Developing for the Next Billion
summary
Africa has ~20% internet penetration vs ~50% globally but mobile subscriptions narrow the gap, so build mobile-only experiences that work offline and without images; expect average data budgets ~200–300MB/month, APK sharing via ShareIt/APK sharing to be the main distribution channel, and payments through M-Pesa via USSD (130,000 agents, ~60M revenue headline). A 3MB native app with offline mode and local-first design is necessary; prototypes deploy but face crashes, device fragmentation, and poor analytics because installs happen outside app stores.
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chapters (15)
- 0:00Introduction and speaker background
- 2:11Moving to Kenya and research insights
- 3:15Geography and Africa's scale
- 7:17Brief history of the internet in Africa
- 10:29Mobile-first vs mobile-only development
- 11:53Popular apps in Kenya vs US/Norway
- 13:52Distribution challenges and app stores
- 16:22Uber in Kenya and real-world UX differences
- 19:57File sharing via Bluetooth and data constraints
- 22:49M-Pesa and mobile banking revolution
- 26:43Targeting diverse user personas in Africa
- 27:49Developing Quanta for Kenyan stores
- 28:32Challenges and failures in app development
- 34:06Key takeaways for developing in Africa
- 35:10Q&A session
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