South Africa leads in mobile application downloads in the sub-Saharan Africa market as consumers in Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya race to catch up, says an international organisation.<\/p>\n
The GSM Association (GSMA) revealed in its ‘Mobile Economy Report for Sub-Saharan Africa 2015’ report – which was released in Cape Town this week – that as mobile broadband penetration increases, consumers are turning to mobile apps.<\/p>\n
\u201cSocial networking and instant messaging apps from global internet players are very popular among smartphone users in the region,\u201d the GSMA said.<\/p>\n
According to market tracker App Annie, WhatsApp is the top downloaded application in SA, followed by Facebook Messenger, Facebook and Instagram.<\/p>\n
However, the growth in smartphones has spurred a local industry that is racing to build relevant applications.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is growing interest from local consumers in home-grown apps. Several popular local apps have originated from South Africa and Nigeria, and are now gaining traction in other countries in the region,\u201d said the GSMA.<\/p>\n
As more people use applications, the GSMA expects e-commerce in sub-Saharan Africa to expand rapidly.<\/p>\n
\u201cMobile commerce will be central to the evolution of the digital commerce market in Sub-Saharan Africa, as the majority of internet users in the region will access the web through mobile devices.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mobile operators and brick and mortar retailers in SA have moved to take advantage of the expansion of mobile e-commerce or m-commerce.<\/p>\n
Vodacom [JSE:VOD] and MTN [JSE:MTN] are promoting their mobile money platforms and retailers such as Shoprite [JSE:SHP], Pick n Pay [JSE:PWK] and Massmart [JSE:MSM]-owned Game and Makro are actively pushing consumers to use their e-commerce enabled platforms.<\/p>\n
While mobile is expected to connect 518 million people in sub-Saharan Africa by 2020, the GSMA warned that significant barriers to adoption still exist.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite the significant progress, six out of ten people in the region will still be unconnected by 2020, with sub-Saharan Africa continuing to lag well behind the global average.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fin24<\/a><\/p>\n South Africa is the second worst country in the world for gun deaths<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nMore on South Africa<\/h3>\n