Mxit's new app is the first paving stone on the road to a new Mxit, as it seeks to deepen the smartphone experience and push into other emerging markets, with the aim of becoming bigger than Facebook.
The home-grown mobile social networking company this week unveiled Mxit 7, an app that reinvigorates its user interface, while aiming to drive deeper penetration into the growing smartphone market.
Mxit 7, already available for feature phones, is also from today available for iOS, downloadable from the Apple App store. This move will be followed by editions for Android and BlackBerry, and the Windows Phone app will land early next year.
The app takes the number of handsets that will support Mxit to more than 8 000 devices, including tablets. This is a substantial step up from its current feature phone-dominated presence, in which more than 3 000 simpler devices are supported.
Clarified focus
Mxit has been through a tough year. Although it has regrouped under a new leadership team - prompted by Alan Knott-Craig Jnr's sudden resignation last October - its user base has declined from 7.5 million monthly active users in February, to 7.4 million now.
Chief product officer Vincent Maher says Mxit 7 is the first step of many on the route to a new Mxit. He says the group has been focusing on creating an immersive chat experience that is tailored for each device, instead of the previous one-size-fits-all approach.
Its chairman, former FNB CEO Michael Jordaan, says the new apps "incorporate some really cool chat functionality and we hope to attract some of the users who migrated away from Mxit when they upgraded to smartphones".
Mxit's user base goes "up and down" and some people have left because previous versions for smartphones were not smart and did not blow users away.
Maher adds the previous app was designed for both feature and smart devices, and did not provide a smart experience.
CEO Francois Swart adds: "Mxit 7 is the result of our renewed focus on offering an affordable and rich chat experience that bridges the gap between feature and smartphone users. This is a significant rollout for us, but it is only the beginning - there is plenty of innovation to come."
The app is a bid to broaden Mxit's audience, adds Maher. "We're embracing the currently small smartphone market with a view to long-term growth." Locally, smartphones account for around 20% of all handsets in the market, based on Vodacom figures.
Jordaan says Mxit's new app evidences the crystallisation of its strategy, which had previously been less than clear. He adds for Mxit to grow, it needs to expand to all phone categories and tap into markets outside of SA.
The new smartphone app offers a "very significant" improvement on the user interface and adds functionality, says Jordaan. Smartphones currently make up 20% of Mxit's 7.4 million monthly active user base; a percentage that has grown from 15% eight months ago.
Although Jordaan concedes all smartphones should have been catered for two years ago, he says the 500 million people who will use a feature phone in the next three years in Africa is a huge opportunity for the company. "There is still a huge opportunity to grow a chat network in a segment that is largely ignored by the big boys."
Jordaan says Mxit wants its penetration to mirror that of smartphones in Africa - about 18% - and it is necessary to cater for users of all phone types. Emerging markets are seeing rapid adoption of the devices, and it makes no sense to lose customers simply because they are migrating to a new handset, he comments.
Creating a base
Maher says Mxit went back to basics with its new app and now has a "great foundation to build on". He explains 2013 was a year for product development and preparing for a "big rollout" outside of South Africa, which includes localising apps, and creating them in different languages. "We have put energy into internationalisation of the app."
Maher notes Mxit 7 took nine months to plan and develop. As part of that process, it "totally redefined" its software development methodology and philosophy, which has prepared it for the push into the smartphone world.
Jordaan says Mxit's development team has invested in simplifying functionality around the core strategy of the business, which is chat. "It is fair to say the past strategy was a bit confusing, but now it is based on creating an immersive chat experience to younger users in emerging markets. The clean new user interface reflects the strategic clarity."
The next crucial test is the launch of the iOS app today and the Android app in the next few weeks, notes Jordaan.
New territories
Maher says embracing new device types is one part of Mxit's growth strategy, and the other is to roll out in new territories such as India. Although the company will not be drawn on specific Indian plans, a launch in English and Hindi is mooted for early next year.
Mxit has named territories such as Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe and Tanzania as key growth destinations. Maher notes South Africa is still its biggest market, with 6.5 million subscribers, but it is gaining traction in Nigeria.
Jordaan says Mxit will take what it learns from India to refine its country-by-country rollout plan. Maher adds Mxit wants to be "lean and agile in new territories" and aims to be bigger than Facebook in emerging markets.
Last month, the SA Social Media Landscape 2014 research study, released by World Wide Worx and Fuseware, showed Mxit has been supplanted in South Africa by Facebook, but succeeded in maintaining the loyalty of its user base.
Big potential
Fred Roed, CEO and creative director of digital marketing company World Wide Creative, says the past year has not been one of enforced slumber for Mxit, but rather a strategic break. He says the network has been busy with its app and on making plans to grow its user base.
Roed notes Mxit is "making a lot of positive noises" and the current team is getting down to implementing a growth plan. It had previously been criticised for the lack of a clear vision, and for a user interface that was poor, but is now fixing these aspects, he adds.
Countries such as India, Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya offer huge growth potential, says Roed. "South Africa needs a strong social network that we can call our own."
Inside Mxit 7
Key aspects for feature phone users:
* Groups: Create groups, chat with multiple friends, and share photos and sound clips.
* Chat tabs: Switch across multiple group and private chats.
* Richer profiles: Profiles on feature phones look better with larger cover images and extended profile information.
* Offline messages: Feature phonesthat support push notifications will now receive offline chat messages.
* Automatic upgrades: Users will be informed when new versions of Mxit become available, bringing this traditional smartphone feature to lower-end phones.
* Data light: Mxit 7 uses less data and is lighter on memory usage than previous versions.
Key features for iPhone and iPad users:
* New for iOS 7: Mxit for iOS 7 has a "crisp and simple" new look and is one of the only chat apps native to Apple's newest operating system.
* Backdrop: Drop photos from Photo Stream into the background of any chat window.
* Doodlechat: Draw picture doodles on the screen or on photos and share them in chats with friends and groups. Friends can add their own doodles to the picture.
* Voicechat: Quickly and easily record and send audio voice clips and messages in chat.
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