Developing and marketing a product are like left and right feet. They both have to work for the product to succeed, according to Ronald Ron Popeil, an American inventor and marketing personality, best known for his direct response marketing company, Ronco.
It appeared that Mr. Popeil had Rlg Communications Limited, Ghana’s leading ICT and Electronics Company and its Uhuru tablet in mind when he made the above short and concise aphorism some decades ago.
Rlg’s Uhuru tablet, which shares the same first name with Kenyan Prime Minister, Uhuru Kenyatta, is just three months old in the Ghanaian market. But it is taking the nascent Ghana’s tablet market by a storm.
The concept of Rlg’s Uhuru is based on a convertible concept, which is the combination of a tablet and a keyboard docking system. The device runs on Microsoft’s newest operating system – Windows 8 and Intel’s Core i5 processor and can be used as a Tablet or a Notebook, which also features a touch operation with fingers or a stylus and has a keyboard dock that comes with it.
It has an Ivy Bridge I5 CPU, 11.6” Touch Screen, a 10 points Capacitive Touch Panel, 4GB RAM, 64GB hard drive, with a Front and back Camera, WiFi, Bluetooth, USB and HDMI Ports and Micro SD Card Reader.
Additionally, Uhuru has a detachable Dock with Second battery, a USB port, Microphone, Headphone and DC Jack. The device is a combination of a laptop and a tablet, meaning the tablet can be detached from the keypad and used on its own.
The Chief Commercial Officer of Rlg Communications Limited, Mr. Archibald Annan explained that the newly product was more than a tablet, explaining “that it gives you the freedom to work with it as a laptop or as a tablet if you so wish.
You can detach it and use it around and just dock it on the keypad and you have your laptop”. According to him, the novelty product comes with the latest Windows 8 from Microsoft. It is touch screen and it uses a Core i5 processor which is the highest in the range of laptops worldwide.
Even if you take off the tablet you still have your i5 processor which is higher than any other tablet on the market in terms of the processor speed, he added. The battery is capable of supporting the operations of ‘Uhuru’ within a longer period, Mr. Annan stated.
Rlg Communications Limited and their partners including Microsoft Corporation have been working on Uhuru since last year, when an OEM Agreement was sealed between the two companies.
The world’s most influential magazine, Forbes, described that deal as “the partnership of the future” last year. The product takes its name from a southern Africa Swahili language, meaning “freedom”, originating from Kenya. It is the latest device to be added to the Rlg’s product portfolios.
WONDERS OF UHURU
A cross section of people especially the youth told the African Eye Report in separate interviews that the tablet cum laptop product is changing their working and learning lives.
A third year student of the University of Ghana Business School, Kwame Boateng, gave thumbs up to Rlg and its partners for manufacturing the Uhuru tablet.
In his own words: “I was using a tablet which used to give me problems. So I bought Uhuru tablet. It is really helping me a lot to do my lecture assignments with ease and speed. I am now enjoying the Uhuru experience promised by Rlg Communications Limited”.
On a lighter side, he confessed to this paper that because of his Uhuru tablet, ladies who hitherto said no to his proposal are now coming back, saying “This is the power of Uhuru tablet”.
Another student, Saeed Abubakar, could not hide his joy, as he narrated to the African Eye Report how he tried his hands on his friend’s Uhuru sometime ago.
He was quick to note that he nearly missed lectures that day, as he was engrossed on social media networks, particularly Facebook.
Nana Ama, a business executive at the Accra Central Business District has to say: “Anyone who is using a tablet and it is not Uhuru, then the person is missing out on Uhuru’s supersonic speed”.
She used the opportunity to urge Ghanaians to patronize made-in-Ghana products, like Uhuru, which is manufactured by Rlg Communications Limited, an indigenous Ghanaian ICT firm and its partners.
Nana Ama shared the same opinion with many Ghanaians, including the new Minister of Communications, Dr. Edward Omane-Boamah, who at the launch of the Uhuru at Golden Tulip two months ago appealed to Ghanaians not to look towards the east and the west for their tablets, but look within for Uhuru tablet.
According to him, the ‘Uhuru’ laptop and tablets is the most useful innovative product in the world.
Responding at the launch, the Chief Executive Officer of Rlg Communication Limited, Mr. Roland Agambire said the company had positioned itself to address the technology challenge of the country, hence the introduction of ‘Uhuru’ and other products.
UHURU SELLS FASTER THAN ITS COMPETITORS
Furthermore, when the African Eye Report visited some shops in Accra to assess the performance of the novelty Uhuru product on the Ghana market, some Uhuru retailers told this reporter that the product was going faster than other tablets on the stock.
A shop owner, Kwame, dealing in mobile phones, phone accessories, laptops and Uhuru indicated that most shoppers who throng to the shop always reach to the product before moving to others.
Kwame explained this to mean that the customers are interested in the product but some of them do complain about the price.
At the same area, this reporter chanced upon a Nigerian national who gave his name as Chibozo, displaying Uhuru products among other mobile phone products for sale. When quizzed how the market is going, he replied in Pidgin English “Na today be Uhuru market”. Because of time constraint, this reporter could not engage Ike Chibozo with more conversation.
From there, this reporter drove to Accra Mall and at the entrance of the mall, some three beautiful ladies adorned in Uhuru and Rlg T-shirts were seen marketing the product and Rlg phones.
They used their marketing skills to convince people to purchase the products. They told this reporter that business was moving well.
Expressing his excitement about the performance of Uhuru in the market, the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of Rlg Communications Limited, Mr. Archibald Annan told the African Eye Report that the more than half of the first consignment of Uhuru tablets of over 1,000 was sold on the Ghanaian market within the period of three months.
He disclosed: “We are waiting for the next consignment from the manufacturers, hopefully in May this year. We are selling more than some of our competitors on the market. We are selling in all the 10 regions of Ghana, while our competitors are only doing sales in Accra and Kumasi”.
The Uhuru product is available in all major shops in Accra including Airport Lounge, Marina Mall near Holiday Inn Hotel, and all Rlg shops across the length and breadth of the country, Rlg’s CCO stated.
Apart from the open market, Mr. Annan added: “We are getting lots of orders from Ministries, Departments and Agencies, as well as some companies to supply them with Uhuru tablets.”
When asked whether the introduction of Uhuru onto the Ghanaian market has affected other products of the AGAMS Group conglomerates, Mr. Annan answered in the negative.
When quizzed about what the future holds for Uhuru tablet, Mr. Anann did not hesitate to say that “the future looks extremely bright for the Uhuru tablet”.
Apart from being a hot product in Ghana, Uhuru tablet is also a hot cake in Nigeria and Kenya, While plans are underway to launch it in South Africa in three months time, he told the African Eye Report at his Osu-based plush office.
By: Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh
Email: mk68008@gmail.com
