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Top five African mobile stats

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 17 Apr 2015
Apple's iPhone is the device of choice among Jovago.com's customers in Africa.
Apple's iPhone is the device of choice among Jovago.com's customers in Africa.

The penetration of mobile in Africa has been on a steep incline over the past few years - largely thanks to the proliferation of feature phones. Now that smartphones are becoming more predominant, it is mobile data traffic that is predicted to increase exponentially.

Jovago.com - an African online hotel booking service founded by Africa Internet Group and backed by investors MTN and Millicom - has rounded up a handful of "top fives" across its African operations. Findings are based on the company's 20 000 local hotel listings across Africa.

Top five smartphones: Apparently, Steve Job's legacy lives on, says Jovago, as the iPhone is the favourite device of its customers across Africa.

1. iPhone
2. BlackBerry qwerty phones
3. Samsung Galaxy S4
4. BlackBerry Z10
5. Samsung Galaxy S3

Top five mobile browsers: Since most affordable mobile devices run the Android operating system, Google Chrome is the most used mobile browser among Jovago.com users.

1. Google Chrome (55%)
2. Apple's Safari browser (20%)
3. Opera Mini (13%)
4. BlackBerry (9%)
5. Internet Explorer (3%)

Mobile phone penetration in Africa: In 2011, only 3% of the 500 million mobile phones in circulation were smartphones, says Africa Internet Group.

1. 2011 saw a ratio of 3% smartphones to 97% feature phones.
2. In 2015, this ratio is 15% smartphones to 85% feature phones.
3. 2018 is expected to see smartphones in Africa rise to 33% (67% feature phones).

Mobile payments in Africa: Africa Internet Group says: "More and more, mobile payments are being used to relieve mobile consumers of the stress of queuing at a bank to make payments."

The countries with the most mobile payment activity, in descending order, are:

1. Kenya (68%)
2. Uganda (50%)
3. South Africa (29%)
4. Senegal (24%)
5. Nigeria (13%)

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