Lord_Reed:

@Passyjango
No Blackberry and other smart phones do not access the same infrastructure in a sense. Yes they both go through the same cell site but BB traffic is routed through RIMs servers which compresses the data for quicker delivery to BB phones. When you add other compressions like that offered by Opera then you can understand why the networks can offer cheaper access to BB users.

In the final analysis it is the same infrastructure. Yes, BB is routed through RIM but correct me if am wrong, what the network charges you is for upload/download on your phone (after compression on RIM servers) via their network and not for what goes through RIM's server. So it is the same final infrastructure that we all use.

The new MTN data plans are okay. Data is a resource and someone has to pay for it. Demanding for unlimited internet for N3,000 is unrealistic. Networks offered unlimited internet on BlackBerry before, because less people use them and the browsing pattern of most BB users is not as data consuming as users of other smartphones.

So it was okay to offer them unlimited browsing then, because they know that BB users where not going to use much of it anyways. It is like offering food to someone you know that has no appetite. You know he has no appetite, but you still make an offer just to give the impression that you care. Most BB users are stock with BBM and email and very few do video streaming or do any serious browsing.

The introduction of limited browsing by operators suggest that the trend is changing. So, networks need to give a value to their resource. You BB guys should be grateful that you can browse at this rate. My prediction is that as BB users become as versatile and savvy as other smartphone users, they will pay as much as other smartphone users, afterall it is the same infrastructure that we all access.

damola1:

Nigeria is a damn third world country that's finding hard to keep up with technology and worst still adapting, we live in the past if we continue to let the world lead and not at least follow up on time, if we continue to think cheap pirated software is the way forward we seriously have a problem. And it's not only about apple but so many other stuff, 3D tv sets, internet startups,  what am I saying,  we can't even boast of 24hrs electricity.

Bill Gates as I know him is a contract, patent person, else, why is windows not open. You don't expect companies to spend millions or billions of dollars on RD and just throw it away!

I don't currently use any apple products, cos I can't afford it, but it doesn't mean I am blind to what's going on. If you truly use technology, you'll appreciate the beauty of a work is not just about packaging up engineering mumbo jumbo, but it's abt the art, and delivery to the end consumer, ease of use is key.

Apple as taught me a great deal, especially in relation in how to connect to consumers.

I am not talking about free, I am talking about affordability. Other companies are doing, so Apple should be able to do it. Maybe we believe in different schools of thought. For me technology is about empowering people irrespective of their economic standing. It does not matter if the hardware is rapped in banana pills as long as it empowers me. At least, it is better than a glossy looking over-priced gadget that will probably be outdated in less than a year.

You are not using Apple products because you cannot afford them, what it then means is that without those mumbo jumbo products, you will probably not be on Nairaland today. If Apple was the only company in the world or if every company followed the Apple philosophy most of us will probably not be using computers or smartphones today. That is why I oppose the Apple philosophy, I need to protect my interest.

Do not get me wrong, there is nothing wrong in selling premium products (those who can afford them should have them), but companies should also offer products targeted at mid-range and entry level segments as well, like I said earlier, you do not need to be rich to access technology. That is why Apple remains insignificant to me.

damola1:

Impact on the industry, raising the bar higher, users now expected more from competitors. In the book: Steve jobs, it's clearly states and I quote ' This is a book about the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing and digital publishing, you might even add a seventh, retail stores, '

Listen, you can pick each of those field, and ask yourself the pre-era , what exactly was going on,  I don't have to start telling you what mp3 players looked like, or even smart phones, but you simply cannot deny that he affected all users of technology.

Those are his claims. I am talking real impact not patents or marketing/PR. And I am talking about how his revolution has affected Nigeria and the rest of the world (emerging markets), which is the part of the world I live in (hence the world that matters to me). In Nigeria, we still buy most our music on CDs (No Jobs impact) and other companies have innovated more in delivering technology to more people in my part of the world than Apple have done.

You don't expect me to believe that Apple has revolutionized technology, just because the western media said so. I use technology and I observe how technology is used and can boldly say that Apple will not be in the top 10 in Nigeria in terms of significance.

