Competition intensifies as Zain launches new smart phone

By Macharia Kamau

Zain-Kenya has launched a new version of the Black Berry smart phone, an upgrade of the phone in the market.

The launch of the Black Berry Bold yesterday comes barely two weeks after Orange introduced iphone 3G, bringing the battle for smart phone supremacy to Kenya.

Zain Corporate Communications Director, Michael Okwiri said the market for smart phones had alot of potential.

He said the phone is a handy tool for those who want to keep in touch with the daily happenings.

"There is a market for the smart phone in the country, which is growing in line with the world trends. In 2004, there were only one million users of Black Berry, but this has grown to 14 million," he said.

Mr Okwiri, however, sought to draw the difference with other smart phones in the market and said the Black Berry is tailored for business rather than entertainment.

The handset will retail at Sh65,000. Zain also introduced a new tariff for subscribers using the smart phone.

Currently, users pay a fixed Sh5,000, but now have the option of paying Sh2,000 a month.

The latter tariff, however, comes with a reduction in the services on offer.

"Subscribers will have the option of paying Sh5,000 and access on their phone as well as use it as a modem to access the Net on their personal computers or pay Sh2,000 for accessing the Internet on the phone only," said Okwiri.

Okwiri spoke during the presentation of prizes to winners of its ‘jishindie bonus competition’ that started early in the month.

 

 

 

 

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