Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      Listed: All the MVNOs in South Africa – 2025 edition

      19 June 2025

      TCS | Tech, townships and tenacity: Spar’s plan to win with Spar2U

      19 June 2025

      WhatsApp founders hated ads – Meta is adding them anyway

      19 June 2025

      China’s car factories run cold as price war masks deep overcapacity

      19 June 2025

      Yellow Card, Visa in deal to hasten stablecoin uptake in Africa

      19 June 2025
    • World

      Watch | Starship rocket explodes in setback to Musk’s Mars mission

      19 June 2025

      Trump Mobile dials into politics, profit and patriarchy

      17 June 2025

      Samsung plots health data hub to link users and doctors in real time

      17 June 2025

      Beijing’s chip champions blacklisted by Taiwan

      16 June 2025

      China is behind in AI chips – but for how much longer?

      13 June 2025
    • In-depth

      Meta bets $72-billion on AI – and investors love it

      17 June 2025

      MultiChoice may unbundle SuperSport from DStv

      12 June 2025

      Grok promised bias-free chat. Then came the edits

      2 June 2025

      Digital fortress: We go inside JB5, Teraco’s giant new AI-ready data centre

      30 May 2025

      Sam Altman and Jony Ive’s big bet to out-Apple Apple

      22 May 2025
    • TCS

      TCS+ | AfriGIS’s Helen Hulett on how tech can help resolve South Africa’s water crisis

      18 June 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E2: South Africa’s digital battlefield

      16 June 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E1: Starlink, BEE and a new leader at Vodacom

      8 June 2025

      TCS+ | The future of mobile money, with MTN’s Kagiso Mothibi

      6 June 2025

      TCS+ | AI is more than hype: Workday execs unpack real human impact

      4 June 2025
    • Opinion

      South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

      17 June 2025

      AI and the future of ICT distribution

      16 June 2025

      Singapore soared – why can’t we? Lessons South Africa refuses to learn

      13 June 2025

      Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

      2 June 2025

      South Africa’s next crisis? Being offline in an AI-driven world

      2 June 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SevenC
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » News » A tablet computer, from Congo

    A tablet computer, from Congo

    By Editor29 June 2011
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp
    VMK's Android tablet, designed in Brazzaville

    Africa is getting its first Android-based tablet computer designed and engineered on the continent. No, the device isn’t the brainchild of a company in Johannesburg or Cape Town. Rather, it’s been developed in Congo-Brazzaville.

    The company behind it, VMK, specialises in website design, application development and consulting. But now it wants to make a splash in the fast-growing tablet market by bringing a low-cost tablet computer to the continent.

    For now, VMK is only providing images of the rear of the device as it says it is still in the process of securing various trademarks and doesn’t want to encourage copycats by releasing images of the whole device yet.

    The tablet is a 7-inch model, like BlackBerry’s Playbook or Samsung’s smaller Galaxy Tab, and features a 1,2GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal memory and Wi-Fi support. It will run version 2.3.3 of Google’s Android operating system and will sport a user interface called “Kongo”, says VMK CEO Vérone Mankou.

    Images of the tablet clearly show it is “designed and engineered in Congo by VMK”. Mankou says that although VMK tried to keep its tablet as African as possible it couldn’t be assembled here, so that part of the process has been outsourced to China.

    Vérone Mankou

    Mankou says the cost of the device will be dependent on resellers, but it should be about half the price of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab and a quarter of the price of an iPad 3G.

    He says one of the problems of doing business in Africa is that the fees and taxes involved in cross-border trade on the continent often incur unnecessary costs that push up prices. VMK hopes to keep prices down for the African market.

    “Congo has the same problems as all sub-Saharan African countries: it’s difficult to get funding, so it’s difficult to create big projects,” says Mankou, when asked by TechCentral about the challenges of doing business in Congo. He says VMK is trying to secure funding to grow the project, but that it’s a slow process that requires patience and determination.

    Mankou says he always wanted to get into the hardware market but he started VMK as an IT services company because it was easier to secure funding. “It’s taken me two years to get sufficient reserves together to start this project. This is the project of my life.”

    He says that although the VMK tablet “is designed for emerging markets, it will be available globally”. VMK will focus on Africa first “because it’s more accessible” and the company is looking for African partners and resellers.

    Mankou hopes VMK will begin shipping its tablets in September and to have them on shelves by early October.

    More images of the tablet are available on VMK’s website.  — Craig Wilson, TechCentral

    • Subscribe to our free daily newsletter
    • Follow us on Twitter or on Facebook


    Google Vérone Mankou VMK
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleLocal-loop unbundling comes ‘too late’
    Next Article Rica, or bust

    Related Posts

    Stolen phone? Samsung now buys you an hour to lock it down

    18 June 2025

    Major rift opens between Microsoft and OpenAI

    17 June 2025

    Meta bets $72-billion on AI – and investors love it

    17 June 2025
    Company News

    Why parents choose CambriLearn for online education

    19 June 2025

    Disrupt first, ask questions later – the uncomfortable truth about incident response

    18 June 2025

    Sage brings together HR leaders to explore the future of payroll and people management

    18 June 2025
    Opinion

    South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

    17 June 2025

    AI and the future of ICT distribution

    16 June 2025

    Singapore soared – why can’t we? Lessons South Africa refuses to learn

    13 June 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.