After campaigning on crowdfunding website Indiegogo, Keepod Unite has unveiled its $7 USBs to Nairobi’s Mathare slum to help provide cheap personal computer access to the community.
Keepod is a simple USB stick that can turn any computer into a personal device.
It comprises an operating system based on Android 4.4 (KitKat) while its makers claim it is secure, as it leaves no footprint on the host PC.
According to Keepod’s makers, five billion people, or 70% of the world’s population, are without access to personal computing.
Therefore, the Keepod is aimed at bridging this ‘digital divide’.
And after raising $40,000 on Indiegogo to launch the project, 1,500 Keepods are being rolled out in Africa’s largest urban slum: Mathare in Nairobi.
“The rollout in Mathare has begun with a pilot implementation for the children of the WhyNotAcademy. Second round will follow in the summer,” Philipp Pfeffer, positioning and brand manager at Keepod Unite, has told ITWeb Africa.
“We hope Keepod can provide access to personal computing for a great many people and we will continue pushing all our efforts in this direction. The effects were imminent. Children were sending emails within hours. The thirst for technology and information was really evident,” Pfeffer has told ITWeb Africa.
The success of the product launch in Africa has also boosted interest in the device from across the globe.
“The trip to Mathare was incredible; it is hard to put this down in a few lines. We are getting mails from literally hundreds of people all around the world, looking to bring Keepod to their communities, or support us in our activities,” Pfeffer said.
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