This week’s African Internet news round-up consists of 88 stories from 31 countries. More stories than usual are found from Algeria (misc.) and Tanzania (4G).
There may not be a Google Android Developer Challenge for SSA in 2013 (there is still an Africa Android Challenge) but last year’s event saw three winners and two honorable mentions.
In light of talk that many African apps do not live much beyond their competition, we’ve decided to see how the winners are doing a year later. The verdict is that developers are still going strong even if the apps that won the contest never made it big. The exception here is Afrinolly, which has gone on to be widely popular, yet is only one piece of the company that created it.
Afrinolly: Nigeria – FansConnectOnline Limited – “Afrinolly brings African movies to your pocket, allowing you to watch movie trailers, read entertainment news and gossip, track celebs, listen to music and share it all with your friends.”
Olalashe: Kenya - David Lemayian, Capefield Ltd. - “Olalashe is a geo-alert application that can help you communicate when you’re in trouble, through a widget that can send your location and a pre-set message to your ‘In Case of Emergency’ contacts with the push of a button.”
Shoppers’ Delight: Kenya – Elan Telemedia Ltd. – “Shoppers’ Delight is a shopping application that allows shoppers to compare product prices across different area supermarkets. The app also helps shoppers discover bargains and relevant sales, and access maps and health information.”
Rainbow Racer: South Africa – Starburst Games – “Compete in your country, region or against the whole world – it’s your choice. Use the phone’s accelerometer to pace though levels.”
Wedding Plandroid: South Africa - Richard Marsh – “Wedding Plandroid is a lightweight app specifically designed to help brides and grooms plan for their big day. It allows users to manage their wedding budget, track their progress on a timeline of wedding orientated tasks, keep track of their vendors, as well as manage their guest list.”
Tech activity in the Indian Ocean Islands has been heating up of late. Especially in Madagascar where ICT events are more common than ever. Plus, this weekend, the annual WebCup event will be held in Madagascar, Réunion, Mayotte, and Mauritius. Here’s a quick recap of recent Internet news by island:
Madagascar
Comoros
Mayotte
Réunion
Mauritius
Seychelles
From Klout influencer scores, we can find general trends about how active online media is within a country and in general, how many engaged social media users exist.
The top 19 Rising Voices Microgrants 2013 finalists from Sub-Saharan Africa aim to preserve local culture and empower neglected groups.
Visuals on Sub-Saharan African broadband prices, international connectivity, and Internet speeds highlight a need to lower access barriers.
This week’s African tech news round-up consists of 83 stories from 29 countries.
Emmanuel Aswan, the ‘web-mayor’ of will now work with a core Ivorian online community to create a safe, welcoming, and productive environment for all Ivorian web users.
In May 2013, IBM opened a research lab in Nairobi, Kenya amid much fanfare. In particular, IBM was drawn to Kenya for its great long term vision for change.
oAfrica is a showcase of the dynamic African digital landscape. We addresse a variety of aspects of African Internet connectivity with an understanding that every nation has different tools and ideologies to utilize. Although every African citizen may not have the chance to access the Internet for years to come, African digital opportunities are rapidly expanding. We do our best to objectively share those stories.
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