NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, December 27, 2012

A smartphone and tablet said to be the first designed by an African company have beenlaunched.

The products, designed by Congolese entrepreneur Verone Mankou, are manufactured in China.

His company VMK’s devices run Google’s Android software. They will retail at $170 (£105) for the smartphone and $300 (£185) for the tablet.

“Only Africans can know what Africa needs,” said Mr Mankou at the Tech4Africa conference in Johannesburg.

“Apple is huge in the US, Samsung is huge in Asia, and we want VMK to be huge in Africa.”