InMobi reveals the steady rise of feature and smart phones in Nigeria

Independent mobile ad network Mobile Insights report shows that the Nigerian market is ripe with APPortunity

 

InMobi, the largest independent mobile advertising network, today released its Quarterly Mobile Insights Report: Nigeria Edition, April to June 2012. The report shows continued growth in the region and illustrates how consumer behaviour in Nigeria is shifting, as they become more reliant on their phones as their primary means of being connected.

Smartphone penetration declined in the country, by 2.9% from Q1 to Q2 2012, and now accounts for 13.3% of all ad impressions on the InMobi network.  However, Smartphones continue to give people primary access to news, email and social networks, especially those people in lower income brackets who do not have daily access to computers. While Feature phones continue to dominate emerging markets in the rest of Africa, and as Smartphones gain momentum in Nigeria, the feature phone market is shrinking in equal measure, down 4% from Q1.

Data also shows that, despite its decline in many other International markets, Nokia’s success goes from strength to strength and continues to dominate the Nigerian market even with a drop of 0.8% from Q1 this year. Nokia rules the manufacturer’s segment, with no other device maker having more than 10% market share.  “Given that the majority of the Nigerian market, at 76%, is using Nokia with 86.2% using a feature phone, app developers need to be cogniscent of the balancing act between creating innovative apps to serve Apple’s iPhoneiOS and Google’s Android but still create material that resonates with the right kind of user, in the right format,” says Isis Nyong’o, VP and MD for Africa at InMobi.

A study, on how consumers are using their Mobile devices to augment their shopping experiences, recently conducted by InMobi, showed how consumers are increasingly using their cell phones to research things while shopping, and the expressed need among consumers for apps that compare prices, look up product info and share experiences on social networks while shopping is growing. But for now, the mobile web still dominates Apps, with 98% of InMobi adimpressions coming from mobile sites with 2% from Apps.

Nyong’o concludes: “As thesmartphone market continues to grow, and the developer community begins to tap deeper into consumer needs and developing trends, opportunities for mobile look to continue their upward spiral in emerging markets.”

You can download the latest InMobi Mobile Insights Reports under the Network Data section of the InMobi Research page for free at: www.inmobi.com/research