The dilemma of a mobile application developer in Kenya

A couple of months ago, the cheapest Android smartphone was released into the Kenyan market. The proliferation of cheap Smartphones in the market is paving way for a lucrative mobile software development industry that is steadily picking up in the country.

Traditionally, SIM application toolkit (STK) has been commonly used to provide Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) subscribers with various value-added services such as mobile money services. On the other hand, mobile computing embraces a host of portable technologies that makes Internet access on the go not only possible, but integral to every day life.

There are many different hardware components found in mobile devices therefore their applications are developed using different software architectures. Some application software platforms including Java ME, Symbian platform, Android, Windows Mobile, Qt framework, BREW and Palm OS. Symbian OS, Palm OS, Windows Mobile and iOS support typical application binaries as found on smartphones with code which executes in the native machine format of the processor.

A mobile application developer develops software by using different platforms and programming languages based on the target mobile device. Kenya has provided a conducive environment for mobile software developers so far. The popularity of the Android and Symbian OS mobile devices has been growing steadily. Apart from the availability of cheaper smartphones, application developers in Kenya can now publish and distribute their mobile applications directly onto Nokia’s OVI Store.
Android provides a platform to create products and services targeted at local markets. Android applications are written in the Java programming language, a common programming language among developers. In addition, the Android software development kit can easily be downloaded from the Internet for free and installed in a Windows, MacOS or Linux workstation.

Samsung has also launched a mobile application platform named ‘Bada’. Samsung has been running a mobile applications development competition to encourage developers to use this platform. One of the winners of the previous competition is Mikul Shah who developed an ‘Eat Out’ mobile application. The app is Kenya’s first mobile restaurant guide, allowing users to search for restaurants using location, cuisine and budget.

To encourage local developers, companies like Google have organized a G-Kenya event in September 2010 to talk about Android and the emerging mobile opportunities for African developers and to meet with software developers, entrepreneurs and students in Kenya. One of the sessions involved training on localized tools to spur economic development for people in Kenya.

Google has added some intuitive apps that developers can leverage on. For instance, Voice Actions, a Google voice search for Android presents an awesome new way to search, control, and communicate on your phone faster than ever before, by using your voice. One of these new Voice Actions lets users find and automatically play music, users can quickly find the music they want online and play it.

For a Kenyan developer, one dilemma is choosing a platform to develop mobile apps. For many developers, their decision is based on the popularity of the mobile device, and what the trend is in terms of mobile apps development. Another dilemma is how to make money from the applications developed. Considering the fact that most Kenyans do not have credit cards to facilitate the purchase of applications from the app stores, this is quite a challenge.

To address this issue, mobile operators in Kenya are working on a billing mechanism that deducts the charge of an application from the airtime, once a subscriber downloads it from an app store. This means the developers can easily track their revenues and access the funds comfortably from local providers. The developer has to cater for the users’ preferences such as language, appearance, working tools, app library and so on.

For most users, the value is in the integration of the app to their business processes and the day-to-day life. For instance, a centrally controlled dispatcher for a Courier Service Company can use several mobile smart phones or PDA units or a mobile device the can control you TV set just like a remote control.