But since Apple already dominates smart-phone sales through existingpartners, "sooner rather than later, Apple is going to have to look to find incremental distribution, " said Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi.
The 4Afrika Initiative will be tightly connected to Microsoft's network of more than 10, 000 existingpartners in Africa today, a network it has built through more than 20 years of investing and operating in the continent.
Winkler added that his company's now offering its 4ft x 4ft "Liquipods" for shops that want to provide the Liquipel treatment themselves, but it'll be a while before all existingpartners -- mostly outside the US -- can be upgraded to 2.0.