Promising African United States technology giant battleground-Africa, Microsoft, Facebook-IT information

Big companies active in Africa has changed. Yiqian, Africa is the destination for corporate social responsibility activities, such as building schools and tree planting, and now has become an investment destination in Africa, especially in United States technology giant's attention.

This change really eye-catching. Do you remember? When Microsoft was founded in 1975, is dictatorship back in Nigeria, Portugal still has colonies in Mozambique and Angola. And now, 11 in one of the fastest growing economies in the world, 7 in Africa. In the view of Microsoft, Google and Facebook, the continent has become a battleground.

Three years ago, Microsoft launched a $ 75 million worth of 4Afrika, trying to occupy a favorable terrain in Africa's development. The company has established more than 20 offices across Africa, projects were carried out to create your own market.

Is a key focus, with more than 1 billion people in Africa, their spending power is growing.

"The African youth population, is an important investment market. Cloud computing is the core of Microsoft, is the link all our actions, "4Afrika anruote·abodula, Project Director (Amrote Abdella) said.

Mobile devices increase in bandwidth costs dropping, international and local suppliers has introduced a variety of new services, which together has made ready for Africa, can thrive in the digital transition.

Abdullah said that opportunity in Africa: "with the spread of technology, nothing can stop the development of Africa,"

So that we can access

In Africa, the Internet is a key issue. United States Science and technology giants have focused on this issue. It is estimated that currently has 26.5% of Africans have access to the Internet. Giants like Microsoft, Google and Facebook hope Africans can make their own products and services accommodating consumers, to achieve this aspiration, apparently low percentage of some 26.5%.

In this regard, the technology giants have launched a number of initiatives. Project Link projects such as Google, designed to allow Africans to faster and more reliable on the Internet. Kampala, the Ugandan capital, the company has deployed a Metro fiber network, Ghana is the next target.

This network provides "last mile" Wi-Fi connection. Internet service provider (ISP) and mobile network operators (MNO) can use it.

"The Internet is the key to doing business," Google South Africa Mike·ATA Gunnar, Director of communications and public affairs (Mich Atagana) said.

Google is working with locals to solve the problems of Internet access, in addition to the Project Link project, Google is still in South Africa invested in a solar power plant, and was involved in a television white spaces (white space, has not yet been fully utilized radio and TV spectrum) project. With the decline in the cost of data and equipment, more Africans are able to enjoy the benefits of the Internet.

Microsoft has been investing in "white spaces" technology--which uses unused radio spectrum, with much cheaper cost of Wi-Fi, so that more people can go online. In addition, Microsoft and Ghana, South Africa and Kenya company, launched business in local network.

"Access to affordable broadband access services, is critical to Africa's potential, but it will be education, health, agriculture, Government, financial services and retail sectors have great impact," Abdullah said.

If you can get online, students can study a world-class education, employment or entrepreneurial skills. Living in the "last mile" area man, via remote means of diagnosis, treatment, enjoy the unthinkable before health-care services.

Africa has more than 120 million Facebook users. Facebook has recently opened its first African Office in Johannesburg, and hoped through the Free Basics project to encourage people to use Internet services. The project's users can use free services such as BBC and Facebook. Zero cost to provide basic network service, could encourage people who never went to the net to take the first step.

Promote the development of enterprises

However, so that we can access, it's just one technology giant part of the Africa strategy. Assisting the business development and growth in Africa, which, in turn, become the customer of Microsoft, Google, is another focus of their strategies.

Abdullah said Microsoft has been working to encourage enterprises to develop their online activities in Africa, and provide for them such as Biz4Afrika (Virtual Institute and the PR Toolkit, designed to encourage the development of SMEs) such ancillary products.

"In the field of small and medium enterprises, young entrepreneurs have the potential to create wealth for Africa, provide employment opportunities," she said.

In this process, the new online business model might appear to form more efficient, technology-supported supply chain, creating larger, more inclusive markets. There are also other opportunities for regional integration--breaking the structural constraints of history, stimulate the development of cross-border trade, boosted investment area to a higher level.

Not only how Microsoft sees an encouraging enterprise development contains a chance, its competitors are also seen. Google has just said Atta, the company turned its focus to promote digital skills, encouraged on the development of high-tech enterprises, which have the potential to become a user of Google products in the future.

In April this year, Google announced the launch of a plan in the coming year to help 1 million Africans develop number skills. "Our idea is to help people improve their skills, so that their chances of finding a job or starting their own business will grow," Atta says.

Facebook also took similar action, such as launching an innovative contest, aimed at providing support for technology startups, Facebook also launched a number of products, using their own social media platforms to help the development of their businesses.

"Around the world, small businesses are the backbone of the economy, and Africa is the same," Facebook spokesman said.

Facebook have released a number of SME-oriented mobile strategy, as well as a business tool. More and more small businesses are using Instagram and Facebook to increase your brand awareness by Messenger and WhatsApp to direct contact and communication with customers.

All in all, Africa's future looks bright.

