Thanks Sasha, that is really encouraging. Because the thought about the app is towards less seriousness on the part of the user, that is, it is not really a financial management software per se. So, the issue of 419 does not apply to this app. The app doesn't ask for credit card information or any kind of sensitive information that will make you insecure. The reason behind it is that, here in Africa, people love to flaunt what they've just purchased. They like to talk about it, share with friends etc. Also, there's this lackadaisical attitude towards spending, as people don't always have control on what they spend their money on. Hence, they can't track it.
Just recently I was talking to an advertising practitioner, and his interest in this app is about the figures and social integration. He said he will like to see if this app would be able to solve the problem of who buys what, where and what price. He said if the figures can be so accurate, then it will be a great medium for advertisers, since they want to see information about how users consume their brands. But that won't be feasible unless we have the user base. One way we believe we can build a huge traction is via the mobile devices. In Nigeria for example, 60% of internet penetration is on the mobile device. This is currently gaining lots of attention even from US investors especially in the business of mobile payment. So for us, making the app free, easy to use and fun is a top priority. Because of the uncertainty, we intend to make sure the app solves a problem and then we watch user usage trends, conduct surveys, just to be able to get exactly what users will want to see added to the app. This way we believe, we will get answers to solving key business issues, hence, build business relationships. Thank you for the time. I truly appreciate. Kind regards On Wed, May 11, 2011 at 12:15 AM, Sasha <sasha.h...@gmail.com> wrote: > It is really unfortunate that 419 is the first topic to come up when a > Nigerian developer surfaces... especially if this is discouraging > developers who are trying to do something productive instead of > scamming. > > I'm not sure that the 419 reputation is even the biggest barrier to > selling a service like this to the West. For example, an app for > balance/budget tracking is unlikely to compete with complimentary > services provided by most banks and financial institutions which not > only offer similar services, but which automatically update based on > card usage and therefore do not require any data entry. For free, > without ads. Add the confidence problem that Brandon mentioned, and I > have to agree that it would be very tough to do and require a lot of > thought. > > Based on the description, and not knowing about how everything works > in Lagos, I think this could become a great concept for developing and > emerging economies in places like urban Africa and India. In many > places (especially outside the biggest cities, but even in them) it > can be much harder to get information on product availability and > prices than it is in the West. You don't get Yellow Pages booklets > distributed everywhere, for example, and Yelp's coverage is pretty > bad ;) Also, most transactions are likely to be in cash rather than on > credit cards or checking accounts, so there is not much reason to > focus on downloading or scraping financial data. Many local businesses > are not going to have an easy way to reach buyers. So in many ways the > idea of using crowd-sourcing is very interesting and I would be > concerned with how to build a user base willing to send information > (given somewhat limited internet access and saturation of smartphones > with data service) as well as how the service will actually make > money. I think this means a lot of non-technical footwork and building > business relationships, even if you get a great technical product > which is widely accessible. > > Best of luck! > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Google App Engine" group. > To post to this group, send email to google-appengine@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > google-appengine+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine?hl=en. > > -- Odeyemi 'Kayode O. http://www.sinati.com. t: @charyorde -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Google App Engine" group. To post to this group, send email to google-appengine@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to google-appengine+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine?hl=en.
