Smartphones advance literacy in Africa
African mobile users have spent an average of over four million hours reading books on their mobile phones so far in 2018, representing a 32% increase from 2017. This is according to a survey conducted by Web browser company, Opera Mini, in partnership with global literacy non-profit, Worldreader, in light of World Literacy Day on 8 September.
The research provides insights into the mobile reading habits of almost two million Worldreader app users on the African continent. In addition, Opera Mini ran an online survey of 1 500 women and men aged 14 to 44 from various parts of the Africa continent, to learn more about their Web browsing habits on their mobile phones.
The study reveals that Nigeria, SA and Ivory Coast are the countries with the highest mobile and online reading populations in 2018.
"On average, there are more than 414 000 monthly e-book readers across the African continent, with most readers preferring books related to love and romance, especially those that come from local authors and publishers," it notes.
GSMA predicts 80% of the 800 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa will have a mobile device by 2020, pushed by the growing popularity of over-the-top services and mobile banking.
My comment is that the chances are that the lower end smartphones are going to penetrate this market. Google's Go level apps are allowing these lower-end smartphones to access a lot of higher-end features. Phones are no longer about voice calls and texting – it's about browsing for information and social sharing.
See https://www.itweb.co.za/content/4r1lyMRoLXkqpmda
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Smartphones advance literacy in Africa | ITWeb Nigeria, SA and Ivory Coast are the African countries with the highest mobile and online reading populations in 2018, says a report by Opera Mini. |