Last year when I wrote 5 apps I wish Nigerian developers would build, it seemed to strike a chord with a lot of readers. One developer even went on to build one of the apps – iFlash for Blackberry.
What I’ve come to understand is that while Nigerians have no problems getting by with one-size-fits-all apps that solve mostly first world problems, they truly hunger for very Nigerian solutions to everyday problems. I thought I’d round off that list of 5 apps to the lucky number 7. So here’s 2 more apps I wish Nigerian developers will draw inspiration from.
GidiRoute
Need to navigate your way around the mean streets of Lagos by bus? Forget Google Maps and Waze, GidiRoute is a crowdsourced traffic and navigation app for Lagos that features: turn-by-turn bus directions we can actually relate to; prerecorded bus-stop calls, transcribed so IJGBs know which buses to board; alternative bus routes based on traffic status and bus fare hike alerts so you never end up stranded. GidiRoute is also text-based so you can use a bulk of its functionality even without an internet connection.
WashAm
Apparently, a lot of Nigerians still refer to printing digital photos as “washing” – a nostalgic reference to how photos were developed in the past. And even in this digital age of cloud-based image sharing services, Nigerians still love to “wash” their photos for keeps. WashAm is a subscription based camera app that makes life easier for the photo junkie. All you have to do is snap, indicating if you want it for immediate “washing”, add filters if you like and all your photos are synced instantly to our cloud. We deliver all washed photos to your doorstep within 24 hours. It’s that simple.
