200 likes | 342 Views
Key Trends in Mobile Applications Bottom of the Pyramid June 2010. Fiona Smith GSMA Development Fund. The GSMA Development Fund. The GSMA Development Fund works with mobile operators to accelerate mobile solutions for people living under $2 per day (BOP)
E N D
Key Trends in Mobile Applications Bottom of the PyramidJune 2010 Fiona Smith GSMA Development Fund
The GSMA Development Fund • The GSMA Development Fund works with mobile operators to accelerate mobile solutions for people living under $2 per day (BOP) • Launched in 2006 to catalyse the uptake of GSM technology for social, economic and environmental development • Core part of the GSMA, the operator-led trade association representing the mobile industry
GSMA Development Fund Programmes • mServices • Mobile Money for the Unbanked (MMU) - Financial services • mAgri • mHealth • mLearning • Green Power for Mobile • Help mobile operators extend network coverage, reduce operating expenditure and minimise environmental impact through the use of renewable energy sources. • Access • mWomen • Rural Access
What makes a great app? Three criteria that define the success of an app: • Simplicity • Ease of use in interface design and product experience • Clear marketing to customer of the USP of app • Meeting user needs • Making sure the needs of the consumer are understood • Ensuring app delivers what customer expects • Ubiquity • Ability to reach wide base of customers on all phone types • Open architecture and marketplace to customers
Simplicity - Ken Banks, Founder, Kiwanja.net “Address the simpler challenges - in parallel with our search for solutions to what we consider to be more complex problems”
Simplicity - Jesse Moore, Signal Point Partners "The biggest mobile applications will also be the simplest... Straightforward products that make existing activities easier, faster, cheaper and/or safer for the customer.”
Meeting User Needs - Eric Cantor, Grameen Foundation “We need to be more intuitive and user-focused than was the case with the growth of the web. We have to realize the development of information economies in developing countries is likely to follow a path much different than what transpired in the US and UK, and to embrace it rather than ignore it.”
Meeting User Needs - Jonathan Donner, Microsoft Research "The first app adopted by many people may not be an app "for development", but rather for entertainment, expression, or social networking. This is both a challenge and an opportunity for the development community. Mobile social software will drive adoption (and configuration) of data-enabled handsets, will compete for share of user's minds and wallets, will fascinate operators, and will structure users' expectations (and habits) about how to interact online via mobile apps."
Ubiquity – Chris Locke, GSMA Development Fund “No app will be successful if customers can’t get hold of it. App marketplaces need to be open and supported by a wide-range of phones.”
Categories of app platforms Open Architecture SMS Services Android Apps iPhone Apps Closed Architecture Niche Usage Widespread Usage
What is a mobile application? • Software on a mobile device that will allow the device to perform specific tasks that are not directly related to the operation of the device itself. • Ability to access specific information via a website, make payments and other transactions, play games, send messages • The application might come pre‐installed but is typically downloaded via the mobile network from an “app store” • Tend to be built on proprietary systems, but current trend is for more open systems • Complex apps make use of IP-data communication facilities of higher‐speed networks on third or fourth generation mobile phone networks.
What are mServices? • The ability for governments, NGO’s, multi-lateral and international agencies to deliver services and products to the BOP via mobile technology • Financial Services: mobile payment and banking, wage and social benefit payments, financial literacy, savings and insurance • Health services: medical records management, treatment, disease surveillance, medical supply chain management, health education and health worker training and support. • Learning and education: mobile educational games, classroom support, teacher training, etc. • Information Services: Farmer information services and help-lines, land and natural resource management, market pricing information, transportation coordination.
Trends of BOP Mobile Services & Applications There are many services that can be applied across content areas. For example, a health helpline and an agri helpline are often for the same consumer 2G Information • SMS • MMS • Helplines • IVR • Voice messages • Applications Governance Agriculture Health Education / Learning • 2.5, 3G, LTE • Web & data enabled • Applications Financial
BOP Mobile Application Innovation • Users must be consulted early and often to build a useful service / product • Creative approaches yield important insights • Demand exists for affordable information and knowledge Understand Needs • Sustainability and scaling must be part of product design • Iterate rapidly and “fail fast” (role for local developers) • Users must be integrally involved in the process Develop Applications • Incentives for all elements of ecosystem must be considered • Access to new market segments powerful carrot • Creative business models must be employed Build Sustainable Models • Mobile operator relationship is crucial • Services must meet clear need in actionable way • “Discoverability and Usability” essential – trusted intermediary • Leverage same content using different interfaces Achieve Scale
Thank You • Eric Cantor, Grameen Application Labs • Jesse Moore, Signal Point Partners • Jonathan Donner, Microsoft Research • Ken Banks, Kiwanja.net • Chris Locke, GSMA
Fastest growing region in the world 488 million connections in Q1 2010 An increase in market penetration from 48% to 73 % by 2012 Current ARPU €7.11 The Growth of Mobile - Africa
2.2 billion connections in Q1 2010 607 million connections in India An increase in market penetration from 60% to 81 % by 2012 ARPU €7.89 The Growth of Mobile – Asia Pacific