Lots of software development is happening in Kenya spurred by the innovation of mobile money transfer services M-Pesa and Zap and and a significant increase in the number of Internet users connecting primarily through mobile phones.
It is debatable whether mobile phone networks have the capacity to deliver Internet services so that users no longer require computers; netbooks, laptops or the desktops. Going by the prediction my old lecturer, an old school telecommunications veteran, made in 2003 that the delivery of Internet services using mobile phone networks was not viable. I do not think we have much to fear. Network developers will deliver the mother of all clouds!
If the statistics that there are more mobile phone users in the developing world than in the developed world. That the fastest growing mobile phone market is Africa. Then software developers in Africa are now in a very unfamiliar position. They are on the cutting edge. They have the opportunity to drive the next steps in the provision of Internet services. The software developers of Africa need to be very bold, dream big and push ahead to meet the great need that exists on the continent of Africa. They must resist the mother of all temptations to look to the West or East for ideas or models; they will be well served to focus on the needs in the huge African market.
PesaPal is a new online payment service that is receiving rave reviews and I applaud them on developing this service. That said, let me play the devils advocate and ask a few questions. Who is this service aimed for? Those that cannot get Paypal in Kenya? Will Kenyan's be willing to pay more to a middleman to be verified? Payments can already be made from the customer to the merchant using M-Pesa or Zap. The merchants can receive payments on their mobile phone wallets, unlike credit card holders that required Paypal to accept funds then then transfer them to their bank accounts.
Easy Travel Point on the Safaricom Live portal enables travel bookings to be made and then integrates the payment using M-Pesa on the website. I have not tested this service from the browser of a mobile phone but hope that this is available. This is a Bernsoft service.
Kenya Airways have released a version of their website for mobile phone browsers . It provides great services. The url is also very catchy! Well done Kenya Airways! They have struggled in the past with their website but are now doing very well.
This is a great time to be a software developer in Africa!
No comments:
Post a Comment