The products, designed by Congolese entrepreneur Verone Mankou, are manufactured in China.

 

His company VMK's devices run Google's Android software. They will retail² at $170 for the smartphone and $300 for the tablet.

 

"Only Africans can know what Africa needs," said Mr Mankou at the Tech4Africa conference in Johannesburg.

 

"Apple is huge in the US, Samsung is huge in Asia, and we want VMK to be huge in Africa."

 

Technology blog Smartplanet reports that the tablet offers wi-fi connectivity and four gigabytes of internal storage. Its name, Way-C, means "the light of the stars" in the local Lingala language.

 

The smartphone has rear and forward facing cameras and a 3.5in (8.9cm) screen.

 

There are plans to sell the devices across 10 other West African countries as well as Belgium, France and India.

 

Mr Mankou said he hoped to launch a cheaper tablet for students next year.

First?

 

The devices will come up against several already well-established and popular brands.

 

Most notably³, Blackberry-maker Research in Motion (RIM) has a significant presence on the continent, despite flagging sales in the western market.

 

Popular too are handsets from Nokia which is working closely with Facebook to grow African's interest in both mobile communication and social networking.

 

However, there is an increasing desire among African communities to support homegrown products, spurred on by fledgling（无经验的人） technology scenes in various cities across the region.

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