PeeDaVinci:


FYI, steve jobs is hell -bent on destroying android going by his words "I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40bn in the bank, to right this wrong", and i am sure, apple will be following the same policy even after jobs' death

Android is a Tsunami, Steve Jobs and Apple even if they join forces with Microsoft cannot stop it. All they can do is to find a way of leveraging its success like Google and Microsoft are doing today. With every passing day, Android is growing in prominence.

damola1:

You can love or hate Jobs, take your pick, but you simply cannot deny that he affected all users of technology

What impact are you talking about? Maybe in the western world where people get cheap credit to finance the purchase of his overpriced products. But in the Nigeria and the rest of the world Apple and Jobs are insignificant and have had little impact on technology.

How many people are using Apple products in Nigeria and the rest of the world? Apple produce premium products for the rich and people with easy access to credit. To have an impact in technology in my books, you need to equip people with technologies that empowers them to live more fruitful lives irrespective of their economic situation. Apple has failed to do that and hence cannot be said to have a significant global impact on technology as compared to companies like Google, Nokia, Acer, HP, Microsoft, etc.

Take Android for example, a couple of weeks ago we heard of how an Indian company with the help of the Indian government will offer a $35 computer running Android that will be available to tens of millions of Indians. Even if Google achieves nothing else as a tech company, offering a technology that enables computers to sell in double digits of a dollar makes Google even a more valuable global tech company than Apple will ever be.

With such a cheap computer millions and possibly billions will be equipped with computing technology that enables them empower themselves.

Or should I talk about Nokia, another global tech company that is empowering people with technology at affordable prices. How many Nigerians will be using Facebook today if not for affordable internet enabled mobile phones built by companies like Nokia?

You do not need to be rich to have access to technology. So, yes Apple has had a lot of impact in technology in the Western world, but in the rest of the world Apple is an insignificant company. To those people Apple is better known as fruit than a tech company.

Bill Gates had more impact in computing than Steve. The impact of Bill Gates is also more noticeable in Nigeria. How many of us would be computer literate today if not for the PC? By making Windows open to any hardware vendor, Microsoft and Bill Gates opened up computing to all and for that Bill Gates will remain a computing icon no matter what Steve Jobs thinks or says.

Its like his coconut head is punctured, because even for a coconut head such statement is gross or is it dry season  . Problems do not fade out, they remain until solved or transform to even more complex problems.

This is a very good suggestion assuming there are a sizable number of looters willing to take amnesty. But with the level of corruption in Nigeria and the weaknesses in the judicial system, I doubt if there is any sane looter who will be willing to get amnesty.

Why will I want to get amnesty, when I can at a much cheaper rate buy the judiciary and mobilize tribal and religious sentiments to protect me from prosecution. Only a fool will take amnesty in today's Nigeria for looting. Looting is now a culture in Nigeria. Most people who are not looting Nigeria are not looting simply because they do not have the opportunity to do so and not necessarily because they are better than those who are looting.

ziga:

Mr. Oga,
Nobody is arguing that Poverty doesn't exist in Nigeria. And that seems to be where a lot of people get it wrong. The points that were raised were very simple. Poverty is a very complicated terminology with lots of definitions. The <$2/day figure is about relating levels of poverty in different countries to balance things out. And OP's points are that this is a flawed design, just like there is no perfect design.

But all the professors here can't even identify with that simple statement. haba!!!

It seems you might have some knowledge about statistics, and if i am correct, you know that not all statistical methods are appropriate.

Regardless of what method they have used, the fact remains that it is not a correct representation of the Nigerian situation.

If you have attended sessions where statistical figures have been discussed, you will know what i mean.

I don't know of any other way to explain the points that some people have raised so far!!!

His own design is also flawed. He is just apportioning figures as the spirit directs and expects us to believe. How is he sure of his claim that 20 million Nigerians work in the private sector? Another persons spirit may direct him to substitute 10 million. How is he sure that the said workers in the private sector earn up to N18,000? Does his figure of those working in the private sector include sales girls and Cyber cafe attendants paid less than N10,000 even in Lagos?

