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| Tecno Power bank Picture Credit: TechSuplex |
The history power banks is similar to the chicken and egg story – no one can convincingly say which one came first; not even Wikipedia.. But as far as users in Africa are concerned, power banks represent a milestone in technology innovation.
In a country like Nigeria where power supply is not regular, power banks always come handy. Furthermore, the avalanche of smartphones in the market changed the game from developing devices that support all sorts of apps (many phones are already doing that) to one that has a long-lasting battery.
But as hard as the manufacturers are trying to develop batteries that last longer, the fact that smartphones can do almost anything means that users will not drop the phones until it is off. Hence only a battery that lasts forever can help. But until that is discovered, the closest users can get for now is the wide array of power banks in the market.
With the power banks, phone users no longer need to dread the red warning on the screen warning that the battery would soon get drained; and there is no need to walk about with pockets full of batteries either. They don’t even need to go to their workplaces with phone chargers competing for space with makeup kits (for ladies) and business files (for men). A small and cute power bank is powerful enough to supply required energy to power users’ devices.
Unlike Apple and Samsung chargers, current crops of power banks don’t discriminate. They can power Blackberry, Nokia, Ipad, Iphone, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Note, I-Touch, Android devices and several other products.
The mobile power bank which works as a portable inverter can fully charge an empty mobile phone 3 to 4 times.
In the Nigerian market, the power banks are already selling fast in the market and more varieties are emerging in the market.
Some mobile phone manufacturing companies such as TECNO are already aware of this paradigm shift and are selling new devices with power banks.
While the media is likely to promote devices that can do ‘exploits’, the users will only purchase innovations that can help them to solve major problems they encounter in their lives.
Innovators developing solutions for Africa also have a lot to learn from the power bank success story – it doesn’t have to be complex, ambiguous and expensive to be innovative; as a matter of fact, such innovations may not be successful in Africa. The key to the success of an innovation in Africa is the ability to identify a basic and common problem that Africans battle with, break down the solution and deliver it at pocket-friendly costs.
While no one can really say who is the brain behind power banks, he, she or it must be smiling to the bank now and glad that the innovation is powering millions of devices across the continent.
