The development of applications for the African market is largely held back by the insufficient local adaptability of available platforms, according to Snapplify.
“We can play in the international market without doubt,” says Wesley Lynch, founder of Snapplify.
There is no lack of initiative or local development when it comes to apps from the African continent, he explained. However, the obstacle of a fully functioning payment system to rolling out these innovations in full capacity is preventing the reach of full potential, said Lynch.
Snapplify currently outsources the payment system to their UK branch which is able to implement the Google Checkout system, currently still unavailable in Africa.
“It should be unnecessary to go through all that,” said Wesley Lynch, founder of Snapplify.
The mindset of the African market in general should also be changed to realise its competence in the global market and to embrace the learning curve.
In their research of where the biggest amounts in funds come from, the company found that some of the publications like The Star, a South African newspaper, gain its greatest revenues from overseas countries like Australia.
“People are increasingly looking for content that’s from Africa,” said Lynch. “We underestimate the content.”
He continued by stating Africa is still open to a lot of opportunity, there is quite a lot of potential in subscriptions.
There is no lack of demand, according to Lynch. However, great difficulties in getting apps certified are being experienced.
The American Peanut Comic, Car Magazine and iMaverick, Africa’s first tablet-based newspaper are all clients currently benefitting from Snapplify’s service.
Snapplify is a content producing company that assists online publication and distribution of media.
Lynch was a speaker at the Africa Apps seminar at the AfricaCom conference yesterday (15 November 2012).
