Despite exponential growth in the South African mobile telecommunications sector, the market is still dominated by feature phones.
OnePixel COO Nicholas Rixon hopes that less-costly smartphones will be released to the market in the next few years, allowing the majority of citizens to benefit from this technology. "This would allow more people to browse the Internet, gain access to mobile apps that could help them in everyday life, and enable them to communicate with friends and family using cheaper methods, like WhatsApp or WeChat," he explains.
According to Rixon, the South African mobile market is fragmented in terms of devices and the operating systems that support them. BlackBerry's free data plans, BBM service and affordable device range make it a popular offering in SA, but Samsung and Apple are coming up with new strategies to chip away at the Canadian brand's market share, says Rixon. "All this makes for a very interesting future mobile landscape that could bring smart capability phones to more people."
He describes the move towards using mobile devices as wallets or money-transferring devices as a "hot topic".
"The race is on to see which technology will emerge as the de facto money-exchange method in the mobile space. The success of the M-Pesa mobile-phone-based money-transfer service in Kenya has pushed other African countries to adopt mobile as a valid means of banking the unbanked." In SA, says Rixon, the mobile wallet space has matured, thanks to specialised apps and near field communication (NFC).
"Right now, only a limited number of smartphones have NFC built in, but the next generation of smartphones will have the technology included internally," says Rixon, predicting that NFC will change how users interact with retailers and will revolutionise customer engagement.
Rixon also notes that location-based services (LBS) have the potential to offer real value. "Users can make use of LBS to discover new, interesting places close by, locate retail specials, and make contact with friends and family nearby," says Rixon, adding that LBS allows brands to make direct contact with users who frequent certain areas and provide them with tailored offers.
"Overall, the expected growth in the smartphone market in the coming months and years will have a positive impact on people's lives by allowing them to browse, bank, communicate, connect and shop more effectively."
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