Microsoft has partnered with Kagiso Media to launch a localized version of MSN in Nigeria. The company made the announcement recently at a media conference, explaining the impact it would have on digital news distribution in Nigeria.
Speaking at the media conference, Microsoft’s Acting Country Manager, Awawu Olumide-Sojinrin said, “The MSN Nigeria portal features the trademark MSN homepage dedicated to Nigerian news, sports, lifestyle, entertainment and weather as well as links to other Microsoft-related services such as Bing, Outlook and Skype.”
According to Justin Dewhirst, Area Executive Producer, CEE & MEA, Apps Media & Publishing Microsoft, “MSN is about bringing contents together in one portal and Kagiso has built the expertise for great experiences on the Windows operating system.
“MSN is accessible on personal computers (PC), smartphones and feature phones. He reiterated that MSN Nigeria is a way to synchronize great people with great technology in the process of building a greater content experience.”
Also, Dele Akinsade, Director Developer Platform Evangelist, West, East and Central Africa Microsoft said that “MSN Nigeria syndicates local news in Nigeria from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), as well as publishers such as BangShowbiz. It also features dedicated pages for news (national, African and world news), sports (local and world sports news), entertainment (local and global celebrity entertainment news) and lifestyle (including fashion, travel, tech & gadgets, motoring).”
Marcus Stephens, General Manager- Publishing, Kagiso Media added: “Kagiso Media has been partnering with Microsoft since 2010 to share the vision for building communities with local talent content providers. There is a growing hunger for localised content across Africa as undersea cables, mobile broadband and falling Internet access costs bring more people online. We aim to address this need with the same formula of locally relevant, easy to digest content that we offer our audience in South Africa.”
Microsoft has reported that Windows Live Hotmail has over 800,000 users and Windows Messenger has 820,000 active users in Nigeria.
