Tech - South Africa’s 2go Beats Blackberry Messenger With 12.5 Million Users In Nigeria
https://nigeriaafrica1.blogspot.com/2012/09/tech-south-africas-2go-beats-blackberry.html
The South African social media App, 2go, has beaten Blackberry Messenger and dominates the Nigerian market with 12.5 million active users.
2go is a social networking mobile app that gained popularity in Nigeria over the past year. The app is particularly popular among students looking for cheap, non-SMS-based means of chatting with their friends free. 2go allows users to meet and interact with people within their location.
“In total, it has over 20 million registered users, of which 3-3.5 million use it on a regular basis. Its biggest market is Nigeria 61 percent of total which has 12.5 m users, followed by South Africa 31 percent with 6.5 million users, followed by Kenya 4 percent and others 4 percent,” Balancing Act, a web analyst site disclosed.
“The users are young: 74 percent are 15-24 year olds in South Africa and 60 percent in Nigeria. The gender balance is almost equal in South Africa with 49 percent women, but slightly more male in Nigeria with 64 percent men.”
2go user adoption is growing rapidly at approximately 50,000 new registrations a day. Its mobile currency, GoCredits, enables users to buy content, play games and message each other in chat rooms.
In 2010, even with no funding and advertisement, the 2go messenger grew organically and it was the number one most searched term, according to Google search engine.
2go’s success lies in its simple, elegant user interface, nimble and highly scalable platform, and its support for Blackberry (with BIS integration) and over 800 feature phones (which still dominate handset penetration in Africa).
On the other hand, Blackberry instant messaging is an application that uses a programme called Blackberry Messenger in sending and receiving messages. Blackberry Messenger allows all Blackberry users to send and receive instant messages on their Blackberry device.
As at January, 2012, Blackberry has about 2.4 million users in Nigeria, 140 percent increase from the 1 million user number reported by industry analysts last year, Nigerian business news publication, Business Day reveals.
According to a non-scientific mobile apps usage poll conducted by Nigeria Technology Guide, as at December, 2011, 2go is actually the top app used for social networking and chat by mobile subscribers in Nigeria.
In the NTG survey on Nigeria’s best Instant Messaging (IM) app, 71 percent of the people voted in favour of 2go IM, while only 24 percent voted in favour of Blackberry messenger. The remaining voters chose others.
Although 2go chat is popular, it is important to state that its popularity was more pronounced for Symbian smartphones and Nokia Series 40 feature phones.
“2go was the second most popular app for both Symbian and Series 40 users. No BlackBerry respondent mentioned 2go, suggesting that Facebook, BlackBerry Messenger and Twitter are enough for BlackBerry subscribers. 2go chat was also popular with a few Android users,” NTG said.
“In total, it has over 20 million registered users, of which 3-3.5 million use it on a regular basis. Its biggest market is Nigeria 61 percent of total which has 12.5 m users, followed by South Africa 31 percent with 6.5 million users, followed by Kenya 4 percent and others 4 percent,” Balancing Act, a web analyst site disclosed.
“The users are young: 74 percent are 15-24 year olds in South Africa and 60 percent in Nigeria. The gender balance is almost equal in South Africa with 49 percent women, but slightly more male in Nigeria with 64 percent men.”
2go user adoption is growing rapidly at approximately 50,000 new registrations a day. Its mobile currency, GoCredits, enables users to buy content, play games and message each other in chat rooms.
In 2010, even with no funding and advertisement, the 2go messenger grew organically and it was the number one most searched term, according to Google search engine.
2go’s success lies in its simple, elegant user interface, nimble and highly scalable platform, and its support for Blackberry (with BIS integration) and over 800 feature phones (which still dominate handset penetration in Africa).
On the other hand, Blackberry instant messaging is an application that uses a programme called Blackberry Messenger in sending and receiving messages. Blackberry Messenger allows all Blackberry users to send and receive instant messages on their Blackberry device.
As at January, 2012, Blackberry has about 2.4 million users in Nigeria, 140 percent increase from the 1 million user number reported by industry analysts last year, Nigerian business news publication, Business Day reveals.
According to a non-scientific mobile apps usage poll conducted by Nigeria Technology Guide, as at December, 2011, 2go is actually the top app used for social networking and chat by mobile subscribers in Nigeria.
In the NTG survey on Nigeria’s best Instant Messaging (IM) app, 71 percent of the people voted in favour of 2go IM, while only 24 percent voted in favour of Blackberry messenger. The remaining voters chose others.
Although 2go chat is popular, it is important to state that its popularity was more pronounced for Symbian smartphones and Nokia Series 40 feature phones.
“2go was the second most popular app for both Symbian and Series 40 users. No BlackBerry respondent mentioned 2go, suggesting that Facebook, BlackBerry Messenger and Twitter are enough for BlackBerry subscribers. 2go chat was also popular with a few Android users,” NTG said.
