Samsung has extended its Built for Africa programme to provide educational books and content, together with free access and lifestyle content, on its affordable range of devices.
At the Samsung Africa Forum yesterday, a number of partnerships that will enrich the educational experience for Samsung users were announced.
Free content services were launched on the Built for Africa smartphones, the Galaxy Star, Galaxy Pocket Neo and Galaxy Grand.
These include the Kleek music services, free WiFi, access to the SmartTrainer app and – significantly – free access to educational titles from eKitabu, which currently has 275 000 textbook titles used in African curricula in its stable.
Also at the Forum yesterday Thierry Boulanger, director Samsung Electronics: Africa, unveiled the Samsung Internet schools, which the company plans to use to impact 5-million young lives by 2015.
These are complete schools, which run independently of any power, designed to be rolled out in rural environments where there is no infrastructure.
Boulanger explains that the concept has been expanded to include schools or clinics where buildings exist, but there is no power. In these cases, the solar-powered generator can offer maintenance- and fuel-free energy.
Partnering with Samsung on this initiative are Microsoft, Intel and LearnThings.
The memorandum of understanding was signed at the Samsung Africa Forum yesterday and the programme will roll out in the next three months.
In addition, Samsung has partnered with a number of educational content providers to ensure that content relevant to African learners is available on the Samsung platform.
To this end, the company signed partnership agreements with Pearson, Mara Media and Cambridge University Press for the provision of textbooks and other content.
These content educational and content announcements were made simultaneously with the announcement that all Samsung device users in South Africa will have access to 1Gb of free WiFi per month for a 12-month period.
At the Samsung Africa Forum yesterday, a number of partnerships that will enrich the educational experience for Samsung users were announced.
Free content services were launched on the Built for Africa smartphones, the Galaxy Star, Galaxy Pocket Neo and Galaxy Grand.
These include the Kleek music services, free WiFi, access to the SmartTrainer app and – significantly – free access to educational titles from eKitabu, which currently has 275 000 textbook titles used in African curricula in its stable.
Also at the Forum yesterday Thierry Boulanger, director Samsung Electronics: Africa, unveiled the Samsung Internet schools, which the company plans to use to impact 5-million young lives by 2015.
These are complete schools, which run independently of any power, designed to be rolled out in rural environments where there is no infrastructure.
Boulanger explains that the concept has been expanded to include schools or clinics where buildings exist, but there is no power. In these cases, the solar-powered generator can offer maintenance- and fuel-free energy.
Partnering with Samsung on this initiative are Microsoft, Intel and LearnThings.
The memorandum of understanding was signed at the Samsung Africa Forum yesterday and the programme will roll out in the next three months.
In addition, Samsung has partnered with a number of educational content providers to ensure that content relevant to African learners is available on the Samsung platform.
To this end, the company signed partnership agreements with Pearson, Mara Media and Cambridge University Press for the provision of textbooks and other content.
These content educational and content announcements were made simultaneously with the announcement that all Samsung device users in South Africa will have access to 1Gb of free WiFi per month for a 12-month period.