Mobile systems in Africa

When we talk about mobile systems we automatically think about smartphones who do connect via the internet to services to bring services to the customer. We do see an explosion of apps and more and more companies are starting mobile channels for sales and services. Specially in Europe and the US we see the trend picking up and now Asia (Japan was already heavy involved in mobile). However what we sometimes forget is that Africa is a large and upcoming market.

For example, Africa is the number one continent for mobile banking where a mobile banking revolution is taking place.

Millions of Africans are using mobile phones to pay bills, move cash and buy basic everyday items. So why has a form of banking that has proved a dead duck in the West been such a hit across the continent? It has been estimated that there are a billion people around the world who lack a bank account but own a mobile. Africa has the fastest-growing mobile phone market in the world and most of the operators are local firms.

One of the things however is to consider is that in Africa only arround 1% of the mobile phones is a smartphone. Due to this the app revolution is not picking up (yet). However, Africans are also very eager to work in a mobile way. Francis Pisani is explaing some of the mobile innovations currently happening in this Capgemini video.