Sunday, January 9, 2011

Smartphones and The Facebook Factor

Facebook has continued to dominate the social networking sphere, cutting across all continents, while providing a platform that meets the unique social needs of different global cultures. In Africa, Facebook has even been seen to drive the adoption of smartphones , especially among the technology savvy youth. This trend seems to fit perfectly in Africa's budding mobile data market, indicating an increasing demand for social applications as the world embraces the benefits of a digital age. Smartphones and facebook have been around for less than ten years, but the rapid influence they have on our social culture is something that cannot be ignored.

As social networking continues to dominate communication over the internet, smartphones will continue to replace the less capable low-end feature phones that don't have support for web browsing and instant messaging. Applications such as ebuddy will be favorites among today's youth. Initiatives such as facebook zero will continue to come up to tap into the rapidly growing mobile internet market. As mobile network operators prepare for a new battlefield i.e the mobile data market, smartphone prices will drop sharply. (The Huawei Ideos is a perfect example of a subsidized smartphone).

The facebook factor therefore, will remain a major driving force for smartphone sales and intuitive applications that leverage social networking in Africa and the world over.

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