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Jongla sets sights on Africa's IM users

Simnikiwe Mzekandaba
By Simnikiwe Mzekandaba, IT in government editor
Johannesburg, 01 Jul 2016
Jongla says its social messaging app can help people across the continent save money and reduce their data costs.
Jongla says its social messaging app can help people across the continent save money and reduce their data costs.

Finnish start-up Jongla believes its data-light instant messaging (IM) app not only helps people save money and data, but will also challenge other messaging apps operating in the African market.

In a statement, Jongla noted its data compression techniques mean it does not consume as much mobile data as other messaging apps for essential background processes.

Riku Salminen, CEO of Jongla, stated: "Jongla remains very economical in terms of data usage and the cost related to this. From download to daily use, Jongla saves people money. According to our studies, Jongla uses 80% less data compared to Viber and 25% less data compared to Facebook Messenger when you use it. It makes all the difference for people living in countries where data is expensive."

Stronghold

Established in 2009, Jongla was founded by entrepreneur Arto Boman.

The company describes itself as a start-up specialising in device- and platform-independent mobile messaging. The social messaging app is available on Android, Google Play, Windows Phone Store and Firefox.

In April, Jongla launched its social messenger app in Africa, which is specifically developed for people living and working on the continent, where data costs are high and coverage is unreliable.

According to the company, the social messenger app differs from other IM apps as it takes 3.4MB to download on Android phones, compared to WhatsApp's 23.7MB, Facebook Messenger's 30.2MB and more than 20MB for most other messaging apps.

Jongla enables users to send and receive unlimited free text messages, stickers, photos, videos and funny voice messages over the Internet using low-speed WiFi networks as well as 3G, 4G, EDGE and GPRS.

The app, however, has entered an already saturated market, which is dominated by WhatsApp, while platforms like WeChat and Viber are also gaining ground.

Earlier this year, WhatsApp announced it had one billion monthly active users of the service. In SA, there are 10 million WhatsApp users, according to the SA Social Media Landscape 2015 report.

According to Thecla Mbongue, senior research analyst at Ovum, WhatsApp's key growth driver in Africa was from an early stage, there were partnerships with device manufacturers and operators to have the app preloaded on handsets. Then mobile network operators also launched specific WhatsApp data bundles.

She says: "WhatsApp has always been marketed as a cost-effective app and this was appealing to the low-end consumer markets that prevail in Africa. Viber usage on a handset was an extension of an app aiming at desktop computer users.

"WeChat marketed itself at a later stage in Africa, at a time where WhatsApp was dominant, and has so far not differentiated itself in a specific way, except maybe for WeChat Wallet, a financial service launched in partnership with Standard Bank in SA. However, the e-wallet segment in SA is already strongly marketed and served by the local banks, such as FNB and Absa," she adds.

"Low data consumption can indeed be a key asset for Jongla; however, it will take strong differentiators as well as innovative marketing and partnerships to challenge WhatsApp," Mbongue notes.

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