MXit is poised for global domination
MXit is South Africa’s most popular mobile phone application; it’s also South Africa’s largest and most popular social network. According to the company, ten billion messages and 53 million photos were sent to mobile phones during July, 2010 and there were more than 710 million logins. Those figures are very impressive, the kind that would make Google’s Andriod drool.
MXit was born out of a need to provide cell phone users with a cheap messaging service; far cheaper than ordinary SMSes. Part of its functionality allows users to join chat zones where they can send messages to groups, rivalling other instant messaging systems. From its humble beginnings as a message provider it now owns an important niche in the mobile market, whereby it meets the mobile social needs of the country’s population that doesn’t have internet access; which is the majority.
Recently, Mxit launched an Application Programming Interface (API) (beta version) to allow software developers from South Africa and abroad to create innovative applications along the lines of Apple; these would include games, education and entertainment (such as film and music).
It has also just launched two of its newest user-generated content portals, courtesy of Emma Kaye, who is CEO of Gate 7 and has achieved recognition as one of the top 50 women in the field of global mobile entertainment. Both portals are aimed at township dwellers, who make up most of MXit’s user base.
. Zwakanaka is about “township cool” and the “right now”. In particular, its three series allow users to compete for the title of Mix Emcee of the month, showcase their latest dance moves and get expert advice from a psychic.
. Mopix focuses on story telling and its four series provide platforms for budding poets and hip-hop artists, “grannies” who want to prove that they’re not past it, those who want to explore the world’s religions, and film-making tutorials specifically for mobi-tainment.
. According to memeburn, the new portals received more than 30 000 hits within four short days of going live. Kaye said that this demonstrate the demand for relevant and interactive entertainment on the (very) small screen. “Mobility has huge socio-economic, educational, commercial, societal and individual significance. We are enabling the township youth in South Africa to not only create this content, but to deliver it through an accessible platform to an audience that is hungry for localised, affordable and relevant content. We are giving the townships a voice.”
In terms of very practical education, MXit played an important role during the prolonged teachers’ strike which took place in South Africa during August/September, 2010. While teachers were running riot in city streets, tutors were using MXit to answer curriculum-based questions from despairing students, as well as make study material available for download.
In addition to its wide-ranging South African presence, MXit is also available in other African countries and has plans to expand to the largely untapped (lower-end) mobile markets in Asia. Based on its success to date, it’s only a matter of time before MXit conquers the world.
Altech Autopage (http://www.autopage.co.za) is South Africa’s largest independant provider of cell phones, pre-paid cell phone airtime
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