12 November 2014

Developing the digital ecosystem in Africa

Submitted by: MyPressportal Team

Calling all application developers, now is one’s chance to play one’s part in shaping the future of Africa. AfricApps at AfricaCom 2014 is once again the meeting place for the Apps World to congregate, swap stories and share key learnings as well as get a handle on where the future revenue opportunities are.

Whether for commercial gain or social awareness, Apps have become part of everyone’s everyday language. It wasn’t that long ago that companies were looked down on if they didn’t have a website. Then social media entered the landscape and business was required to create direct interfaces with their audiences through mediums such as Facebook and Twitter. Now it is the turn of the App to take business and shape it. If companies do not have an ‘app’ they are considered to be out of touch while socially-minded organisations are coming to rely on Apps as their interface with their audiences, delivering up to the date news on politics, reminders on health prescriptions and information the weather and apps for how and when to use services and so much more.

This is made all the more relevant with the fact that smartphones are becoming cheaper by the minute. Therefore, the growth opportunities for the development sector are huge as pretty soon, the majority of people will be living their lives through their mobile devices and requiring all manner of app services and products to keep them going. But how to get them to market and to derive an income from all this creative technological genius are just two of the questions being asked by developers.
 
Interesting solutions to payment options for Africa’s largely unbanked communities are also heavily influencing and shaping the apps market – opening gateways for developers to speak to more people and charge for their services – economies of scale often directly allowing developers to benefit.

One of the current influencers shaping the Apps market is the rise of Cloud, which has become a central issue to developers. AfricApps, co-located with AfricaCom, is the only event, which showcases case studies from leading African developers, telcos, OEMs, brands, app stores and social media platforms. AfricApps is focused on the future of Africa’s digital economy, and is one of the most significant opportunities of its kind in the region for developers and would-be developers to meet all the leading figures from the community.