allowing them to upload vanishing audio, which will disappear after 24 hours. The…
- Reed Hastings, the co-founder of video streaming service Netflix and its CEO for 25 years, is stepping down from his role in a leadership change at the top of the corporation. Hastings stated in a blog post that he has been gradually transferring management responsibilities in recent years and…
- Today, the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) is set to release the results of the Kenya Certificate for Secondary Education (KCSE) exams taken by 884,263 candidates in 2022. This is exactly one month after the KCPE 2022 results were announced back in December. The Education Cabinet…
- Noah Amoke has been appointed as the CM.com Sales Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). CM.com is a global company that specializes in cloud-based software for conversational commerce, which helps businesses improve customer experience. Their communications and payments platform allows for the…
- A couple of days ago, we learned that third-party Twitter apps were not working. Users reported that the likes of Fenix, Flamingo, and more were experiencing an outage, and at that time, no explanation or communication was made from Twitter explaining the downtime. Then, it started appearing that…
- Although trends really have nothing to do with the growth of industry, we think they are essential to cultivating knowledge of a particular set. In 2022, we saw trends that were good and bad, the toxic one being the shutting down of startups and downscaling of employees: which apparently has…
- In 2020, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) implemented a directive allowing for free money transfers from banks to mobile money wallets. However, this was not well received by both banks and mobile money providers. Late last year, the CBK announced plans to reintroduce charges for these transactions…
- It has been a couple of months ever since the Ruto Government took over Kenya’s administration. There have been many promises, many of which are long-term and will be realized, hopefully, in the future. Ruto’s Government has also promised a lot in terms of pushing the digital agenda, and this was…
- Remember when we said that we are not sure why tech companies are firing people all of a sudden in 2022? The spree has caught on in 2023, and the recent culprits are workers who work for Microsoft. We had argued, also, that it is possible that copycat behaviour is playing a part in this, […]
- 5G is driving conversations in different markets now, especially in Kenya where telco Safaricom has launched the service for consumers in select places in the country and has also offered the same for fixed internet users. Consumers have also been asking themselves why this development is important…
- A report by Canalys has revealed that in Q4 2022, global smartphone shipments decreased by 17% compared to 2021. Shipments for the entire year of 2022 decreased by 11% and added up to less than 1.2 billion. Apple regained the top spot in Q4 and had its highest market share ever at 25%, although it…
- Credit firm Pezesha, which offers B2B online lending infrastructure has announced that it is now fully licensed to operate in Uganda. The company, which closed a pre-series A investment of KES 1.32 billion (USD 11 million – which was a mix of $6 million in equity and $5 million debt and led by…
- TVs are a common household item that can easily get dirty from dust, or fingerprints. This is why it is important to keep them clean because they are visually appealing when they don’t have any smudges. However, it is not easy to clean them because most people use the wrong process or products, and…
- After much anticipation, TECNO has officially launched the Phantom X2 series in the country. The lineup is the company’s top-of-the-line flagship devices and has flagship-grade specs and features. Dimensity 9000 5G(4nm) chipset paired with 8GB RAM and 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM power the regular and the…
- There is no denying that Realme makes some amazing phones, which beat the competition in terms of features and price. This is what the company sought to accomplish: to make appealing devices for developing markets that do not have the purchasing power to pick high-end, pricier phones The Realme C33…
- Meltwater, with its latest report launch, has attempted to shed light on the distinctions between local and global trends, uncovering a significant trend amongst organizations of an increasing reliance on social media as a result of the ongoing economic uncertainty around the globe. In fact, a…
- Microsoft has made Azure OpenAI Service, which includes access to advanced AI models like GPT-3.5, Codex, and DALL-E 2, available to businesses. These models are supported by the enterprise capabilities and optimized infrastructure of Microsoft Azure, allowing businesses to create cutting-edge…
- Twitter’s For You tab, which was previously only available on iPhones and iPads, is now also appearing on desktop web browsers. Twitter has renamed its “Home” tab to the “For You” tab, which is now the default tab when using the app on iOS devices. It is an algorithm-based curated tab similar to…
- According to a report by TrendForce, the number of foldable smartphones shipped globally is expected to increase from 12.8 million in 2022 to 18.5 million in 2023. The hinges used in foldable smartphones play a crucial role in determining the overall cost of the device and can affect consumers’…
- OPPO has made a public announcement of a new audio system-on-chip (SoC) called the MariSilicon Y, which was presented during the OPPO INNO DAY event in 2022. This SoC is built using advanced N6RF process technology and has a data transfer rate of up to 12Mbps. The chip also has a unique URLC codec…
- AppsFlyer and Google have recently released a report which examines how mobile apps are impacting finance in Africa. The report found that there has been a significant rise in the number of finance app installs across the continent, as more people turn to technology to manage their finances and…
- Safaricom has added a new feature to its MySafaricom app that allows 5G Wi-Fi customers to manage their subscriptions. This complements the app’s existing features and products, which previously allowed customers to manage only their Home Fibre subscriptions. In December, the carrier added a…
- Takura Malaba has been named the new Bolt Regional Manager for East and Southern Africa, beginning on January 1st, 2023. He will be taking over for Kenneth Micah, who held the position of Regional Manager for Eastern Africa since October 2019. Takura joined Bolt in November 2021 as the Country…
- OpenAI has indicated that it will soon begin implementing fees for its widely-used AI-based chatbot, ChatGPT. The chatbot, which can compose a variety of written materials including compositions, correspondences, verse, and code, is a tool that the company wants to monetize in order to ensure its…
- Microsoft will launch a new, budget-friendly version of its productivity software package Microsoft 365 called Microsoft 365 Basic. The plan will debut on January 30th and will be priced at $1.99 monthly or $19.99 annually. It will offer 100 GB of storage, Outlook email, and access to support…
- OPPO is now rolling out the Android 13-based ColorOS 13 update to its premium midrange device – the OPPO Reno8 5G in Kenya. This comes four days after its siblings the OPPO Reno6 5G and OPPO Reno7 5G got updated to Android 13 and ColorOS 13 in the country. ColorOS 13 is OPPO’s custom UI […]
- Mergers and acquisitions in the gaming industry have been a significant trend in recent years, with many of them being worth billions of dollars. This has led to a consolidation of the industry, with fewer companies owning a larger share of the market. One of the most notable deals in the gaming…
- Telecoms giant Vodafone is planning to make significant job cuts, which will be the largest in five years, in an effort to control costs and improve its performance. The cuts are expected to be mostly at the company’s London headquarters, according to sources. The European telecoms sector has been…
