An analysis by Afridigest has revealed that data is a major concern across African countries, especially Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana and Tanzania. The analysts studied a list published by App Annie on the top free apps in Google Play Store per country.
A look at the list and it is hard to miss that there’s a trend that favours any app that is aimed at saving data. It is also evident that Facebook-owned apps are dominant in Africa, maybe due to the fact that using these apps saves consumers from spending more money on calls and texts.
Across the five countries analyzed, WhatsApp is the number one app followed by Opera Mini which is second in Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana and fifth in South Africa and Tanzania. Facebook Lite, Messenger, Instagram and Facebook also appear on the list in each of the countries. Interestingly, ride hailing apps are not as prevalent as we had thought, with Uber only being listed in Kenya and South Africa and missing in action in the rest of the countries.
Kenya is the only country where mobile lending apps are dominant, evidenced by the presence of Tala and Branch on the list. South Africa is geared towards mobile e-commerce with Wish and Joom apps making it to the list. Nigeria is also slightly bent towards this trend of e-commerce with Jiji.ng making an appearance.
Nigeria, Ghana and Tanzania have a soft spot for football with All Football noticeable on the list of the said countries, a trend that is surprisingly missing in Kenya. Tanzania is a hot spot for video content Azam TV, ITV and XXX Video Player making the cut of top 10 apps in TZ.
I also noticed that Nigeria and Ghana are the only countries on the list with Snapchat showing up and here I thought Kenyans loved Snapchat, but Tanzanians seem to love Instagram more than the rest of us.
