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Mobile phone breakthrough for Ethiopia
Nokia has taken advantage of the lifting of a ban on text messages in Ethiopia to start selling mobile phones to the African country. The nation is seven years behind the western calendar – the Ethiopian year 2000 was celebrated last September - and it is even more behind so-called more developed countries in terms of technology.
Ethiopia does have a history of text messaging – a history that, during the bloody election protests of 2005, came to an abrupt halt when the service mysteriously stopped without explanation.
Now texts are back, but Ethiopians, who are just as fond as their devices as any other nation, prefer to talk than text – and this time the reason has nothing to do with politics.
The Geez alphabet, on which the Ethiopian language is based, has 300 characters, compared to the western alphabet's 26 letters. This means that developing a keyboard for Ethiopian text messages was considered an impossible task.
But Nokia has somehow managed it, the BBC reports, and hopes to reap the rewards in a mobile marketplace previously impenetrable to western companies.
According to a recent report from the World Bank, Ethiopia has only 5.8 mobile phones per 1,000 people - sadly it has 8.6 landlines per 1,000 people.
Industry News posted on 13 December 2007
Comments
Good Nokia
I really appreciate what Nokia is trying to do. I am sure all Ethiopians will be happy if they find a mobile with their languge.
Thanks Nokia.
Comment posted by Anonymous on 13/12/2007 18:07:50
Brooks
Ge'ez has any consonant from letter HA-PPE, when(-)/(|)/(o) is added. We have seven vowels for each consonant, HU(-),HE(|-)** HO(o), etc.
Comment posted by Anonymous on 13/12/2007 19:07:31
Amharic
Although there are 300 characters, there are really like 30 letters. It's the addition of vowels that makes it seem like there are more words.
So in Amharic: Ba is one letter, so is Bo, Be, Bu, and so on. So if someone wanted to write the letter Bu (one letter in Amharic) - they could just type B and then u which would give them that letter :)
Comment posted by Anonymous on 13/12/2007 20:15:40
From Ethiopia!
Mobile phone users in Ethiopia are increasing fast. I think you should put that clearly, instead of making people feel sad for the few phones we had.
Comment posted by Anonymous on 14/12/2007 03:24:00
Correction
To those people who mistakenly call the Ethiopian alphabet Amharic - it is not correct. It is Ge'ez. Perhaps it is better if we call it Tigrigna because it is much closer. Thank you. Nokia: good job.
Comment posted by A.G. on 16/12/2007 00:27:06
Wow, From The Home Holy Land!
Great for Nokia, yeah, this is it. Ethiopia is again demanding more advanced technology. Thanks. That greatest nation with the greatest leader, oh yeah Meles, The Leader of Leaders. We expect more from ICT than agriculture, floriculture and ICT are going parallel.
See you Men!
Comment posted by Anonymous on 16/12/2007 07:04:41
Cheap contract deals
For these people, mobile phone contracts become useful because these contract deals make every demanding mobile phone cheaper. These deals are available on most mobile phone networks.
Comment posted by Anonymous on 07/06/2008 07:48:00
On Meles
Well, I don't consider Meles (Zenawi) as the greatest - he's been killing his own people for decades; jailing them, murdering them. He has only been a trouble to Ethiopia. I don't know what kind of spirit is in him. Does he have a skill in rhetoric? Yes. But that cannot change the stone-bread. Cut your craps and blame the blameable. Don't act narrow. Say when something is wrong. Be human, be considerate. Long live Ethiopia. And free the telecom service to the private sector - we've had enough of your conspiracy to deprive the people the chance of text messaging.
Comment posted by Anonymous on 29/11/2009 21:52:39
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