Windows Phone 8 landgrab starts with a $150 Huawei 4Afrika - rebranded Ascend W1

posted by Daniel P. / Feb 05, 2013, 2:44 AM

Windows Phone 8 landgrab starts with a $150 Huawei 4Afrika - rebranded Ascend W1

Microsoft will try to coral the African continent before Android and Nokia have taken a complete reign over there with none other but Huawei as a partner, and a rebranded Ascend W1, called 4Afrika.

No kidding, that's what the handset is called, and the name is even stamped as a logo on the back of the handset. It will be first introduced Cairo, Nairobi, Lagos, Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and Johannesburg.

The kicker - Huawei 4Afrika will cost only $150 there, which is a superb pricing scheme for a phone with 4" IPS-LCD WVGA screen, 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 5 MP camera shooting HD video, and a microSD slot. A landgrab in a colorful package, that's what it is.

Microsoft International’s President Jean-Philippe Courtois had the following to say: “We believe there has never been a better time to invest in Africa and that access to technology — particularly cloud services and smart devices — can and will serve as a great accelerator for African competitiveness.”

source: WindowsBlog

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6 Comments

1. GeekMovement unregistered

I guess that's a good deal over there, but no way over here. Nokia is the King of windows phone. It's Nokia or no windows 8 phone for me.

posted on Feb 05, 2013, 3:06 AM 2

4. cripton805

Posts: 1485; Member since: Mar 18, 2012

The fact that its $150 instead of hundreds of dollars more makes this a clear winner for people on a budget... Apples to Apples

posted on Feb 05, 2013, 11:21 AM 0

5. GeekMovement unregistered

It's only priced $150 in certain countries in Africa and I did mention that it is a good deal for those over there.

posted on Feb 05, 2013, 1:36 PM 0

6. cripton805

Its a good deal anywhere... is my point.

posted on Feb 05, 2013, 3:59 PM 0

2. daftastic

Posts: 87; Member since: Jan 07, 2013

Huawei's stepping it up, nice phone design.

posted on Feb 05, 2013, 3:07 AM 4

3. christumaini

Posts: 27; Member since: Oct 25, 2012

if it will not support USSD feature like other WP handsets... then it will be useless for Africa. As the USSD technology is the one that is used to support services such as M-PESA AND other MOBILE BANKING services that are now spread out almost on the entire continent.