Jambojet and Safaricom partner to promote Lipa na M-PESA service.

Low cost airline Jambojet has announced a joint campaign with Safaricom that will see customers of the budget airline who pay their airfare using the Lipa Na M-PESA service rewarded with discount vouchers and redeemable points.
Dubbed Buy and Fly with Lipa Na M-PESA and Jambojet, the three weeks campaign is aimed at increasing the bookings of the local airline by encouraging customers to book their tickets ahead of the upcoming holiday season. More than 2,000 customers will be rewarded with KSh. 500 air ticket vouchers or 10 minutes of talk time in this promotion.
The airline, which recently clocked over 2,000,000 passengers since inception, will be relying on the popular M-PESA service to drive business, especially to the holiday’s destinations of Mombasa, Diani and Malindi.
Commenting on the partnership, Jambojet CEO Willem Hondius said, “This is part of our strategy to promote air travel in the country. Without a doubt, technology remains key in our service delivery and thus working with an innovative partner like Safaricom opens up more opportunities for the business.
“This partnership provides a platform that will allow us to enhance the world class service delivery to our customer. We are proud to have the support of Safaricom. By working together, we can provide end to end solutions to our customers,” he added.
“The speed and simplicity of Jambojet’s product offering perfectly matches that of Lipa Na M-PESA, which is transforming the way payments are made across a number of industries. We are glad to partner with Jambojet to recognize and reward our customers through this promotion,” said Bob Collymore, CEO, Safaricom.
Currently, Jambojet operates 73 flights per week to on its domestic routes from Nairobi to Mombasa, Eldoret, Kisumu, Malindi and Ukunda (Diani).   It set a regional record earlier on this year by handling over two million customers in less than three years of operation. This number has continued to grow as more Kenyans and foreigners appreciate the benefits of low cost flying.
Last year Jambojet signed a codeshare agreement with Kenya Airways for its flights to Malindi, Ukunda (Diani) and Eldoret. Under the agreement, Kenya Airways is able to sell the Jambojet network to passengers coming from all their destinations across the world. The zero frills airline, which recently acquired a brand new Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 next generation aircraft to complement its existing fleet, has also indicated that they will soon be launching the regional routes.

LGs deep learning technology to tailor the future of smart home

A couple of years back, has seen tech companies battling it out to control mobile phone technology advancement.  Today, the ground has shifted and is all about the battle of smart ecosystems to win control of our homes. That’s because the mythical “smart home” of the future is actually close to being a reality now thanks to major advances in what’s known as Internet of Things technology.

Today consumers expect artificial intelligence capabilities for their appliances, embracing technology that allows them to access status, trouble shooting, and maintenance data. The increasing availability of deep learning allows smart home to be user centric, increasing the appeal of full Internet of things integration.

With the projection of approximately 30 million households expected to adopt smart home technology in the next year, with connected cameras, video door bells, connected light bulbs, and smart locks acting as promising avenues for expansion, what the future holds is very exciting; IOT has the potential to change everything in a rather meaningful and convenient way that we can all benefit from.

Already, companies are aligning their businesses in preparation for this exciting future of smart Ecosystems.  LG Electronics made a foray into IOT with the roll-out of home appliances that embrace deep learning, one of the technologies shaping the future of IOT.  LG Deep Learning allows home appliances to better understand its users using smart features such as real-time sensors and Wi-Fi connectivity. Deep Learning picks up on the user’s lifestyle patterns and stores them in the cloud. After analyzing this data, it self-evolves to provide consumers with solutions that continuously improve their daily lives.

“Our focus for Smart home technology is to offer future platform that provide complex decision making solutions while increasing device capabilities that take on responsibilities and important tasks that comprise our daily lives.” Said LG East Africa Marketing Manager, Moses Marji.

In setting the stage, LG has demonstrated their capabilities through select devices including a robot cleaner, an intuitive which recognizes objects around the room and reacts differently depending on what they are. By capturing surface images of the room, the intelligent cleaner remembers obstacles and later learns to avoid them. In addition, The Home- Bot vacuum cleaner features home view for real-time monitoring and home guard which automatically sends photos whenever movement is detected as a home security measure.

Also, the Smart air conditioner by LG analyse the daily behavior patterns of its users including which area of the house they are most likely to relax in and the area where users doesn’t go often. With this information, the air conditioner is intuitively able to make these important areas around the home cool and comfortable by providing fast cooling to specific areas.

LGs Smart refrigerator further performs a variety of convenience-enhancing actions by recognizing the ins and outs of its user’s day-to-day routines. Among other technological advancement, LG has already demonstrated future proof to offer home owners smart solutions tailor-made for the demands of modern smart ecosystems.

LG puts the focus on phone screen to bezel ratio with its latest flagship phones

The latest generation of smartphones are increasingly viewed as handheld computers rather than as phones, due to their powerful on-board computing capability, capacious memories, large screens, open operating systems and enhanced connectivity that encourage application development.

The rise in smartphone adoption has led to increased content consumption; which has further led to the increase in business usage of phones and content creation for business purposes.

Business users are relying on their mobile handsets to not only provide them with all the latest information while on the move, but also use them as platforms to develop content without having to use laptops or tablets.

The past few years have seen a shift take place from having content sent to a business user through a computer (market reports, emails, news, and meeting requests) to being able to use mobile productivity applications to create presentations, spreadsheets, or other business content while travelling.

For this to be really effective and usable, one cannot expect a business user to work on a four-inch screen and still be able to function at full capacity. Ideally, these users need a device with a larger screen that gives them enough viewing room and display real estate to be precise in their interactions.

Phone manufacturers have long been shaving down these edges to offer frame-less designs. In the quest to give users bigger and better screens without creating huge phones, manufacturers have the bezel firmly in their sights. 

Talk of a bezel-less phone has been swirling in recent months and the screen-to-body ratio has been steadily climbing in many of the top new releases. The bezel-less look is distinctly futuristic and despite some compromises, we are slowly moving towards it.

LG kicked off the widescreen trend, creating a 5.7-inch screen with an unusual 18:9 aspect ratio. Alongside the shrinking bezels, LG flagship phones have packed in more screen space without making phones too big to comfortably handle.

“The smartphone is no longer just for making calls and sending text messages. It has evolved into a life companion capable of making just about every aspect of our lives more convenient, and screen size plays a big part in this. It also allows us to share every moment of life in a more creative way,” said LG East Africa Marketing Manager, Moses Marji.

In a few years, mobile technology will become more capable with an array of features; thanks to computing advancements, cloud computing and network infrastructure. Futuristic features like virtual reality will no longer be for video games and comics, but for the mass market.