In a world where phones are typically designed in highly developed countries by companies with billions of pounds of research and development money and where these designs are then brought to life in China and then shipped around the world, it's fantastic to hear that a small company has managed to get as far as having the product available on the market. There's a few companies at the moment who are trying to challenge the conventional path; we've got Jolla with their Meego-based project, we had Palm with their stunning WebOS software, Geeksphone with their Android based devices and now there's VMK with their Android phones and tablets. VMK are unique because a few companies have claimed to be African designed devices, but have been mere re-brands of Chinese tablets.
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Image credit: VMK. |
Now this isn't actually the first time we heard about VMK's efforts early in September 2012 as they announced their plans to produce their Way-C tablet and they pledged to follow it up with their Elikia smartphone, both of these devices were fully designed by VMK without the help if European or any external companies. Way-C means "the light of the stars," and Elikia means "hope", which are quite apt names and reflect the importance of this sort of project to Africa.


The main story here though is that Africa now has a first tentative step into the tech world and hopefully this is a foundation which will flourish in the near future. If we hear any more from VMK or any other similar project we'll be sure to let you know and seeing as Africa is fastest growing mobile market in the world we expect there will be plenty more news coming out of Africa in the future! But, in the meantime if you want some more information on either of the devices you can find full information about the Elikia phone here and the Way-C tablet here.
Via PhoneArena and SmartPlanet.