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This article was published on May 8, 2011

The future of Mobile in Africa


The future of Mobile in Africa

There is an interesting presentation on Slide Share chronicling thoughts on the future of mobile in Africa in 2020 by various African experts. The presentation was co-curated by Rudy De Waele of M-trends, Erik Hersman of Ushahidi and Ken Banks of Kiwanja.net.

Some of the thought leaders featured include Nathan Eagle of Txteagle (who we recently featured on TNW Africa), Bright Simmons of mPedigree among others.

Here are some interesting predictions cited in the slides:

Afrooglethe first wave of companies, born, bred and built in the sub-Saharan Africa context will emerge with innovative solutions to African problems, doing it more effectively than foreign competitors…

– Eric Cantor, Director- Applab

The “mobile money” service will become Africa’s version of the “credit card” for online payments…

-Gerald Bagumisa, CTO & Managing Director, Yo! Uganda

Android phones continue to increase their market penetration until a sub $50 Android is the most popular handset in Africa…

– Gustav Praekelt, C.E.O. Praekelt

Increased attempts by carriers to bring mobile content product & services development in-house, thus significantly reversing the current situation of independent innovators leading the space of mobile innovation…

– Bright Simons, President, mPedigree Network

Compensation as well as communication: Phones won’t be a device simply to communicate – they will be used as a mechanism for compensation…

-Nathan Eagle, C.E.O., Txteagle

For the full set of predictions, check out the slides below.

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