Comments on: Applying the Long-tail to the African Mobile Space

By: Mobile apps for the long tail — Build it Kenny, and they will come…

Mobile apps for the long tail — Build it Kenny, and they will come… — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 18:08:37 +0000

[…] Reactions to the relevance of the long tail in the mobile applications space have been mixed. Some people just got it, some people debated and discussed it, while others just didn’t click. But that’s fine. The whole purpose of the graph was to try and generate awareness around something I see as extremely important. There’s a lot of energy, and increasing amounts of money, being funnelled into the social mobile space right now. If – in the context of grassroots NGOs in developing countries at least – mobiles are to live up to their full potential we need to make sure that all this time, money and effort are concentrated in the right place. […]

By: Beve

Beve — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 05:53:33 +0000

CNN had a video on this (mobile usage for trade):

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/03/10/purefoy.ghana.mobile.maket.cnn

By: niti bhan

niti bhan — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:54:59 +0000

About Wizzit? Where is it at right now in South Africa, in terms of user acceptance and number of users? How is it doing? Its a great concept with the potential to really make a change in the lives of those it seeks to serve, but people we spoke to in townships, including Alex, right next door to Wizzit’s hq in Sandton, just hadn’t heard about it or it hadn’t filtered through to them that such an account could be for them so easily. Any current reports or news on Wizzit would be appreciated.

By: Lingamish

Lingamish — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 05:46:19 +0000

Spaced out there… Thanks for the reply. I’m with you on this.

By: kiwanja

kiwanja — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 19:57:21 +0000

Hi Erik

In response to some of the comments…

The use of the “long tail” to me seemed like the best way of visualising the current state of play, even though its origins are from elsewhere. In terms of the focus areas, the need and the numbers of NGOs, I think the shape accurately represents what’s happening out there right now. It’s good to see this being debated.

In terms of the tools, FrontlineSMS was developed and rapidly deployed in Beta well over two years ago based on a hunch, but one which obviously seems quite well founded today. Now, with a solid base of NGO users in the developing world, the feedback provided has given great insight into what else it needs to do and what it needs to do better, and we’re working on finally taking it out of Beta now. Expect the new platform-independent version, with a whole range of additional and improved features, in May.

Our hopes to provide more relevant tools will rise or fall on our ability to create the right applications development environment not just for, but in, the long tail.

Ken

By: Global Voices Online » Africa: Applying long-tail to the African mobile space

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:03:28 +0000

[…] African discusses “applying the long-tail to the African mobile space”: “What Ken is getting at is an important concept, one that too many of us forget as we […]

By: HASH

HASH — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:09:00 +0000

@Becky – thanks for the link to Tactical Tech’s review. I’ve added it to the list of resources on the post.

By: Becky Faith

Becky Faith — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:52:00 +0000

Thanks for a really interesting post.

Tactical Tech have just finished the draft version of our Mobile Advocacy Toolkit The material is viewable in draft form on a project wiki at http://wiki.mobiles.tacticaltech.org/index.php/Main_Page

We did a review of some of the tools and services which are available in this space – http://wiki.mobiles.tacticaltech.org/index.php/Tools – and I can only concur that, apart from Frontline SMS, most of the technology is challenging to use.

The next few years are going to be a really interesting time – lets hope the mobiles space starts to open up some more!

By: HASH

HASH — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:28:04 +0000

@Lingamish – You’re right, the traditional use of the “long-tail” might not fit perfectly, however the I think the analogy is that the pareto distribution still fits. In this case it’s about both reach and replicability (like you stated), not just inventory and scarcity.

@Katrin – I just read that review after I posted this article yesterday, and came across a couple other solutions that I didn’t even know existed. Corinne did an excellent job.

I hope that we’ll start seeing improvement in the tools available, as well as more options that fit the multitude of needs in both the non-profit and for-profit sectors. What I was getting at in this piece is that there just aren’t enough solutions out there.

By: Katrin

Katrin — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:45:25 +0000

Hash — we just did a review of low-cost SMS tools that allow grassroots activists and NGOs to run SMS campaigns. Unfortunately, our review — available at http://mobileactive.org/mobileactive-releases-do-it-yourself-sms-guide-ngos — shows that we are still a ways away from simple, user-friendly, low cost implementations for NGOs who want to run mobile campaigns, particularly in developing countries. The tools available (and there are many) are often not well supported, not user-friendly, and have only limited functionality. We reviewed all of the tools we thought appropriate for low-cost campaigns, but the promise that these tools seems to imply and that Ken outlines in his post is not real yet — not even with his tool. Please take a look at the review on our wiki!

All the best,

Katrin