Kenyan TV manufacturer Vision Plus has announced a new partnership with global smart TV software developer Whale OS, in a deal that will see AI-powered entertainment systems rolled out across locally made televisions all over the country.
The agreement between the two companies has positioned Vision Plus as the first East African brand to ship TV’s powered by the Whale OS. The operating system already runs on ten million devices globally, but this marks its first entry into locally assembled Kenyan hardware.
For Vision Plus, they will integrate this platform into TVs produced at the Tatu City Special Economic Zone, strengthening its push as “Made in Kenya” electro OCS brand recognised by KEPROVA(Kenya Exports Promotion Branding Agency).
The company’s managing director, Umesh Bhojwani, said that this move is informed by the changing consumer behaviour in Kenya’s TV markets, whereby buyers are increasingly prioritising performance, stability and long-term software support over the common basic TV features.
According to the internal insights shared by the company, more than 90% of households surveyed rank app performance and consistent updates as the key purchase drivers. At the same time, gaming and high-quality visuals are also seen becoming a prominent use case, with over half of the consumers allegedly using their TV’s for gaming and roughly 52% valuing display quality for sports, movies and entertainment.
Whale OS delivers an AI-driven smart TV interface that includes access to whale TV+, a free layer giving hundreds of live channels and thousands of on-demand titles without requiring any sort of subscriptions or registration. The platform is now positioned as an alternative to fragment small TV ecosystems that often largely rely on third-party app shops.
The system has also been certified for key streaming sites, including YouTube, Netflix and Prime Video, providing full HD and 4K viewing across supported devices.
Beyond the content offered, Whale OS has integrated an advertising layer that powers free streaming while opening up targeted TV-based advertising opportunities for brands. Vision Plus says that this will create a three-sided ecosystem, which includes the hardware from the local assembly, free entertainment for consumers and a new high visibility channel for advertisers in Kenyan living rooms.
Vision Plus and Whale OS have also highlighted that continuous software updates and security patches are a core feature, which is aimed at extending the device’s lifespan and reducing the typical “Smart TV obsolescence” cycle seen in many low and mid-range devices.
For Vision Plus, this partnership signals a shift towards software-led hardware differentiation in Kenya’s consumer electronics market, where competition has largely been driven by pricing rather than the ecosystem experience.
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