<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div><div>Kieti,<br><br></div>The reason I pick on Government is simply because if you look at the last couple of years, the one entity that is throwing good money into developing really suspect 'mobile' applications that hardly ever become sustainable is GoK.<br>
<br></div>And since GoK cannot force commercial companies to buy certain applications that it has helped develop, bar using Taxes etc, it would then almost make sense for GoK to be the first to try to use these applications itself, seeing that it is already spending Ksh 15B in buying software itself.<br>
<br>Microsoft calls this eating your own dog food!<br><br></div>Please, let us not confuse enterprise applications with ERPs, they're really different. If you look at my earlier list, I pushed for our engineers to focus on cracking cloud computing, security, network management and building applications that we currently have a need for.<br>
<br></div>And, as has been said here, mobile is just a delivery platform, and no one in his right mind would want to kill the largest delivery platform accessible to Wanjku.<br><br></div>But when you keep throwing good money after really bad applications that are finding almost no use in the market, and then go ahead and ask more engineers to commit themselves to building more of the same old 'mobile' applications, then would you be surprised that the so called dream of having a 100 ICT, Ksh 1B Turnover companies in Kenya are not looking but like a mirage right now?<br>
<br></div>Regards<br>Waithaka Ngigi<br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Mar 22, 2014 at 1:51 PM, John Kieti <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jkieti@gmail.com" target="_blank">jkieti@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div>Phares, Solutions delivery comes closest to revenue being made and impact achieved. End users rarely care about computational and other server side abilities. Processing and storage abilities on the server side are indeed are essential as software based solutions deliver to scale, but there must be a customer interacting using some end user device; and in Kenya the customer mostly has a feature phone kind of device.<br>
<br></div>Dennis, Ngigi, <br>The argument about Angry birds on one end and even Google on the other end not growing from direct government support should apply to the case of ERPs and other enterprise grade applications. Entreprise growth soley based on doing business with government is easily the infamous tender-preneurship, and thats another story. Granted, Government may be the single biggest IT spender in the country, it does not provide majority of IT business (I stand corrected). <br>
<br></div>My point: Perhaps which the policy custodians are seeing, is that we do not have to "kill" efforts around mobile so that desktop / server side services can thrive. If any thing many enterprise solutions are already being delivered through mobile, and thats going to grow as the mobile ecosystem continues to sniff the easier money in enterprise. Its a whole complementary ecosystem. As to whether the industry should rely on government tender to thrive, entrepreneurs should seek success elsewhere where there's low hanging fruits.<br>
<br></div>best regards<br><div><div><br></div></div></div><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Mar 22, 2014 at 1:30 PM, Phares Kariuki <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:pkariuki@gmail.com" target="_blank">pkariuki@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div>John,</div><div><br></div><div>You forget that mobile focuses on delivery. No real computing happens on mobile. Facebook runs massive data centers to compliment it's mobile offering. So does Google, to complement android. M-Pesa had to get capacity in rack space. Mobile is but a delivery tool. The argument that we should focus on mobile is akin to saying that we should scrap universities (knowledge 'producers') and focus on printing presses, because people read books. </div>
<div><br></div><div>Most mobile applications are hollow at best without infrastructure. </div><div><br></div><div>Think about it all the leaders in mobile Instagram, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Safaricom have massive compute capacity (Instagram leases from amazon). We on the other hand only want to focus on delivery. </div>
<div>
<div><br></div><div><br>Sent from my mobile device, excuse brevity</div></div><div><div><div><br>On 22 Mar 2014, at 13:22, Dennis Kioko <<a href="mailto:dmbuvi@gmail.com" target="_blank">dmbuvi@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
<br></div><blockquote type="cite">
<div>Hi Kieti,<div>How comes none of these thousands of software developers are supplying even a single solution to government. How comes government services are barely available to the millions of Kenyans via mobile? </div>
<div>
<br></div><div>See our drift, government should be removing barriers and improving service delivery for all. </div><div><br></div><div>Also, what was the role of governments in the likes of Angry Birds, King (Candy Crush Saga) and Facebook, beyond providing an enabling environment - which we don't do here. <br>
<div><br>On Saturday, 22 March 2014, John Kieti <<a href="mailto:jkieti@gmail.com" target="_blank">jkieti@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr"><div><div>Phares, Ngigi, Conrad<br><br></div>Your focus and preference for server side and
enterprise desktop mode solutions is very much appreciated.<br><br>However the
thousands of local software developers getting into the system will not fit
into just that pie of the value chain you are in for now. More so, 30m+ mobile
subscribers is no small market place for software entrepreneurs. And
nowadays the computer does not have to be on your desk or lap, in fact
most computers among Kenyans are mobile phones. It is not bad for policy to
at least direct the youth towards the opportunity in mobile. <br><br>You'll recall that its a global market place and some of the kids we deride for writing the so called "mVitus" are earning thee figure dollar checks monthly from downloads and ads in india, brazil etc. They just wont shout that aloud. More importantly though M-Pesa is seven years old. Many mobile solutions targeting local/regional problems will not mature as soon as we impatiently expect. We're only 3-4 years into the "mobile craze" and most serious attempts are not over 3 years old. There's no short cuts to developing competitive advantages - even in mobile, give it time. If you are not convinced yet, try the ringtone market and premium SMS services. Its a whole big economy out there, with big money changing hands, and its all mobile!<br>
<br></div><div>That said, what would you rather the CS did about local enterprise desktop based solutions and server side services?<br></div><div><br></div><div>Have a nice weekend.<br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra">
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Mar 22, 2014 at 12:47 PM, Rad! <span dir="ltr"><<a>conradakunga@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">I'm mystified as well at this obsession with mobile apps.<div><br></div><div>Not that we should not to them, but there is so much opportunity in other sectors - infrastructure, cloud computing, enterprise applications, content management that Kenya can not only benefit from, but we can be competitive globally.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Looks like mobile apps will be this regime's Pashas & BPOs</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div>On Sat, Mar 22, 2014 at 12:14 PM, Phares Kariuki <span dir="ltr"><<a>pkariuki@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
</div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div><div dir="auto"><div>A fairly narrow view of the technology sector. It's not all mobile. <br>
<br>Sent from my mobile device, excuse brevity</div>
<div><br>On 22 Mar 2014, at 04:56, Grace Githaiga <<a>ggithaiga@hotmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite">
<div>
<div dir="ltr"><div><a href="http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/m/story.php?articleID=2000107530&story_title=Got-talent-Matiangi-is-looking-for-you" target="_blank">http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/m/story.php?articleID=2000107530&story_title=Got-talent-Matiangi-is-looking-for-you</a><br>
<br></div> </div>
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