Orange has unveiled the Alcatel One Touch Pixi 2 smartphone, with the operator saying the affordable device is designed specifically to respond to the preference for Alcatel devices in the African and Middle East markets.
Orange said its Alcatel One Touch Pixi device sold over 250,000 units within six months of its launch predominantly in Sub-Saharan Africa, with one in five smartphones sold by Orange in the region being an Alcatel device.
On this basis, Orange has launched the new Alcatel One Touch Pixi 2, bringing an affordable smartphone, mobile internet access and numerous pre-loaded features to the African market.
“Alcatel One Touch is proud to be launching the Alcatel One Touch Pixi 2 with Orange, bringing the benefits of mobile internet available to even more consumers around the world,” said Dr George Guo, chief executive officer (CEO) of TCL Communication Technology, which created the device.
“With our strategic partner Orange, we are committed to help everyone to explore and to create more in their daily lives.”
The Pixi 2 is available in Cameroon, Egypt, Kenya, Madagascar, and Senegal as of today, and will be rolled out to further countries in the coming weeks including Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Niger, Republic of Central Africa, and Tunisia.
The new device is a 3G Android Jellybean 4.2 smartphone with a 3.5-inch screen, a dual-core 1.0 GHz processor, 2GB of memory and 512 MB of RAM. The phone weighs 100 grams and is 10.5mm thick.
The Pixi 2 retails from US$60, and comes with a range of data, voice and SMS offers.
“The smartphone landscape is rapidly changing – with high quality smartphones becoming increasingly affordable and accessible,” said Yves Maitre, executive vice president, Connected Objects and Partnerships at Orange.
“At Orange we continue to make the internet more accessible to our customers in Africa and the Middle East by providing the best phones and tablets, on the best networks, with localised content and services at a price that is accessible for even more of our customers.”
