Author: Francis Ebuehi

Guess Bharti Airtel did not have any choice but to launch free voice calls on its network in reaction to Reliance Jio’s extension of its Welcome Offer. Now let’s start from the very beginning. Reliance Jio, a competitor in the Indian telco space introduced a welcome offer in September 2016.…

I don’t think there are many Internet-savvy Nigerians that do not know about Linda Ikeji. Some like her, some hate her but she is truly a pacesetter. Now don’t think I have been paid to praise or exalt her. People thought she could do no better than her gossip blog…

As a founding investor of Beats Electronics, Will.i.am struck gold when Apple acquired the company in 2014 for $3billion. Is he expecting another buy-out for this new gizmo or he is doing this because he loves investing tech through his company, i.am+? The 7 time Grammy Award winner, Mega Superstar and Black Eyed Peas founder and…

This is a question that came up after Microsoft’s event on Wednesday where the Technology giant unveiled among other products, the Surface Studio – an awesome PC that could rival the iMac and the Surface Dial, a one of a kind gadget that allows you interact with onscreen content in…

Kodak, known globally for camera accessories, has launched a smartphone called Kodak Ektra. The smartphone sports a 21MP main camera when most phones have 13MP. The front facing camera for selfies is 13MP.  Kodak says that the Ektra is a photography-first smartphone. The phone was developed by British company Bullitt. The original…

Ever so often you hear CEOs of corporate bodies talk about how they are embracing innovation in their everyday operations but you as the customer, do not see the innovation in the rollout of new products or in the delivery of service. They talk of buzzwords like “disruptive innovation”, Some…

I have decided to bare my mind on some issues that I have seen regarding startups in Nigeria. Interestingly, some startups think they have every right to success because they are technology startups. All you have to do is build a website, spend some time developing an app and send…

I thought it was a joke when I saw Bankole Oluwafemi Facebook post . Of course I thought it was a photoshop joke. How can Mark Zuckerberg be in Nigeria unannounced? Then I saw this video below on red Media Africa’s Instagram page then I knew it was for real. The…

Tayo Oviosu, CEO and founder of Paga announced yesterday that his payments company now has over 5 million Paga-lets or users. He set out to solve the inefficiency of payments for businesses and consumers, and make financial services accessible to all Nigerians seven years ago. He has finally gotten 5 million people…

The fact the voice revenues have been on the downward trend is not news. What is news is that some telcos have not realised this or have not taken decisive strategies to look for other revenue streams. The era of voice contributing over 90% of a telco’s revenues is over.…

In February this year, the WhatsApp team announced that they were 1 billion users on the platform. They have now revealed that this group of people make 100 million calls a day – that’s over 1,100 calls a second! This is what CEO Jan Koum said on his Facebook page to commemorate…

Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day. Teach a Man To Fish, and You Feed Him for a Lifetime I watched a special report on CNN about Aliko Dangote building a refinery in Lagos. The richest man on Africa is building a 650,000 barrel-per-day refinery…

Hi. This is just for fun. While waiting for the film Central Intelligence that hits the cinema on the 17th of June, you can double up to the official site and add yourself to pre-formatted GIFs. The film stars Dwayne Johnson (a.k.a The Rock) and Kevin Hart in a comedy…

Let’s give the background of this event before we discuss the outcome. On Wednesday, 23rd of March 2016, Microsoft unveiled its Artificial Intelligence Chatbot – Tay. Tay was created for 18- to 24- year-olds in the U.S. for entertainment purposes. As Microsoft developed Tay, it planned and implemented a lot of filtering…

“Our selling point is really taking everyday ingredients and transforming them into extraordinary food. We also aim to use a lot of local produce wherever possible. And I hope that we can give not just Nigeria, but Nigerian cuisine an appeal that crosses cultures.” – Nkem Odewunmi, Founder and CEO…

I love the Blackberry device and I have always had one since I launched it on the Celtel/Zain (now Airtel Nigeria) network in my hey days as the Head of Product Innovation and Research in 2006/7. I was one of the Blackberry loyalists who couldn’t understand why Blackberry removed the…

The Nigerian Government has launched an online platform (Business Innovation and Growth  a.k.a BIG) to execute a $160 million World bank assisted growth and employment programme. The inauguration of platform and fund was done by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah on Tuesday, along with the World Bank Country…

Norwegian Software company, Opera, has announced that it has accepted a $1.2 billion acquisition offer from a consortium of Chinese firms, led by Kunlun and Qihoo 360 backed by the investment funds Golden Brick and Yonglian According to the press release, “A cash consideration of NOK 71.00 will be offered per share, valuing…

The Babocush is such a nice and convenient innovation. To some, it is seen as a lifesaver while others see it as lazy parenting. The video about this new innovation has racked up over 10 million views and over 24,000 comments on Facebook since it was uploaded on the 18th…

It’s no longer news that Nigerian own mobile-ad rewarding start-up MyAds has changed the game of advertising locally. What is RED HOT News is that the Nigerian based start-up has decided to take on the world.  In the early hours of today, the 10th day of January 2016, MyAds pre-launched…