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Comment by itmag | Hacker News Reader

This is very interesting. Did not realize that mobile phones are so common in Africa.

What kind of makes/models are typical? I would imagine that they are more low-tech than in the first world?

Ideas for startups focused on this market? Highly relevant e-learning delivered via mobile? Low-tech version of Facebook? Mobile-centered food bartering auction site?

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There is a lot of variance in the distribution of phone capability. There is nothing scientific in my survey, just stuff I picked up. Most people have very basic phones about on par with: http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_1202-2573.php

There are also a lot of feature phones that might have been normal in Europe around 2003-2005.

But there are also a large number of people (millions) who have smartphones. The dominant platform is the blackberry.

So it's mainly "dumbphones"? What kind of tech is best to reach these? WAP? Native apps?

SMS.

Mostly regular phones (nokia 1200s are ubiquitous) but especially in places like Kenya, smartphone penetration is beginning to increase quickly. SMS and USSD are generally most useful. WAP can be used, but penetration of WAP enabled phones is much lower. One thing that works at times when a WAP interface is required is to follow some sort of "kiosk" model where someone who has a WAP-enabled phone provides services for others without.

I think that Facebook beat you to this - I believe they are the top ranked site in terms of traffic for much of the continent. They have a nicely done mobile web version.

In addition, they've partnered with carriers to make http://0.facebook.com free from data charges across much of the continent, which solves the access problem. Zero is their even more lightweight version of http://m.facebook.com/

Healthcare is a good place to start. Using mobile devices to educate consumers on health needs, and to build awareness on any outbreaks of diseases where they live. Think basic needs crucial to survival, not "nice to haves" like an African Facebook.

Very cool. I am listening. Tell me more plz :)

Also, might there not be legitimate uses for eg "Afribook"?

-Keeping track of displaced relatives

-Organizing for social change

-Spreading info on best practices

-Building connections that might lead to income

-Strengthening communities

Facebook isn't ALL Farmville and teenage gossip, y'know :)

Not really. The rot is such that the basic human rights and needs such a platform implies are non existant. Anyways, Facebook already has very high penetration and organizing for change is met with blackberries. A tool akin to twitter but specialized to anonymity and security would be far more useful.

Not really. That is imbuing the situation with your political preferences re: privacy.

Agricultural commodity prices is one - if farmers can figure out how much their stuff is worth, they won't get screwed by middlemen.

Very cool. Do you know if something like that already exists? :)

You can get agricultural market data easily enough. You'd have to figure out transport costs (which could be done using a heuristic and google maps).

The next step is getting them to upload the prices they get, then filtering that (as buyers may try to destroy the system). But that's for version 2.

A quick google and I found this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/katine/katine-chronicles-blog/2010....

This comment is probably the most insightful thing on the page: http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/71754...

Esoko http://www.esoko.com/ is a good example. I've seen these in action in various places and I've been skeptical about how much value they actually bring to the table. Price information actually disperses pretty quickly, and for most commodities prices aren't that volatile. In the markets where wholesalers sell vegetables, you see people getting screwed by the middlemen, but basically it's because these middlemen control the marketplace, not because of lack of information.

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