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Africa a leader in app use

By Loyiso Lindani, Editorial Assistant
Johannesburg, 17 Apr 2013

Africa leads in the use of innovative smartphone apps that have not been used in America and Europe.

This is according to "The Mind of a Fox" author Clem Sunter, speaking at the NetApp Agile Data Infrastructure summit, held in Johannesburg recently.

According to Sunter, in the next five years, there will be an increase in the use of smartphones to access applications in Africa, which will change the current use of mobile devices.

"It's no longer about the smartest device out there but about applications. One of the things that businesses should understand is that credit cards shall be a thing of the past, as consumers will be able to make payments with their mobile devices," says Sunter.

"The reason those types of apps are big is that they are safe for the consumer and add revenue to the business. Africa is a world leader in the use of smartphone applications," Sunter said, making reference to the use and success of the Mpesa application in Kenya.

"Most businesses in Africa use applications daily; look at how successful the Nigerian film industry is. They are able to film movies with their tablets and share them.

"There are hair salons that use apps that superimpose hairstyles on an image of the customer; therefore the customer is able to know what they will look like and whether they will like the hairstyle before it is physically done," he added.

"The key for businesses is to have a new product, build a strong brand and be the cheaper alternative."

Also speaking at the event was Mike Styer, technology and strategy country manager at NetApp SA, who echoed Sunter's sentiment.

"We see SA as an IT hub in Africa in the future and we're looking to develop that emerging market as we have identified that many companies are poised to take that next step that will lead them to evolution through cloud adoption and an increase in app use," said Styer.

"The company is looking at the evolution of cloud as a service, as we've identified that there aren't a lot of options available in terms of costs and different speeds. The numbers are huge, which indicates there is an appetite for services in the market while the number of risk takers remains small," he added.

"We're definitely seeing a shift in the market and we're constantly looking for ways to extract value from information. So we may keep Africa in the lead when it comes to access to information and use of applications, with a particular interest in increasing SME adoption of cloud," Matt Watts, NetApp director, concluded.

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