The fact remains that his estimates are flawed. He talks about 90 million lines, but how many of them are owned by individuals. For example I currently own six mobile lines (3 Glo, 1 MTN, 1 Etisalat, 1 Zain) and I have my eye on one more line before the end of the year. Does this figure of 90 million lines include my six lines or am I represented once in that stat.

Is he aware that some businesses buy phone lines (Including BlackBerry phones) for their staff? How many of these phone lines and blackberries are accounted for in his stat?

So, the UN stat may not be correct, but he has not provided a compelling alternative, at least not enough to put him in line for a Nobel Prize. He is just throwing figures as the spirit directs just to make his point.

edicolove:

And just to add that the guy who said China had a lot of middle class doesnt have a clue. China is still one of the poorest countries in the world as far as GDP is concerned. In China, there are about 11 very developed cities. After that, the rest of the country is deep in porverty. I mean the kind of porverty that Nigerians cannot even condone.

And how many cities are developed in Nigeria? How many cities can boast of inter-city rail-lines and over 12-hours of guaranteed daily power-supply? So, even with a few developed cities they are still better than us, because they can point at a few centres of excellence in their country.

Iolo:

If we say 80% Nigerians are poor. We have 90M mobile phones and up to a million blackberry's now.

Assuming that on average only 50% of the lines are in use, that's 45M sim cards presently in a mobile phone.

Can someone who owns a mobile phone, pays @ least 100 transport daily, feeds with ~200naira, pays school fees etc. Be said to be live below $2/day?.

Here's a list of people in Nigeria who validly live below $2/day (and am not saying the rest are rich either):

Mad People
Sick(Bed-Ridden), Beggars,
Toddlers, Kids (14 downwards), Almajiris (~12 - 20 yrs)
Old people (70years+)

Add these people up and you don't get 120M (assuming we r 150M).

The rest of us are simply underemployed, shikena.

Sadly, Nigeria now lacks a thinking/problem-solving culture. When faced with issues rather than think why it is like that, we simply accept, and say "ehen, I have suspecting this is how it is".  

Are you talking about those old refurbished BlackBerries? A recent survey I did on the Facebook page of my blog showed that most Nigerians are using mobile phones of N15,000 or less. It also showed that a large proportion of Nigerians have used their mobile phones for more than two years. In fact, there were guys who have used the same mobile phone for six to eight years. If that does not show poverty, tell me what is? That is why Nigeria remains a large market for fake and refurbished phones.

Iolo:

Please, without assuming, what's the remotest, poorest place you've been to?

I use myself as an example. I served in Jigawa (a very poor state), did INEC registration in a community that was 3hours from the LG secretariat. 3hrs on desert land o? No cars can make it thru, but 4x4 pickups, the ancient Toyota hilux and co lik u see on Discovery.


In the village where I worked, millet is the staple food. They eat it Morning, Afternoon, Night (3 square meals o). They also have a saying that if you stopped eating Millet, then you are a lazy farmer (farming community). These guys have No Cell Phone, No cars, about 10 Bikes in a community of 1000+, few of the kids go to school - they are the poorest of the poorest.

But  - Do you mean to tell me that if these guys have to buy the Millet they eat Day and Night, they won't spend more than 300 daily? Then add costs of Firewood, Cooking materials.

And then finally compare: the 80% of Nigerians is - LIVE on less than $2/day and not SPEND less than $2/day. If the statement said spend, I won't be disturbing myself.

Omo, millet is not a square meal. Why don't you join them in their millet fest  ? Also the stat is on the average. During millet season they may eat more than $2 a day, but off season, they may live on a lot less than that. So it may still round-off to less than $2/day. But is man born just to eat alone?

The fact is that a lot of Nigerians are leaving miserable lives whether they are living above or below $2/day is inconsequential to them.

Just because you are privileged enough to earn N10,000 a month, does not mean others are that lucky. There are people in remote towns and villages who depend on fruits for their survival. During yam season they will eat yam morning, afternoon, evening. During Mango season, mango will be in the menu morning, afternoon, evening. The same happens during seasons for maize, pineapple, oranges, water melon, etc.

It is also not just food and housing that a man needs what about health care and sanitation. How many can afford hospital emergencies. Some Nigerians prefer to go to church when they are sick because they can not afford hospital bill. They only remember hospital only when it is very very very very serious.

