Ovim Store and Android Apps Competition
Nov 29, 2010 – Lagos, Nigeria: Fasmicro and Microscale Embedded are very happy to announce the opening of Ovim Store and Android Apps Competition. Two things: a store that any developer can sell Apps and a competition that anyone can participate within the Ovim Tablet environment. Not interested in the competition but wants to partner with us to monetize your Apps, bring it on!
As we noted in statements during the unveiling of Ovim Tablet, we are into application and solution space business, and not necessarily hardware sale. Ovim will drive new services in Africa, beginning from Nigeria, and will simplify the lives of citizens and corporate entities.
Accordingly, we are building Ovim Store – an Android App store that will be exclusive for our Tablet. We have to take this strategy since Google Android Market does not allow paid Apps in Nigeria. So, for us to provide the services we need, we will bundle the Apps alongside the sale of the Tablet. And that means Apps makers in Nigeria can be paid!
We have a strong Android App Engineering team and are ready to lead in this segment in Nigeria. Please refer to our job openings if you want to join the innovation team. We are already developing Apps for Ovim as sales begin early part of next year. But to get us the volume and choices we need, we want to borrow the ideas, explained by Fasmicro Founder, Prof N Ekekwe, in the Harvard Business Review, where he challenged companies to seek the crowd for fresh perspectives.
We are seeking for Apps to be part of Ovim Store. Individuals and companies are requested to develop and send us Apps for exclusive use in Ovim Store. We will award prizes as follows:
Prizes: Ten best Apps make it to our Core Apps category and best three take
1st Prize: N50,000
2nd Prize: N30,000
3rd Prize: N20,000
Submission Deadline is March 31, 2011. If you cannot meet this deadline; there is no problem. Just send your Apps for consideration in Ovim Store when you are done.
Submission Locations: Unfortunately, since we are not working via Android Market, you have to submit to our Lagos, Kaduna and Owerri offices. There are many ways this can be done. Just email info@fasmicro.com or info@microscale-embedded.com when you are ready
Besides these prizes, Ovim Store will pay the developers commissions throughout the life span of the Apps. For Apps that make it to our Core Apps category, the developer receivers 200 naira per unit of Ovim sold. While we plan to have many Apps in store, only a maximum of ten free Core Apps will be bundled free along with the hardware to customers. We decide which Apps make it to the Core category based on usability, functionality, performance and relevance. Typically, Applications in the Core Category should be useful to most users.
Given our estimated sales figure of 10,000 units of Ovim for the first year, each winner can earn up to 2,000,000 naira in the first year alone. The more Apps you have in Ovim Store, the more money you make since there is not limitation on the number of Apps we approve from any company.
For those Apps that could not make it to the Core category, we will sell them in our App Store and we will use our resources to market and distribute the application. The developer decides the prize and we take 50% of the sales price and return 50% to the developer. Assume your app is sold at N100 and is able to reach 20% market penetration, that will give you an estimated revenue of 200,000 naira in the first year alone.
We will have digital counters to transparently account for sales so that developers will be paid accurately. You can submit Apps directly without going through the competition and we will evaluate it.
Competition is open to any person, but the law will be governed by Nigerian law and all payments will be made within the Nigerian banking system. If you contribute from outside Nigeria, be prepared to open a bank account in Nigeria.
NB: We are selling alongside the mass market company focused Ovim Tablet versions where the App does one thing. For example, we already have the system for Electronic & Mobile Medical Records (EM2R) system that will be sold to our hospital clients and not available in the Ovim Store. This provides mobility to electronic medical records. We classify all the Apps in this category as Segment Apps and they are not available in Ovim store. We welcome your ideas to sell to any market segment you can think of. We will pay you a huge percentage of the final hardware + App bundle price, from the client. Think about PHCN? NNPC? Shell? Generator companies? Let the imagination begins right here.
Apps Suggested Areas
Below are suggested areas we are seeking entries and solutions, in Core, Basic and Segment Apps categories. These are not all, but just to get you thinking. Be innovative and think outside the box.
Inventory Management: Think how traders, spare parts dealers, Tokunbo car sellers, will use Ovim to improve their businesses
Fixed Asset Management: Can you find a better way to help keep company assets in order?
Small Business Management: Think how that tailor, hairdresser, mechanic, etc will use Ovim to manage his/her business
Mining, Exploration and Distribution: We still think the oil truck drivers in Nigeria can get a lot of help if we can help them manage many things they do. The same goes to the energy companies and their logistics.
Retail Management: What of the supermarkets, boutiques, etc? Can we help them take their store “home”? They can tell right from home, how the sales are going, from Ovim.
Real Estate Management: Can we put that real estate across Nigeria on the palms of the experts. Find ways that will make it easy for real estate professionals to do business with your App.
Construction Management: we want them to schedule on the go and manage their businesses easily
Air Travel, Bus Travel: I hope you agree that we can simplify air travel in Nigeria. The same applies to all those luxuries buses. Find Apps that will focus on those airlines, Chisco buses, AKTC buses, etc and let us simplify transportation in Nigeria.
JAMB: Let us have Apps to capture all Jamb questions and answers. Do not worry; we will work with you to get the necessary agreement with JAMB
Mobile Payment: mpesa, etc. We need Nigerian content mobile and e-payment system
Worship: Give us an App for prayer houses in Nigeria, across all cities. You enter Ibadan and want to Worship in Deeper Life the next morning, can this App provide answers? Can you help religious groups organize their writings, and videos?
Personal Organizer: You want your life organized in Nigeria? Eating joints in Ibadan? Sokoto? Aba? Dating? Keeping tabs with friends and family? Bring it on.
FOREX Traders: I hope you know the Forex traders need better tools than calculators and constant worries of not getting real-time currency data. Those gadgets that Forex traders at Ikeja, Ikoyi, Abuja, Aba, etc carry are obsolete. Build an App and let us change the industry.
Nigerian Stock Exchange: We need to provide Nigerian Stock prices in a way that any investor can have access to all the stocks in time. A database and we can stream stock prices to customers via the App. When the NSE gets it system ready, real-time stock prices will follow.
Terms and Conditions
- By submitting an App, you agree that this App if selected will not be sold in any other gadget in Nigeria or Africa, without an express approval from Fasmicro and Microscale Embedded.
- When Google approves Nigeria to the Android Market, you can take your App to the Market. In that case, the arrangement we have with you becomes null and void. At Android Market and open to all Tablets, Ovim will not have any hardware sale advantage. In that case, your payment will come from Google from paid Apps services. However, while we have the arrangement, I guess it is not in your interest to post your App free in the Android market since you cannot monetize it in Nigeria. Ovim Store is here to help you make money.
- We welcome submissions from any part of the world, but we will retain exclusivity to any App in our store. We want Ovim Store to be unique.
- Our decisions on the competition is final and Apps must be original works of the submitters. We also have rights to modify the terms and conditions.
NB: Our Android Lab in the US, Malaysia, Kaduna and (soon) Owerri will be ready to help you. We have e-books we can send to you if you need support to work with us. Also, if you have any problem, we have a structure that can answer most questions on Java, Android, etc. We are planning to come down and organize an Android App Development Training in Nigeria if there is demand. Contact us if you think it is necessary. Start reading this.
Contacts:
Fasmicro Ltd
Microscale-Embedded
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There is obviously a lot to know about this. I think you made some good points in Features also. Keep working ,great job!