Imperatives for relevance in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

By Austin Okere

The popular saying used to be that big fish would eat small fish. This has since changed significantly in the light of recent happenings in the global economy; UBER, until recently a relatively unknown company out of Silicon Valley in California employs 160,000 drivers today, and is adding an average of 20,000 drivers every month.

This transport services disrupter is now valued at $41b. Another previously obscure company with similar roots, AirBnB, has over 1.5m accommodation on her platform, and is now valued at $25b. Upwork, a platform that connects businesses with freelancers have gone from zero to $1b revenues in just five years and projects to reach $10b in the next 5 years.

The new disrupters are not confined to just North America and Europe. China’s foremost e-commerce business, Alibaba’s recent listing on the New York Stock Exchange broke all records with a valuation of $170b. DiDi Kuaidi, a Chinese transport platform is pooling over 8m drivers and serving 10m commuters every day, in a consumer to consumer model.

Africa leapfrogs the trend

Here in Nigeria, our own Company, CWG Plc (www.cwlgroup.com), has seen a record uptake of 6m new Accounts on the Diamond Y’ellow Account platform; a mobile banking product that she white labels, and recently launched in conjunction with MTN (the largest Mobile Operator in Africa)

Amazon Announces New AWS IoT Button

Push buttons can make your life a lot easier and also help you spend more than you probably would otherwise. This week, Amazon has added one more push button to its collection, and it might be the best of them all.

Listed for sale on its site, the customizable AWS IoT Buttons is one of the latest and most useful additions to the network of Internet of Things, according to latest report on lighthousenewsdaily.com.

It was launched as part of the Dash buttons product line that allows customers to order products such as toilet paper, pet food, or tampons by simply pressing an internet-connected physical button.

The concept behind the Dash buttons was to provide customers with an easier refill option. All you have to do is buy the little buttons and you stick them wherever you store the product – inside the cupboard, on the washing machine.

Whenever you run low on supplies, you simply tap the button and— voilà—your order has been placed. At the moment, Amazon offers more than 100 different buttons, but the new addition

Vodacom Nigeria Trains 25 Pupils on IoT

As part of its support for the ‘Girls in ICT’ programme, Vodacom Business Nigeria has trained 25 female pupils of Clemmy High School, Agodo-Egbe, Lagos, on Internet of Things.

The beneficiaries, who were pupils from Senior Secondary School 1 and 2, learned how the IoT was used in ensuring people’s safety and in securing property in today’s world.

They also toured the company’s facilities, exposing them to the importance of connectivity and data security to individuals and businesses in this milieu.

Clemmy High School emerged as winners of the app development and quiz competition, which was part of the ‘Girls in ICT Day’ celebration last month, organised by E-Business Life.

Vodacom said its aim of training female students in particular was to debunk the myth that ICT was for males, predominantly; encouraging more female students to choose ICT as their course of

Airtel Reviews Data Tariff

*Segun Ogunsanya, Airtel Nigeria CEO

In its commitment to becoming the mobile Internet services provider of first choice for telecoms consumers in Nigeria, leading telecoms operator, Airtel Nigeria has announced a review of its data tariff plans in a strategic move to offer more value to customers.

Under the new data plans, customers can now enjoy up to 30MB with just N100, and 7GB at just N3,500 for a 30 day period. Customers can activate the new tariff plan by dialling *141#

In a statement, Airtel said that with the review, telecoms consumers will be further empowered to connect to their dreams as well as fulfill their professional and personal endeavours at an amazingly discounted rate.

Speaking on the revised data plans, Chief Commercial Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Ahmed Mokhles, said the data offering is designed specifically to cater to the needs as well as empower the different segments of mobile Internet consumers.

According to him, Airtel Nigeria has a key objective of delivering innovative, bespoke and quality data offerings to telecoms consumers in line with its commitment to empowering more Nigerians

Worldwide App Revenue Touches $34.2B- Report

Mobile device users installed nearly 156 billion mobile applications worldwide in 2015, generating $34.2 billion in direct (non-advertising) revenue.

A new forecast from International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that these figures will grow to more than 210 billion installs and nearly $57 billion in direct revenue in 2020, according to TOI report.

While the market will continue to grow throughout the forecast period, IDC expects to see slower growth in both application install volumes and direct revenue over time. This trend, which is largely driven by market maturation, will see annual install growth fall into the single digits over the second half of the forecast.

Mobile application install volume will still experience a five year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.3%. Meanwhile, direct revenue from mobile applications will also experience slower growth by the end of the forecast period, although the five year CAGR will remain in the

Oracle Accuses Google of Stealing to Become Smartphone Powerhouse

Oracle Corp and Google faced off on Tuesday in a $9 billion copyright retrial, with Oracle accusing Google of stealing programming to become the world's leading smartphone player and Google saying it acted legally as a true innovator. 

Reuters latest report says Oracle claims Google's Android smartphone operating system violated its copyright on parts of the Java programming language, while Alphabet Inc's Google says it should be able to use Java without paying a fee under the fair-use provision of copyright law.

The dispute previously went to trial in 2012, but a jury deadlocked. If the new jury in San Francisco federal court rules against Google on fair use, then it will consider Oracle's $9 billion damages request.

The case has been closely watched by software developers who fear an Oracle victory could spur more software copyright lawsuits. However, investors see little risk for Google because the company could afford to pay a one-off fine, and the possibility of an injunction that would force

WhatsApp Launches Desktop Apps For Mac And Windows

It’s goodnews as Facebook-owned messaging app WhatsApp is coming to desktops. The company has announced that its apps are now available on PCs running on Windows 8 and above and for Mac OS 10.9 and above, according to reports by ettelecoms.com.

Similar to 'WhatsApp Web', the desktop app is synced with WhatsApp on your mobile device. According to the company, "The app mirrors conversations and messages from your mobile device."

Since the app will run natively on users' desktops, they will have "support for native desktop notifications, better keyboard shortcuts, and more".

To download the app, users need to visit 'https://www.whatsapp.com/download' from their desktop browser. Then, open the app and scan the QR code using the WhatsApp app on their smartphones. The company also advises users to connect their phones to Wi-Fi.

The desktop app is in addition to the existing apps for Android, iOS, Blackberry, and Windows Phone, among others. The desktop app comes 16 months after WhatsApp made its messaging service available on the web.