It is this class of people that we are talking about. Most of us using NL are not in this class and most of our relations may not also be affected, so it is not surprising that some of us are still in denial. However, it is wicked of us to deny the reality, just because we are comfortable. How then are we better than our leaders?

Jenifa_:

well they've been with a hundred men so they are very experienced  on how to get and keep a guy.
same is true for bad guys. they finish first while good guys finish last. as the saying goes.

I do not believe that satisfying a guy depends on how long you have done it. There are girls who were virgins last year who can satisfy a guy more than girls who have been doing it for ages. Satisfying a guy is about what you know now not what you knew yesterday. That is why a number of married women find it hard to hold dog-husbands.

lovelydoll:

good girls you are rare , i would say am somewhat of a good girl not entirely,but close i am a virgin,but know a lottt about sex.now a days you will not find a virgin tht has no clue about fhucking.

plus i have a boyfriend and i have had  a few marriage proposals from guys who were only 26 ,i am 19.

I think that is the mistake some people make, they think that just because a girl is good she does not know anything about sex. I know I saw on Manswers on Sony Max that girls who are bookish are better in bed than club girls who are sometimes even too drunk to perform.

It is just that the so called bad girls market themselves better. They create and propagate the fallacy that they are better in bed than the good ones. Being good in bed is about knowing the sensitive parts of the body of the opposite sex and how to sensitise them. You could still be doing it everyday without knowing this.

pro01:

I've never quite understood this deceitful talk about unforgiveness and vindictiveness. That has NOTHING to do with a person's 'goodness' or 'badness'. Honestly, only the worst offenders  would talk about that. What caused the offence in the first place that warranted the vindictiveness? ? ? ? In my book, the initial offence is ALWAYS to be blamed, while the unforgiving retaliation is righteous, fair, and totally blameless. . .especially where the offender is remorseless and unapologetic. Unforgiveness and vindictiveness is as natural as pee-ing and poo-ing. If you don't want to be 'unforgived', then don't offend in the first place. I can't bruise your chin and then rant about your unforgiveness when you retaliate by plucking out my eye. Law of Moses reigns supreme. Otherwise, there'll be no need for Hell-fire since God would forgive us all and admit us all into heaven regardless of our atrocities.

So, a girl who pours acid on another girl for what only her perceives as a betrayal is okay. By unforgiving, I do not mean the normal type. I mean the type where you do not rest until you have seen the person you perceive to have hurt you go through pain and you are ready to do anything to make that happen. The person may not even have hurt you intentionally. Just the fact that he/she benefited from your hurt puts him/her in your hit list.

Buying a new car or having a better paying position is enough to enter the hit list of some bad people. So do not make the mistake of thinking that the only people you need to appologise to are the people you hurt directly. There are people you hurt indirectly or people who lost for you to gain. Some of them will not forgive you for taking a position they think is their birthright.

2buff:

LOL I'm sure everyone has at least 1 person that pops up in their mind when they read [b]ALL [/b]these qualities verbatim . . . and chances are it's a woman.   

Exactly, bad people are people you know, they do not come from the moon. Some of us have bad fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, friends, politicians, etc. So you should not be surprised if some people in your life have these characteristics.

All of us have good and bad in us, but there are people who reflect these kinds of character more than others. For example, some people are ready to kill a colleague in the office because he got a position they were eyeing.

First of all, you cannot base a theory on just one observation. Where is your statistics to support your claim? A number of good girls marry even before 22 years. Yes granted, some guys could be foolish enough to marry bad girls, but what proportion of men do these represent and what are the results of such marriages. We often focus on the wedding, but the wedding is just the first day of the marriage.

In Addition, just because a girl made a silly mistake at age 12 and had a child should not define her life. That does not make her bad. Just because she was wild as a teenager and took time to grow-up should not define her as bad. Some people spend their twenties as teenagers, we don't all mature at the same age. She may even be sweeter (in a good way) than the good sister you talk about.

To me, a bad person is someone who is unforgiving, cunning, vindictive, selfish and manipulative and only a fool will want to have a long term relationship with such a person just because they are good in bed. A bad person will always want to have his/her way no matter who gets hurt. She may be a virgin or an old cargo; a church goer, born-again, or an atheist; a club goer or a cinema goer.

