Huawei will soon be launching a new range of smart phones and tablets in the Kenyan market. The IDEOS X3, X5 phones and the S7 slim white tablet will be available in outlets in as soon as 3 weeks. This will join the IDEOS U8150 phone and the S7 slim tablet which have been available in the market for a while. The IDEOS was meanhile announced as the top smartphone in the Kenyan market, with a market share of 45% of the smartpone market. This was announced at a function today morning at Nairobi’s Southern Sun Mayfair, graced by Safaricom’s head of retail Sales, Morris Muriithi, Huawei Kenya CEO Herman He, Head of ICT parliamentary committee James Rege and Permanent Secretary in the ministry of Information and Communication, Bitange Ndemo. Safaricom, which operates 35 retail outlets in the country, said it had so far sold about 60,000 IDEOS phones since they first appeared in the market in February 2011. The firm would be ordering more than 100,000 additional IDEOS U8150 phones in addition to the X3 and the X5. The S7 slim tablet was introduced into the market 2 months ago, though it has not been well received compared to the IDEOS phone. This has been blamed on the high price that Safaricom has been selling the device at. Safaricom sells the tablet at Ksh 34,999 (USD 1 approximated at Ksh 84) while the same device retails for less than Ksh 25,000 at Amazon. In contrast, Safaricom offers the lowest price worldwide for an unlocked IDEOS U8150 at Ksh 8,150 coupled with Ksh 1,000 airtime and 1 Gb data bundle. Muriithi said that Safaricom was working on the feedback it had received on the S7 slim tablet, while Huawei said that the pricing of its products depend on number of units ordered. Safaricom had ordered tens of thousands of the IDEOS U8150 phone compared to a few hundred units (estimate 500) of the S7 slim tablet it ordered.

Ndemo echoed the same concerns, that the pricing of devices needed to come lower for more penetration and especially rural adoption. Ndemo said that he expected the prices of smartphones to drop further as supply rises to meet the huge demand.  The PS said that the Kenyan government had provided the necessary legislation, policy and infrastructure and it was up to manufacturers to now bring in their devices. He added that the expected influx of smart phones will stretch broadband networks as early as 2013. The PS said that the ministry was still exploring devices that would be cost effective to be deployed nationwide in high schools around the country.
Ndemo also called for offering of the phones in local African languages and development of relevant local smart phone applications. In response, Herman He Huawei CEO said that the firm would be at the end of this month be announcing a partnership with local developers to launch local Android applications for use in its devices. He also announced that while the firm has been engaged in 4G (LTE) network tests with Safaricom, 4G modems were still not available as the firm was still in the process of developing one in partnership with Qualcomm which supplies the network chipsets for its modems and phones.
The X3 phone is fitted with a 3.2 inch screen and runs the latest Android version 2.3.3. In addition the X3 spots a back 5 Megapixel camera and a front VGA (video graphics array) camera. The device is also among the slimmest and lightest Huawei smart phones so far and comes in a curvy finish. The X5 is among the largest smartphones for those looking for more real estate on their screens, spotting a 3.8 inch screen. The phone also spots a 5 Megapixel camera with flash and runs Android 2.2. The X5 comes in the same oval shape as the IDEOS (U8150).
The S7 slim tablet weighs in at 440 gram and offers a white alternative to the black version already in the market. The device runs Android 2.2 - Google has released Android 3.0 specifically for tablets though there has been conflicting information on whether the version is available for low cost tablets - and spots a back 3 megapixel camera and a front VGA camera. The tablet accepts SIM cards in addition to Wifi and a 7 inch screen.
No indication was given on pricing of the products.