In the latest edition of Opera’s state of the mobile web, the browser company confirms an already obvious trend — that Africans are slowly but surely shifting smartphones.
The report zooms in on South Africa, where mobile users are said to be growing increasingly fond of Android devices. Although the feature phone market continues to outstrip smartphones in volume, smartphones shoot ahead when expressed in growth percentages.
Notwithstanding the winds of change, a lot remains the same. Search is still the biggest use of the web for South Africans. Wikipedia is very popular, just below Google and Facebook, and way ahead of Twitter. Nokia is still the most popular mobile handset in use.
Note that the report’s conclusions are based on data from Opera’s network. While in a stiff battle for marketshare with UCWeb, Opera is still the dominant mobile browser in Africa. Browsing habits and device usage patterns gleaned from its massive user base are fairly reliable indicators for mobile technology trends on the continent.
View the full report here.
Image credit – Think0
