Browse one of the big-name app stores today and you're likely to find everything from celebrity quizzes to games for your cat, with every weird and wonderful variant in between.
But while these apps may seem blazingly popular, they service only a small slice of the global population, while apps that could meet the essential needs of billions receive far less attention. This is changing as governments, NGOs and entrepreneurs realise the value of humanitarian-focused mobile applications, although they're still far from producing the kind of buzz Instagram and its ilk generate, both among developers and funders.
Fortunately, the explosive growth of mobile technologies in the developing world is fuelling increased interest in more meaningful apps. At last year's World Summit on the Information Society Forum, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon emphasised the role of ICTs in accelerating socio-economic development, given their potential to help deliver basic services to the remotest of areas. “Through e-learning, e-health, e-government, climate monitoring and more, today's and tomorrow's technologies will help bring the Millennium Development Goals within reach,” he said.
The need for apps that speak to specific regional issues is also driving a wave of locally-developed solutions, with innovators across developing countries making use of mobile technologies to meet pressing needs.
Less than 1% of phones in SA are iPhones, and of those users, how many are your customers?
David Prosser, ComUnity
David Prosser, MD of mobile services platform ComUnity, notes there's huge potential in Africa, where more people have access to mobile phones than to clean water. “The apps that are really relevant in Africa are those that service basic needs, such as education, safety and security, financial services, and connecting communities.”
He adds that people need to think of 'mobile' not in terms of devices, networks, or platforms, but in the context of people and services.
“The mobile infrastructure is here - mobile penetration is high and keeps growing. Now we have to figure out how to deliver those services to everybody.”
In SA, says Prosser, many companies focus their app development exclusively on the high-end market, neglecting a potentially significant audience. “Less than 1% of phones in SA are iPhones, and of those users, how many are your customers?”
Clickatell MD Pieter de Villiers agrees, noting that while smartphone sales continue to climb, two-thirds of handsets sold in 2011 were not smartphones. ”The reality is that the majority of people in Africa still use feature phones. There are almost six billion mobile subscriptions worldwide, according to the ITU, yet only 16% of these are linked to smartphones,” he says, citing IDC figures. “In Africa itself, smartphone penetration is only at 5%.”
Prosser believes South African Internet services companies aren't fully unlocking the value of the Web for the country and continent's consumers. “The only way people in Africa will experience the power of the Internet on mobile is through applications, because browsing isn't really a common activity.”
In terms of the digital economy, says Prosser, Africa has been left behind, with a huge proportion of the global market remaining unreached. “Four billion people are not touched by multinational companies. Yet, a mass market infrastructure already exists in Africa, in the form of cellphones.”
He adds that behind the device is what business really wants to connect with - people.
“We need to look at how to serve people; how to create value for individuals and app developers and companies.” And much of this value will revolve around rural development, primary education, healthcare and agriculture, says Prosser; primary needs which have to be met before people can start engaging fully in entrepreneurship and growing the economy.
In this sphere, several enterprising groups have already spotted the gap. Kenyan company M-Farm, for example, offers real-time market prices for crops in various regions, matching farmers with buyers. As many don't have access to the Internet, the app allows them to send an SMS to get information about the retail price of their products, find a ready market for their goods, and buy farm inputs directly from manufacturers.
Healthy app-etite
Of the numerous development apps being explored, those linked to healthcare are among the most promising.
According to the Global Health Workforce Alliance, while sub-Saharan Africa contains 11% of the world's population, it carries 24% of the global disease burden, is home to only 3% of the world's health workers, and accounts for less than 1% of global health expenditures. At the same time, the market for healthcare is expected to double by 2016, going up to $35 billion.
A recent UN report on m-health for development notes that mobile technology has the potential to transform the approach to healthcare challenges in the developing world. Examples include enabling health workers to provide real-time information and diagnoses in rural areas, collecting and storing patient data, or monitoring patient adherence to treatments for chronic diseases.
WelTel, for instance, provides SMS-based messaging to monitor and support antiretroviral (ARV) therapy in Kenya. This programme is estimated to have raised ARV patients' adherence to their treatment regimens by 25%.