What makes us good or bad is in our character and the circles we belong. If the only thing that matters to us is our self then we are bad.

The NDLEA should consult with other countries to look for an alternative way to prove the guy is loaded with drugs. I have no doubt that this guy is loaded with drugs, if there is non NDLEA would have released him. According to them the latest scan shows that the drugs are now in the lower abdomen and I rather believe them than anyone else. After all what do they have to gain by holding him. In fact, they have more to lose.

chinnyonwu:

Why is everyone complaining of Glo comonth?? Maybe your phones don't have 3g networks??

Do not mind Nigerians, some of them will buy BB Curve 8520 for N29,000 and be expecting 3 GBps download speed. Before complaining, check the access tech on your phone. I use Glo, though not BIS and it is the fastest and hence my default internet service provider.

highland:

Smartphone is the next generation of phones. Java phone may soon fade out.

What is a Java phone? I suppose you mean a phone that runs Java. Well almost all Smartphones run Java so technically speaking they are all Java phones. So, I suppose you meant feature phones when you said Java phones.

Although smartphones sales will continue to rise, feature phones will continue to be strong for a long time, especially in emerging markets like Nigeria. A lot of Nigerians can not spend more than N15,000 on phones and for such people feature phones will remain their only chance of getting a good quality mobile phone for accessing internet, email, and social network.

Google just yesterday announced Google+ integration on its Google Apps service opening it up to the business crowd. This means that teams in organisations using Google Apps can form circles for their teams and handle internal communications within their circles.

They can setup a Google+ hangout, where team members can do video conference while discussing projects. They can even draw up a project plan or memo, while still doing the video chat with Google Docs. All project members can see and contribute in drawing-up the document, even though they could be thousands of km apart.

So, Google may not be aiming at being a place where people copy and paste boring quotes, but a useful tool for professionals and matured people.

Google has also added a 'What's Hot' feature, which shows you posts that are generating the most buzz on Google plus. So once again, No Google+ is not a failure, it a work in progress.

olsmade:

apparently, your peeps are d only ones on google+ - I hail thee. here are a few links to let you know that google + is raising concerns the world over, not just Nigeria or Africa like you claim.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2011/08/15/a-eulogy-for-google-plus/
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/230203/20111013/google-plus-engineer-complete-failure-fail-hate-steve-yegee-reasons.htm
http://www.socialglitz.com/google-a-successful-road-to-failure/
http://www.dreamgrow.com/google-plus-is-failing-data/

someone said it nicely - 'Google’s problem is not getting users in the first place, it seems, but rather keeping them after they have arrived. For now it appears that a lot of users are merely curious about Google+, but return to the tried and tested format of Facebook when the lustre fades.'

Those are just personal opinions of the bloggers. As a blogger myself, we just express our opinion because we are entitled to it, but that does not mean that we are always right. If circumstances change, this same bloggers may even contradict themselves. People will always oppose change. I bet you that when Facebook first came, some Myspace users may have had the same sentiments but several years on, the difference is clear.

Are you serious? With such low number of visitors you will be lucky if you make any money at all. or do you mean 5k to 10k. If you mean 5k to 10k, you may make between 20 EUR to up to 70 EUR. This is not a guarantee.

Google+ is a huge success. It now has over 40 million users in less than 6 months. Yes it is still small compared to Facebook, but Facebook did not get 40 million users in its first year. Google+ is an extension of Google. It is like Google 2.0. The bigger picture is to integrate all Google services into one big network called Google+.

If you are using any Google service today (GMail, Adsense, Webmaster, Adwords, Baraza, Blogger, the almighty Android, etc), chances are that you could be using Google+ soon. Our problem is poor analytical skills. If you can grow something from zero to 40 million in less than six months, you are certainly not a failure and Google has not even started to leverage all its channels to promote Google+. Just because you and your friends are not on Google+ does not make it a failure.

Google+ may never overtake Facebook, but that is not the idea. It is about future-proofing Google's properties and ensuring that Google remains in the cutting-edge of the web. Google+ has the potential to achieve these goals. As an entrepreneur what matters is to achieve your goals. You do not necessarily need to be number one, you only need to be close enough, so as to take advantage of any mistakes or slipups by the number one.

