what's new here ?

haven't we been assembling PCs for the longest time?
what would be interesting is if some of the components were manufactured locally.

Im surprised this is not at Club SK. This is great for Kenya. Hope UHURUTO's laptop project sources its laptops here

Assembled in Kenya with parts from China... Do you really need someone studying for a serious degree like, say, Mechatronics Engineering to insert part A into slot B and screw parts C and D together? I mean, you can train a chimp to do that. Even worse, JKUAT couldn't even design an original logo for their product. Instead, they just had to plagiarize one of the most creative logos out there -- Sony's VAIO logo.

The whole process of putting together a laptop and bringing it to market, taking care of warranty issues, marketing and building a brand is not a chimp biashara - now scaling it to a level where production is consistent and reliable is not something you read on youtube and implement.

Who cares where the small parts inside come from, heck even apple buy parts from samsung and from some other companies in china, the parts are no issue anyone with cash can buy them from wherever, lakini the assembly and design of the final product is what matters - the end user wants a good experience with the end product - and that's where kazi iko.

on the logo, you can start by copying and build your brand pole pole, I see no issue with that, some of the fastest growing guys started like that.

"...buy kenya, build kenya"....but not on this project. This is why:


"In addition to the superb kenyan tea, kenya is proud for giving the world one of the most superior car brand called toyota...."
..after all, we have a toyota assembly plant here in kenya, dont we ?

Assembling a laptop is a hand skill task, no innovation/creativity required,let the engineers in the making (students) go back to class.

The logo is a copy of sony vaio.

47-49k..many would still opt for hp,acer,dell,toshiba etc.

Jstar label looks terrible.

If i were the one in charge,in brief this is how I would do it:


-Define assembly processes required
-Get skilled labor which is in abundance across the country(Laptop repair technicians)
-Get supervisors.
-Load open source OS, applications, cutting the cost much lower.

it would be a bit disingenuous to compare the toyota assembly plant to what jkuat are doing or even what the guys at mobius are doing, the former keep their own brand while the rest are trying to create a local brand, it like saying because the iPhone is assembled in china its a Chinese product - the brand belongs to the Americans, and to the consumer its the end finished product that maters most.

Mageria no mo mahota(Keep trying you might make it)

At least they have done more than iHub.

Copying isn't evil.

BUT

We all know this will end up like Nyayo Car, Njumbiree have become experts at that.

Think positive. Someone copied someone and has the audacity to promote it. Reminds me of all the NYSE companies. Lets support and keep gov't out of it.

reminds me of Noris Kaboo, Kenya's first tablet.

First and last time heard in 2011 in similar hype

kenya's first tablet computer

When you set the bar so low for arguably some of the country's best brains, it's easy to see why Kenya is struggling to make the leap to a developing nation. Seriously, high school dropouts assemble laptops in River Road every day and they are probably better at it than the Juja boys.

Ideally, JKUAT should have MANUFACTURED the parts, some guy studying craft in a village polytechnic would have assembled the parts into a machine and then some guy in a college like Zetech or KIM would have been responsible for marketing the product. Still, even that system would be unable to compete with even the smallest global player in this space. In fact, this is such a cut throat space that even the likes of Sony, with all their expertise and resources, are struggling to gain traction.

All in all, JKUAT should kill this project ASAP. It's not viable and I'm even not sure if there is a University in the world that does this sort of thing. Sure, companies like Microsoft might work with Universities to develop new technology, but the role of the University normally starts and ends at the Research and Development stage, which, in my opinion, is what JKUAT should do -- develop/improve on the current computer technology and then sell or license their creation to the big players.