People - in particular the growing middle classes - are becoming more aspirational.
Pieter de Villiers, Clickatell
The UN report says business models are springing up as innovation sweeps through even the most resource-deprived countries. But Wesley Lynch, founder and CEO of e-business platform provider Realmdigital, says the problem comes in trying to monetise solutions.
“We're making solid use of SMS to reach the masses, but it's very difficult to get money out of a low-income user base. As people enter these environments they need to learn and understand the rules of the emerging market.”
All about the money
One of the success stories so far in terms of services delivery via mobile has been the financial sector, with solutions like M-Pesa bringing transaction and money transfer capabilities to millions of unbanked citizens.
A team from the World Bank is building a Global Financial Inclusion Database, which analyses the way adults in 148 economies bank, save and manage risk. The latest findings show three-quarters of the world's poor don't have a bank account, not only due to poverty but because of the cost, travel distance, and amount of paperwork involved.
De Villiers notes that mobile banking can help relieve the significant 'pain points' associated with traditional banking, lessening the need for expensive and bricks-and-mortar infrastructure, and allowing users to bank anywhere as long as they can access a mobile phone. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 16% of adults use mobile money, and a 2011 KPMG study found 83% of respondents believe mobile payments will become mainstream in four years.
Everyone's favourite case study, Kenya's M-Pesa, registered four million accounts in its first two years, and the number now stands at over 15 million - roughly 60% of the adult population. By allowing users to perform transactions such as depositing and withdrawing money, transferring cash to others, and paying bills via their cellphone, it has transformed life for many citizens, and demonstrated the value of such services in the developing world.
According to De Villiers, Africa is leading mobile payment initiatives and deployments globally. “There are 117 mobile money deployments (according to the GSMA) globally at the moment with another 88 planned in the next 12 to 18 months.” He points to Juniper Research predictions that mobile banking is expected to grow into a $22 billion industry across Africa by 2015.
“Africa's mobile operators and banks have been quick to realise that while 60% of Africa's population has no access to formal banking facilities, over 50% of the adult population in Africa have access to a mobile phone, which makes the move to mobile banking a natural transition.”
He adds that emerging markets in general are viable markets when it comes to mobile financial services. “These societies are predominantly cash-based, and people - in particular the growing middle classes - are becoming more aspirational. They want to transact with brands and their disposable income is increasing.”
This growing uptake is also likely to drive innovation and customisation in the mobile banking space, says De Villiers. “Currently, those banks that do provide mobile banking apps have one mobile app for all of their customers. However, 2012 will see an increase in customised banking apps that are tailored to the needs of a specific customer group.”
De Villiers adds, however, that all emerging mobile technologies are faced with the challenges of educating consumers, lowering data costs, and aligning technologies to standards for interoperability.
“We see a collaborative mobile payments success story in Africa provided that interoperability is prized. If the mobile network operators, banks and retailers in Africa want to succeed in offering an alternative to cash, then broad-based collaboration and interoperability will be non-negotiable.”
In addition, De Villiers expects the adoption of mobile banking and payment services will transform lives in Africa, not only by connecting impoverished masses to the infrastructure of the digital economy, but also by enabling Africans to become digital producers and innovators.
For Prosser, this is explained by Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Once the basics like food, shelter and health are secure, people can begin branching out into other areas of economic and social life, he says. Using the mobile Web to facilitate basic services delivery remains one of the biggest and most untapped opportunities in society today, notes Prosser.
He compares the Internet to an iceberg, explaining that all the attention is focused on the small section above the surface, while beneath stretches a colossal bulk of under-served people in the developing world - unseen and untouched by the power of the Web.
Prosser believes the innovation being concentrated at the top will eventually filter down into apps delivering useful services to the masses. “We need to get real about delivering basic services. This is a phenomenal channel for service delivery and more emotional applications such as connecting people to their families and friends via social media.
“It's a massive opportunity and we can't delay. The Internet needs to become like water - gentle but also extremely powerful.”
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