前途无限：非洲成美国科技巨头兵家必争之地 - 非洲,微软,Facebook - IT资讯

大公司在非洲开展活动的方式已经发生了变化。以前，非洲是企业社会责任活动的目的地，比如修建学校和植树活动，而现在，非洲已经成为了一个投资目的地，尤其受到美国科技巨头的重视。

这样的变化确实引人瞩目。还记得吗？微软1975年成立的时候，尼日利亚正在向独裁体制倒退，葡萄牙仍然在莫桑比克和安哥拉拥有殖民地。而现在，全球11个增长最快的经济体中有7个在非洲。在微软、谷歌和Facebook看来，这片大陆已经成为了兵家必争之地。

三年前，微软推出了价值7500万美元的4Afrika项目，试图在非洲的发展中占据有利地形。该公司在非洲各地设立了20多个办事处，开展了一些旨在给自己创造市场的项目。

关键重点是，非洲拥有十亿多人口，他们的消费能力正在不断增长。

“非洲青年人口众多，是一个重要的投资市场。云计算是微软的核心，是我们所有行动的纽带，”4Afrika项目的地区主任安若特·阿卜杜拉（Amrote Abdella）说。

移动设备在增多，带宽成本在降低，国际及本地供应商推出了各种新型服务，这些因素结合在一起，已经令非洲做好了准备，可以在数字化转型中走向繁荣。

阿卜杜拉说，非洲的机会无限的：“随着技术的普及，没有什么东西可以阻挡非洲的腾飞，”

让大家能够上网

在非洲，上网是个关键问题。美国科技巨头纷纷把目光聚焦在了这个问题上。据估计，目前有26.5%的非洲人可以接入互联网。微软、谷歌和Facebook这样的巨头希望非洲人能成为自己产品和服务的热心消费者，要达成这个愿望，26.5%的比例显然还低了一些。

对此，科技巨头们已经推出了多项举措。比如谷歌的Project Link项目，旨在让非洲人可以更快更可靠地上互联网。该公司已经在乌干达首都坎帕拉部署了城域光纤网络，加纳是它的下一个目标。

这种网络提供“最后一英里”Wi-Fi连接。互联网服务提供商（ISP）和移动网络运营商（MNO）可以利用它。

“上网是做生意的关键，”谷歌南非区通信和公共事务的负责人米可·阿塔刚纳（Mich Atagana）说。

谷歌正在与当地人合作解决上网的问题，除了Project Link项目之外，谷歌还在南非投资了一个太阳能发电厂，并且参与了一个电视空白频谱（white space，指尚未被充分利用的广播电视频谱）项目。随着数据和设备成本的下降，更多的非洲人也能够享受到互联网带来的好处了。

微软也一直在投资“空白频谱”技术——它利用未使用的无线电频谱，用便宜得多的成本提供Wi-Fi，让更多的人可以上网。此外，微软还和加纳、南非和肯尼亚的公司合作，在当地推出了商用网络。

“获得价格实惠的宽带接入服务，对于非洲发挥潜力来说至关重要，而且这将会对教育、卫生、农业、政府、金融服务和零售部门产生极大的影响，”阿卜杜拉说。

如果可以上网，学生就可以学习世界一流的教育内容，掌握就业或创业技能。住在“最后一英里”地区的人，就可以通过远程诊断、治疗手段，享受到之前不敢想的医疗保健服务。

非洲有超过1.2亿的Facebook用户。Facebook最近在约翰内斯堡开设了它的第一家非洲办事处，希望通过Free Basics项目鼓励大家使用互联网服务。该项目的用户可以免费使用BBC和Facebook等服务。零费用提供基本的网络服务，可以鼓励那些从来没有上过网的人迈开第一步。

促进企业发展

但是，让大家能够上网，这只是科技巨头非洲战略的组成部分之一。协助非洲企业发展壮大，使其反过来成为微软谷歌的客户，是他们战略中的另一个重点。

阿卜杜拉表示，微软一直致力于鼓励非洲企业开展网上活动，并为它们提供了诸如Biz4Afrika（虚拟学院和PR工具包，用来鼓励中小企业发展）这样的辅助产品。

“在中小企业领域，年轻的创业者有可能为非洲创造财富，提供就业机会，”她说。

而在这个过程中，有可能会出现新的在线业务模式，形成更高效的、以技术为支撑的供应链，创造更大的、更具包容性的市场。此外还有一些区域整合的机会——打破历史上形成的结构性制约，刺激跨境贸易的发展，把投资区域推升到更高水平。

不仅是微软看到了鼓励企业发展蕴含着怎样机会，它的竞争对手也看到了。谷歌的阿塔刚纳表示，该公司把重点放在了推广数字技能，鼓励高科技企业发展上，这些企业将来有可能成为谷歌产品的用户。

今年4月，谷歌宣布推出一个计划：在未来一年里，帮助一百万非洲人培养数字技能。“我们的想法是帮助人们提高技能，这样一来，他们找到工作或者自己创业的机会就会增多，”阿塔刚纳说。

Facebook也在采取了类似的行动，比如发起了一个创新竞赛，旨在为科技初创公司提供支持，Facebook还推出了一些产品，利用自己的社交媒体平台来帮助公司发展业务。

“在世界各地，小企业都是经济的支柱，非洲也是一样，”Facebook的发言人说。

Facebook推出了一个面向中小企业的数字移动战略，以及一套做生意的工具。越来越多的小企业正在利用Instagram和Facebook来提高自己的品牌知名度，通过Messenger和WhatsApp来与客户直接进行联系和沟通。

总而言之，非洲的未来看上去一片光明。