Technology!! Check Out What Makes A Device A Chinko-Product (Here)

Having used various mobile devices since the inception of mobile telecommunication in Nigeria, I can boldly say the word Chinko-Product is idea of a stupid man!
Since the the launch of TECNO Mobile, Itel Mobile and other China mobile manufactures in Africa and Nigeria specifically, the reaction from most users of China products have been poor and pictured fake my many, but thanks to TECNO and Itel Mobile which in the last 5 years, changed the face and view of the China Based Products to a better perception.
Be that as it may, Nigeria being the highest customer base of Chinko products have not only witness the tremendous change of China Manufactured Devices but have felt a sense of advancement and can also attest to the fact that China Made is different from Chinko Made…
What is Chinko-Product and What is China Made?
Most mobile users see TECNO or ITEL phones without internet connection as CHINKO, which is definitely wrong! YES! Wrong! You can’t call a mobile model which lacks a particular function or service bad because it doesn’t suit your purpose, then why go for it? Its like saying, because a man doesn’t have a shoe he can’t walk…
With that said, let’s get it cleared technically, using TECNO as a perfect example;
Tecno is on a roll. Their devices are in 17 African countries, and if their marketing department is to be believed, they are selling like gang busters. A healthy slice of those sales happen in Nigeria, which by their own admission constitutes about 50 percent of their African market — which in turn translates into 20 percent of the Nigerian mobile device ecosystem. These and more fun Tecno facts were fed to us at the last Developer Parapo by Tecno DGM, Chris Okonkwo. Chris put Tecno’s Nigerian device shipment numbers for 2012 at over 20 million units. He projected that they will achieve double that volume in 2013.
Of course, things are on the up and up for the Chinese company. In their five years here, they’ve been doing increasingly brisk business in the low end/low budget mobile segments. They’ve earned the trust and collaboration of other players in the ecosystem, inking crucial co-branding and marketing partnerships with the local network carriers and content kingpins along the way.
Up to the point that they now feel confident enough to start cultivating their own content ecosystem and commissioning developers to work on localised software for the Tecno platform. In the course of the presentation, they announced an apps competition that should see developers walk away with millions of Naira in winnings.
There is no question that Tecno has been successful. Even if you would sneer at their Powerpoint numbers, the evidence is in the hands of most of the people I see in the Danfos I ride daily. Tecno’s immense popularity with the price sensitive BoP is such that no self-respecting trader or market woman would dream of leaving home without their trusty Tecno — with its dual/triple SIMs, radio, flashlight, television, and all the other doohickeys that the Asian geniuses manage to cram onto these dirt cheap devices.
But Tecno’s success wasn’t all their presentation was about. It was also about where they are headed next. It showed us a mobile company that’s firing on all cylinders, plotting an upward course for higher end devices and markets in the next two years. It showed us a company that wants to move up from the bottom of the consumer pyramid to more aspirational, higher margin slopes.
Since they recently began to release smartphones running the Android OS, they’d prefer that you did not refer to them as the cheap and tacky “chinko” brand because actually they are more than that!
Phones being manufactured by China are not the problem! The problem is with sub-standard phones manufactured by anyone, which in this case will most likely be China since they manufacture most phones.
Like someone correctly pointed out, China “assembles” iPhones based on Apple’s design and spec. Frankly, most of the parts that goes into phones are manufactured by other companies in Asia like Samsung, LG etc and they will make or sell you different grades of their product.
For example, if I want to build a GSM phone, I’ll have to find a manufacturer that sells a GSM transceiver. A quicklook at China suppliers show that RF transceivers range between $2-8. Which one do you think someone that does not care about quality or safety will buy? The cheapest one!
My point is China will sell you whatever you want. If you want dirt cheap stuff, they get am plenti plenti but they can also manufacture a very high end quality product!
I remain your MagicaLight…