New cellphone browser
With increased competition, mobile ARPUs are dropping across the continent: good news for consumers but less good news for operators. Many operators are betting that increased revenues from data – both SMS and mobile Internet – will allow them to either slow or reverse this trend. This puts the pressure on finding interfaces that a wide range of phone users can use that will encourage them to make use of data services.
Mobile XL’s solution is implemented by putting software on the handset and it has consciously been targeted entry level phones. The software will work on 150 entry level phones like the Nokia 2600 and 5000 and the Motorola E-series: phones that cost between US$60-150/200 depending on the market. According to Kamgaing-Kouami, it can be implemented on smartphones but they are not being targeted. The browser is proprietary and thus creates a walled garden for content rather similar to say AOL in its days.
The software can get on to the handset in three ways: either by a manufacturer installing it when the phone is assembled, through operators or via dealers. Mobile-XL has a deal with Nokia in East Africa where the software is shipped with the phones (40,000-50,000 phones are shipped a month) and it will be rolling out in this way in other regions:”We’re currently in negotiations with two major OEMs.”
Dealers can download the software on to a user’s phone with Bluetooth and the whole process takes 4-6 minutes. Store activations represent around 20% of overall activations so far.
He estimates that 30-40% of phones already in the market are GPRS-enabled or capable. Unfortunately it’s still extremely difficult to buy GPRS Internet time on a pre-paid basis and even where it exists “people have not used it because of the cost uncertainty.”
The selling approach through operators has been trialled using e-mail marketing blasts to selected customers with high return rates and the promotion is co-branded with the operator. According to Kamgaing-Kouami:”We will have a more exclusive model with operators and look for one operator per market after the pilot. We’re looking for group deals” It has already signed deals in three markets.
When a user first activates the software, they will typically use it 4-5 times but without further marketing they tend to stop using it. So is it not really essential for them? “We need a period of six months to get it right and we’ve tested various ideas we think are successful but these need to be validated over time.”
In an 800 user sample survey conducted by the company, not surprisingly the keenest potential early adopters are youth for things like music downloads:”That’s what they already know.” This is followed by jobs, horoscopes and news. The latter includes up-to-the-minute information on Premiership scores, local movies and events.
Based on the same survey, users in Kenya and Uganda said they would be willing to pay US$80 cents to US$1 per month for these kinds of services and US$1.50-2 in Cameroon where SMS rates are higher and there is less easy access to mobile content.
Mobile-XL is a classic start-up where all the employees are shareholders and there have been private investors. However what marks it out is that it got first round from Tech Coast Angels and second round funding from Finch.
Mobile-XL cellphone browser discussion
Balancingact-Africa
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