-
A $16 Billion Dollar Future in Feature Phone App Development
February 25, 2014 Editor 0
If you listen to Kennedy Kachwanya, African developers should be developing for smartphones, not feature phones. In fact, just last week, I was talking with Moses Kemibaro about InMobi’s retreat from the African market. InMobi saw its future in video ads and left Africa’s feature phone users in search of smartphone riches.
I wonder how both are feeling this week, now that WhatsApp sold for $16 Billion to Facebook. (As a fun aside, check out TechZim’s take on what $16 billion buys in Zimbabwe, complete with infographic.)
Feature phone riches
See, I’m in agreement with the kids over at TextIt. Facebook bought WhatsApp not for their technology prowess – they wrote their whole application in J2ME – but for their user reach and momentum. Yes, really, Java 2 Mobile Edition, which few of you remember, much less ever wrote code for. But there are hundreds of millions of J2ME handsets still in use around the world.
Make those handsets use the relatively cheaper data layer, instead of exorbitantly expensive SMS technology to send data, and boom! You have rabid adoption rates on feature phones that scare Mark Zuckerburg to making new billionaires overnight, with nary a smartphone in sight.
Oh and I’ll leave you with this. In addition to $16 billion for the company, Facebook is paying $3 billion in employee retention bonuses… for 55 staff. You do the math on that one.
Related Posts
The Snapchat “Self-destructed” on its way to Africa?
Africa: Demo Africa – Notafy Brings Instant Messaging to Corporates
What every Java developer needs to know about Java 9
Why Is an App Worth as Much as a Small Oil Field?
Top 7 must-have Windows phone Apps (for African users)
Enterprise The next frontier
Categories: ICT
Tags: Cross-platform software, Java Platform, Micro Edition, smartphone, WhatsApp
Systematic Review of the Performance of HIV Viral Load Technologies on Plasma Samples. You Can Change the World of Hardware and Enter to Win a Google Nexus 7 Tablet
Subscribe to our stories
Recent Posts
- Entrepreneurial Alertness, Innovation Modes, And Business Models in Small- And Medium-Sized Enterprises December 30, 2021
- The Strategic Role of Design in Driving Digital Innovation June 10, 2021
- Correction to: Hybrid mosquitoes? Evidence from rural Tanzania on how local communities conceptualize and respond to modified mosquitoes as a tool for malaria control June 10, 2021
- BRIEF FOCUS: Optimal spacing for groundnuts in smallholder farming systems June 9, 2021
- COVID-19 pandemic: impacts on the achievements of Sustainable Development Goals in Africa June 9, 2021
Categories
Archives
Popular Post-All time
- A review on biomass-based... 1k views
- Apply Now: $500,000 for Y... 836 views
- Can blockchain disrupt ge... 817 views
- Test Your Value Propositi... 782 views
- Prize-winning projects pr... 744 views