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WeChat looks to Africa

Joanne Carew
By Joanne Carew, ITWeb Cape-based contributor.
Johannesburg, 02 Jul 2013
The messaging application features a strong privacy component.
The messaging application features a strong privacy component.

With more than 400 million users across the globe and 195 million active monthly users, WeChat is now setting its sights on Africa.

"This application is big and it's growing really fast," said WeChat's MD for SA, Brett Loubser, in an interview with ITWeb. "The rate of growth has been phenomenal. The last 100 million users were added in just one quarter," he said.

Produced by Tencent just over two years ago, he described the application as a mobile social communication platform. According to Loubser, WeChat combines voice, video, photo and text sharing functionality.

The app offers person-to-person and brand communication, as well as a social feed, essentially combining elements of Whatsapp, Facebook and Twitter in a single environment, he said.

How it differs from other messaging platforms is that it features a strong privacy component. "The privacy of our users was built in as part of the design to ensure a great user experience," he said, adding that there appears to be a trend towards increased privacy on social networks. Loubser added that WeChat's 'Hold to Talk' feature - which allows for easy voice note sending - and the applications animated emoticons have proven to be incredibly popular among users.

Originally only available to Chinese users, an English version of the application was made available in April 2012. Five months ago, the brand started its move into Africa, which Loubser is spearheading from a South African base via an aggressive marketing strategy.

"We are extremely enthusiastic about WeChat's prospects for growth in Africa," he said. "The fact that WeChat is a free service equipped with unparalleled voice, video, photo and text sharing functionality bodes well for its continued progress on the continent."

In a market where many people are still using feature phones, Loubser believes that they have a large enough smartphone user base to start their drive on the continent.

"Smartphone costs are dropping, data costs are dropping; we are moving very quickly into an environment where more and more people will have smartphones." A valid sentiment as the IDC reported in March that for the first time, global smartphone shipments are forecast to exceed feature phone shipments in 2013.

"Our mobile phones are the most personal piece of technology we have ever had. That is why mobile-based applications are so popular and will continue to be popular for some time."

WeChat is available on iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Symbian and BlackBerry.

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