Telecoms & Networks News South Africa

Nigerian mobile users not keen on online payment

In a new infographic put together by Jovago, the online hotel booking platform, Nigeria ranks lowest on the list for usage of mobile devices for payments in Africa.

The influx of mobile devices has enhanced ease of access across the world - communication is more easily facilitated as practically everyone is a phone call, email or tweet away. The virtual world is one of full of opportunities that may not easily be accessible in real life. The penetration of mobile devices in Africa has been on the increase - from the use of feature phones largely - smartphones are now becoming more and more predominant. In fact, it is predicted that mobile data traffic is expected to have a 20-fold increase by 2019.

The 50% increase in mobile use across business and leisure travellers makes businesses like Jovago.com accessible across mobile platforms and browsers easing the process of purchase for customers across continents.

Top-five mobile devices

Apparently Steve Job's legacy lives on as the iPhone is the favourite device of customers in Nigeria, having registered the most users. The Blackberry Keyboard series is also handy devices for mobile users, the sleek interface of the Z10 also makes it one of the most used Blackberrys. The Samsung Galaxy series also seem to be a hit.

Top-five mobile browsers

Since most affordable mobile devices run the android operating system, the Chrome is the most used mobile browser as 55% of our mobile users have it as their default browser. A close second is Apple's Safari, which has a steady stream of users. Opera Mini comes in third place. Internet Explorer and the Blackberry browsers are the least used browsers.

Cellphone penetration

Within the space of four years, smartphones have greatly flooded the markets. In 2011, out of the 500 million mobile phones in circulation, only 3% were smartphones. Presently, this is expected to more than triple this year. It is predicted that, in 2018, the percentage of smartphones used in Africa will reach 33%, which will be accompanied by a decline in the use of feature phones.

As expected, many Nigerians find it difficult to entrust their credit card details in the hands of online businesses. More and more, mobile payments are being used in place of the stress of queuing up at a bank to make payments. Apparently, Kenya with 68% mobile payment rate welcomes this phenomenon with Uganda following closely at 50%, South Africa at 29% and Nigeria showing the least enthusiasm with a mere 13%.

Most expensive booking

Though the tendency to spend less kicks in when we shop with mobile devices, the most expensive booking made on a mobile device in Nigeria was for the Lagos Oriental Hotel for N582,100.

Download the infographic: Mobile Revolution in Nigeria (Size: 1.48MB)

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