AfricaFeed

In May Safaricom, Kenya’s largest mobile network operator launched Kipokezi, a service which allows ANY mobile phone to send and receive emails and IMs by converting them into text messages. ForgetMeNot is the company behind the gateway software.

At the moment Kenya is only the second country where the service is available (it was piloted in Lesotho), however, ForgetMeNot has signed up operators in other African markets, so expect the service to spread across the continent before the end of the year. According to Russell Southwood of CIO,

“15 million mobile phone subscribers in Kenya – over a third of the country’s population - will now be able to access email and online chat regardless of the make and model of their mobile phone. The new Kipokezi service is being rolled out by Kenya’s largest telecoms operator, Safaricom, suppliers of mobile phone connectivity for almost 9 in 10 Kenyan mobile phone subscribers.”

Kipokezi is just the latest in a range of innovative products introduced by Safaricom this year. In May the company finally announced the launch of both MXit in Kenya as well as the long-awaited M-Kesho service.