Microsoft Is Announcing ‘Something Big’ In Africa On February 5

TechLoy has received an invitation to an exclusive Microsoft event in Nigeria where the company would be announcing ‘something big’ on February 5, as it celebrates its 20 years in Africa.

In the spirit of the African proverb which says, “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now”, Microsoft says that it is planting new ‘seeds’ now that would transform Africa, starting in 2013 and are looking forward to sharing information about the new ‘seeds’ they’re planting.

At the moment, we have no official word on what the company could be planning to launch for Africa, but my first guess was perhaps an apps competition to get African software developers to build more apps for the Windows Phone 8 OS.

Apparently, Microsoft has been pushing its Windows 8 platform recently, however, the Windows Store with just about 150,000 apps has a large shortage of apps that are available elsewhere for Android, iOS and Blackberry users. Again, there are just a handful of African-based Windows Phone apps such as the yet-to-be-released iROKOtv app and a few bank-related apps.

Yet, an apps competition for African developers isn’t big enough for Microsoft to be unveiling, if you ask me, except if it does come with a twist and since perhaps this is the first time ever that the company would be engaging with African developers with such a contest.

Of course, the company organises its annual Imagine Cup, the world’s most prestigious student technology competition which brings together student innovators from all over the world to build apps and compete for a prize.

But if my guess is anything to go by, it would be a big move by Microsoft to push for more local useful apps on the Windows Store, even though Apple never had to run a competition for apps developers on its platform which currently boasts over 1 million apps.

That said, it is noteworthy that Google regularly ran Android Developer Challenges (even in Africa) in the early days of Android, and Samsung have also ran similar contests in Africa for Bada, Android and Java apps.

I’ll keep my ear to the ground for any information and we would bring you more updates as we know more in the coming days.