MAMBO TakeAirtel's Bizna Wallet has turned Kenya's small-business payments into a price war
Airtel Money's Bizna Wallet challenges Safaricom's Pochi La Biashara with free merchant payments and cashback as M-Pesa cuts selected fees.
MAMBO Take
Opinion
Clear, accountable takes on where tech is heading.MAMBO Take
MAMBO TakeApple owns 65 percent of the premium phone market, but the number hides a changing battlefield
Counterpoint says Apple captured 65 percent of premium smartphone sales in H1 2026 as the premium segment reached a record 29 percent of the market.
MAMBO TakeBYD, Geely and Chery are now global top-10 automakers. China is no longer the challenger
BYD ranked sixth, Geely seventh and Chery tied for ninth in H1 2026 global automaker market share, showing China's rapid international expansion.
MAMBO TakeIndia wants to lock in electronics manufacturing until 2041, and Apple is a major reason why
India proposes extending tax exemptions for foreign electronics suppliers to 2041 as it scales smartphone, laptop, tablet and wearable manufacturing.
MAMBO TakeInsta360 just turned the GO Ultra into a wearable Gemini assistant
Insta360 firmware 1.8.91 adds Kira, a Gemini-powered AI assistant with Ask with Photo, translation and voice recognition to the GO Ultra.
MAMBO TakeEurope is turning interoperability from a nice idea into a product requirement
EU Digital Markets Act enforcement is forcing deeper interoperability on iOS and Android, including access for rival devices, assistants and services.
MAMBO TakeChina's BYD battery blogger dispute is becoming a test of who gets to challenge product claims
China's CAC named tech blogger Cai Shen Dao in an enforcement case over allegedly false product evaluations tied to BYD Blade Battery 2.0 testing.
MAMBO TakeApple removed Telegram for a day. That is enough to show how much power an app store holds
Apple briefly removed Telegram after finding prohibited child sexual abuse material, then restored it after Telegram removed the content and banned the user.
MAMBO TakeEast Africa's electric-mobility race is moving from vehicles to infrastructure
Electric motorcycles and fleet vehicles are scaling across East Africa, shifting the competition toward battery swapping, charging access and interoperability.
MAMBO TakeApple's next health device may sit on your face, not your wrist
Apple appears to be spreading sensing across glasses and earbuds, but privacy, battery life and clinical credibility will determine whether it works.
MAMBO TakeVodacom's new Safaricom powers go far beyond owning more shares
Vodacom's reported 55 percent stake now comes with stronger board and executive influence over a company that carries Kenya's communications and money.
MAMBO TakeApple's 2026 iPhone plan could leave budget buyers waiting until 2027
A split launch would turn Apple's biggest 2026 phone event into a premium-only season and push value-conscious buyers toward older iPhones or Android.
MAMBO TakeSafaricom's KSh 80.13 billion dividend is a victory for shareholders and a test for growth
The record payout shows renewed confidence after years of Ethiopia investment. It also raises the question of how much cash Safaricom should return versus reinvest.
MAMBO TakeVisa's new East Africa chief comes from mobile money, and that changes the strategy
Visa has appointed an executive who grew a mobile money challenger. Her task is to connect cards, wallets, banks and merchants across seven markets.
MAMBO TakeXpeng's G9L turns the electric SUV into a private lounge on wheels
The G9L is not competing only on range and acceleration. It is selling the cabin as a mobile living room, office and rest space.
MAMBO TakeThe Mechanical Myth: How Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey Tamed the IMAX Beast
From three-strip Technicolor to The Dark Knight and The Odyssey, cinema has repeatedly forced hostile machines to serve human imagination. Nolan's latest film turns IMAX from an action format into a complete dramatic language.
MAMBO TakeTECNO's 0mm-bezel concept looks stunning. Your palm may disagree
TECNO says its concept removes the final visible border around a smartphone display. The engineering achievement is real, but bezels also protect screens and prevent accidental touches.
MAMBO TakePixel 11's glowing camera bar could revive the notification LED, if Google makes it useful
The Pixel 11 appears to bring coloured notification lighting to Google's camera bar. The idea could reduce screen checking, but only if it becomes more than decoration.
