Nokia has shelved plans to ship tablets to Kenya after reports indicate their cannibalization by larger smartphones ‘phablets’ now popular in the country.
Microsoft Devices Unit has said it is not yet the right time to bring its first tablet to Kenya due to its high cost against a backdrop of low forecast on uptake of the devices.
“Kenyan market is currently tuned to value smartphones and our tablet would not receive much attention,” said Units’ Managing director, Bruce Howes today.
The tablet, Nokia/Microsoft’s laptop hybrid resembles its Lumia brand of phones with a 10,1 inch full HD display panel, 32GB on board storage with a 2.2Ghz snapdragon 800 processor.
Christened Lumia 2520 also runs on 4G network and windows system-it now retails at an offer price of Sh 34,700 down from Sh 43,400.
Its a put off for most consumers in the country who are so much concerned with value-it is even projected cheaper smartphones with a price range of between Sh 10,000 and 15,000 are the most sought for.
The phone maker is concentrating on this niche market-today it has launched a larger variant of its X-series of smartphones, the XL(symbol for extra large).
The largest model of the X-family is targeted is a dual sim phone with 3G network and retails at Sh 15,500.
It adds to a long lists of the firm’s value product range expected to buoy Nokia’s market share to 40 percent by December.
“With a beautiful , large screen, front facing camera and flash, the value it brings at the price is sure win over a lot of admirers,” said East Africa, Microsoft Devices, General Manager, Bruce Howe.
According to International Data Corporation(IDC) tablet sales will drop by 6.3 percent as phablet share of smartphones doubles to 10.5 percent to record 30.1 million shipments by end of quarter one.
The latest forecast for tablets thus stands at 245.4 million units, down from the previous forecast of 260.9 million units, representing a 12.1 percent year-over-year growth rate, which is notably lower than the 51.8 percent growth of 2013.
