Phone makers jostle to expand $1bn mobile app market

Ben Uzor Jr

               

Foreign phone manufacturers are looking to step up engagement with the local applications development community in the New Year to harness Nigeria’s pool of talent in order to create relevant apps and content that would expand their respective market share, analysts have said. The Nigerian mobile app market, according to them, is valued at about $1 billion. Phone manufacturers are interested in establishing direct ties with local application developers as competition in Nigeria’s smartphone market heats up, analysts told Benuzorreports. “This year, Samsung will have greater engagement with local apps developers. “We will further strengthen our engagement with Co-Creation HUB (CCHUB).

“We will hold quarterly app developers forum. We will also have apps contest and provide SDK tool kits for developers”, Emmanouil Revmatas, business head (hand held), Samsung Electronics West Africa, told Benuzorreports. Samsung’s partnership with CCHUB, BusinessDay gathered is already bearing fruits as a new mobile app called ‘Efiko’ which helps students prepare for JAMB is expected to be launched this quarter. Other phone makers such as Nokia, Apple, Blackberry, Huawei, Google, Microsoft will all be engaging in similar activities in 2013. These, according to industry analysts, are all geared towards galvanising local talent to innovate and create content in order to meet the growing demands of smartphone users.

Besides, the Federal Government also sees the potential of software applications development as a viable platform for wealth creation. The Ministry of Communications Technology has already set up a $15 million Information Technology (IT) innovation fund to encourage local IT business ventures and content developers. Benuzorreports had earlier reported that the Nigerian private sector was showing keen interest in the venture fund. But more importantly, the launch of new mobile Operating Systems (OS) such as the Windows 8 platform which Nokia’s range of Lumia devices is riding on and the much anticipated Blackberry 10 is throwing up fresh opportunities for local app developers to create locally relevant content for the Nigerian market.

Chinese phone maker, Huawei and Microsoft, on Tuesday launched a new Windows Phone for the African continent, called ‘Huawei 4Afrika’. Gustavo Fuchs, director, Mobility Windows Phone, Microsoft Middle East & Africa, told Benuzorreports in Lagos that the mobile device comes with custom applications designed by local African developers for Africa. He said Microsoft believes that will make people switch from cheap feature phones. “We will continue our engagement with the local apps development community to create solutions that add value to the lives of Nigerians”, he said.

With the launch of the BlackBerry 10 platform, Blackberry is looking to claw back its way to the top of the smartphone market. One of the strategies of achieving this goal, according to market watchers, will be through mobile apps. Last year, the Canadian phone maker organised a Blackberry 10 developers conference to assist developers build businesses on the new platform.

“Blackberry 10 offers new opportunities for developers”, Martin Ficke, senior product lead, Africa for Blackberry, told Benuzorreports at a demo session. With applications developers earning 50 percent to 70 percent of the retail price via the app-store platforms of Apple, Google, Nokia, Blackberry, Windows, incubating innovations of young developers could have significant multiplier effect domestically.

“Nigeria has a thriving and growing mobile software start-up scene with a lot of potential for growth”, Teemu Kiijarvi, head of ecosystem and development experience at Nokia Corporation, said.