MAMBO TakeKenya wants Oracle's cloud and AI expertise. It should negotiate like the data matters
Oracle and the ICT Authority are exploring deeper cooperation on government cloud, AI and certification. Kenya needs skills transfer, interoperability and enforceable data controls.
MAMBO TakeRISE 2026 takes Nigeria's technology debate to Jos, where it belongs
Hosting a major national technology conference in Jos challenges the idea that Nigeria's digital economy begins in Lagos and ends in Abuja.
MAMBO TakeSouth Africa is ready to scale AI. Access and infrastructure could still split the winners
The conference moved past chatbot demos toward energy, banking, public services and telecom infrastructure. The harder question is who can participate.
MAMBO TakeAfrica cannot manufacture 60% of its vaccines by importing all the important knowledge
Manufacturing plants are only one part of vaccine sovereignty. Africa must own more of the science, delivery technology, intellectual property and market.
MAMBO TakeKOKO Networks' asset sale is a warning to African climate tech
KOKO built one of Africa's most visible clean cooking platforms. Its asset sale shows how hardware, households and carbon finance can become dangerously tangled.
MAMBO TakeAmerica invents it, China perfects it, Europe writes the rules for it
The old line says America innovates, China replicates, and Europe regulates. China's rocket catch shows why that line is useful, and why it is no longer enough.
MAMBO TakeYou probably do not need the newest AI model
The useful model is the one that solves your repeated task reliably, affordably and inside your workflow. Benchmark leadership is not a personal productivity strategy.
MAMBO TakeAI is not killing every junior tech job. It is breaking the ladder into them
Routine work once trained junior employees. As AI absorbs it, employers demand judgement and architecture before candidates have had a place to learn them.
MAMBO TakeThe AI tax is raising Apple prices, but it is not a fee for Apple Intelligence
Consumers are paying an indirect AI tax through scarcer RAM and storage chips. The mechanism is supply-chain competition, not a direct charge for AI software.
MAMBO TakeAmazon Leo is coming for Starlink in Africa. Cheaper internet is not guaranteed
Amazon now has enough low-Earth-orbit satellites to begin service, but Africa needs gateways, licences and affordable hardware before competition reaches consumers.
MAMBO TakeAfrica has a seat at the AI governance table. Now it needs real leverage
A seat at the table matters, but it can become ceremonial. Africa needs coordinated policy, local research capacity and bargaining power to shape how AI is built and deployed.
MAMBO TakeA KSh 150,000 flagship is harder to justify when midrange phones are this good
Midrange phones now cover most everyday needs, but 2026's memory crisis is squeezing cheap devices too. The smart buy depends on support, cameras and total ownership cost.
MAMBO TakeThe iPhone Ultra shortage is also a marketing plan
Analyst estimates say Apple's first foldable iPhone could be scarce at launch. That may be a manufacturing constraint, but the sold-out effect still sells the product.
MAMBO TakeAndroid 17 app Bubbles show why Google still understands multitasking better than Apple
Android 17 lets Pixel users turn almost any app into a movable floating window. It is a small interface change with large implications for phones, tablets and foldables.
MAMBO TakeSony is ending new PlayStation game discs in 2028. What gamers lose
Sony says new PlayStation games will become digital-only from January 2028. Existing disc titles can still be reprinted, but the trade, lending, and ownership culture around new games will take the real hit.
MAMBO TakeCan your smartwatch predict illness, or just make you anxious?
Wearables are getting better at spotting when your body behaves differently from normal. That can be useful, but an alert is a clue, not a diagnosis.
MAMBO TakeThe free AI era is ending. That is okay.
For two or three years, using powerful AI has felt almost free, but in 2026 that is changing.
MAMBO TakeKenya is writing AI rules early. That is an edge.
Kenya has quietly been doing something most countries have not: writing down what it actually wants from artificial intelligence.
MAMBO TakeWhy "flagship" phones stopped feeling exciting, and what would fix it
Flagship phones did not become bad.