Akiika:

So what about those that doesn't have the opportunity to own a laptop, let alone get resources to develop themselves? had she not get any help, she would been parading herself as a bonafide computer science graduate, competing for same job with an oxford graduate for example. Would you hire her over a more qualified candidate? My point is, most of the contents of the curricula are obsolete, the lecturers themselves need personal development. It is the tools (including qualified lecturer, not those that took to lecturing after frustration from the job market) that the university lack that makes it all about the university. The problem is traceable back to our corrupt leaders, if they invest in education, those schools will have the necessary tools for learning.

But do we then have to wait for our visionless governments to improve the system. My prediction is that we may have to wait forever for that to happen. Yes, the curriculum is obsolete, but there is enough content on the internet today to satisfy the curiosity of serious scholars in most fields.

There are also books, seminar, workshops, and training programs. Yes, they cost money and most of us have the convenient excuse of being poor, but I believe that there are a lot of undergrads who can afford these things but will prefer spending their money on looking good, maintaining girlfriends, furnishing their rooms, and other short term needs.

So, any serious undergrad should know that his/her university in Nigeria is not well equipped to prepare him/her for global competitiveness and hence should augment the deficiency with personal effort. Just because you are in a sinking ship does not give you license to give-up and die. At least you should try saving yourself. So, you should not allow your university to cripple your future.

As for your first question, those ones are in a very bad situation (I will not like to say hopeless). In fact, only God can save them, especially if no one helps them like you did your in-law. The irony is that most of them do not know how bad their situations are.

Going to a prestigious university can be both a blessing and cause. The name of your university could increase the expectation of the interviewer on you. Mistakes that would be ignored for graduates from less prestigious university may be suicidal for you. Like I tell people it is better to be underestimated than to be overestimated. When you are underestimated you impress people, but when overestimated you disappoint people. So, prestige can go both ways.

Good, its been too long

Akiika:

I don't understand what you guys mean by bias, can you compare Oxford university curricula(what you are taught) to that of any Nigerian university for example. What about Internship? isn't it all alchaic theories that are being taught in Naija universities? I have a sis-in-law that graduated 2 yrs ago from computer science department of one Naija university. When i asked her of what the program was about, they are still teaching FOTRAN in the 21st century and infact they do not have a computer lab in the computer science dept of the school. I sent her a laptop with some CDs that teaches MS office, then i referred her to some online resources. She learnt SQL, C++, Java during her service year, all that she didn't learn in 4+ years in the University. She is now gainfully employed in an IT company.

Exactly my point, your university education is what you make of it. The fact remains that if you had bought her the laptop and CD while she was in school, she would have graduated better prepared. So, it is not about the university, it is about having the right tools and taking full advantage of the opportunity that the university environment provides.

Why is it that in Nigeria when we talk about exposure, we often talk about exposure mostly bad and irrelevant things like prostitution, bribery, drinking, chasing women and get rich quick. Exposure goes beyond these, it could all so mean having a better idea of what life is all about and living it according to those principles.

For example, a girl who decides to keep her virginity may be considered as not being exposed in Nigeria. But it could be a matter of principle. She may have been exposed to circumstances that enabled her to form such principles or she may just have a higher level of understanding. So, a school does not need to be in the city for you to be exposed.

Just knowing how to satisfy a man or a woman does not make you exposed. Knowing all the latest dance steps or lyrics does not make you more exposed than those who don't, except you are pursuing a career in entertainment. All social activities add to your being a total human, but that does not mean that all your focus should be in them.

The exposure that counts as far as career is concerned is the exposure to yourself. Once you discover yourself (knowing your strengths and weaknesses), the sky becomes your footstool. Knowing yourself will enable you choose the course that taps into your strengths so that you will be the best at what you do, making you get any job irrespective of the university you attended. Even if there are no jobs you can also tap into your strengths and create opportunities for yourself and even others.

We need to redefine what it means to be exposed. Once you are exposed to yourself you will discover that you are distinctively made and hence you do not need to follow the crowd (you have no competition), create your own path and others will follow you.