I think a bridge will be a solution that will end up springing forth in the future. The people who can create this bridge will be the ones who maximize on both the advantages that the web and the mobile apps in Africa. While Africa is just one piece of the pie, this need is prevalent in all developing communities worldwide. So who will lead the way?

What I suggest is not colonial at all. The opposite in fact. And your Nigerian example illustrates it well.

What I suggest is we take what works and make it our own, re-inventing it in the process, making it more robust for our situation, if need be… and if it ends up being a Nobel Savage version of something…WHICH WORKS for us… well so be it. Fiddle-dee-dee.

And if, as technologists, we have to speak for that Nobel Savage Billy Budd , when he can’t speak for himself, yet.. I guess that’s just our techno lot in life. It’s the ethical thing to do.Someone should do it.

So often, we adopt a 1st world solution, it doesn’t work for Africa & we end up with an expensive *White Elephant*. Blegh… when we could have used the same funds & resources for a less sophisticated solution, which would WORK for many & move the continent forward.

I think emerging markets generally are getting over the idea of importing ideas wholesale which don’t work for them… and starting to more confidently assert solutions which work for their own contexts.

If we have enough market mass to support them, we can define our own solutions.

It has been floating around “mobile” circles for years now.

Many were just arrogant enough to think it had to take the form of an advanced crackle-berry (plugged into their mobile service networks, naturally).

Your post just highlights that the rubber may have to hit the road in a different way, to be viable in Africa.

As techno-geeks, coming often from a web mentality – we tacitly assume (connectivity => web) or similar… because that is the evolution of it…landlines=>web=>mobile etc…

Maybe we need to flip that idea on totally its head for Africa?

===>Make “web” a sub-set of Connectivity…
===>Mobile networks as we know them as a subset of Connectivity.. and anticipate there may be
===>MANY other subsets of African Connectivity which we haven’t fully dreamed up yet… which will meet the specific needs of Africa… with its limited fixed line infrastructures.

And Connectivity, used in beneficial (utilitarian) ways…whether it is driven by the sun or a bicycle pedal , on WAP or something else…Must be the core protocol.

Even limiting ourselves to WAP might not be prudent.
Maybe we need to open our minds a little… perhaps we need to develop a technical “esperanto” for African connectivity, which we can all use..

We also shouldn’t ignore that there are other equally important drivers (besides culture & techno-connectivity ) which will enhance or suppress the momentum that Connectivity will get :
+ National legislations (ZA is a case in point)
+ Existing mobile network players & their vested interests
+ Financial & other service providers & their willingness to embrace new techno-paradigms…

It’s an interesting space.

Maybe, as Africans, we will stop trying to adopt first world solutions which won’t work for us & start adopting Real Worlde Solutions based on our exigencies ….which do work for us. All of us.

Obviously there are infrastructure peculiarities which hamper an explosion of connectivity but I agree my impression is not that Africa needs tools any different nor is the utilisation of the present tools that different even with energy scarcity. (In SA we have bandwidth scarcity and we manage ) Cultural realities lead to the adoption of different tools and the popularity of different tools and this is what we need to focus on, focus our out of the box thinking. I think one of the well documented examples of that is the popularity of Orkut in South America and not in other areas.

Those plus some of the initiatives like Googles recent O3b Network initiative, let alone the impact Mobile is said to be having, make Africa a very exciting place particularly as the financial explosion in the developed world is likely to mean that their focus is at home more than it is elsewhere.

I’ve always had this nagging feeling that it’s not only the lack of bandwidth in South-Africa that’s holding back the growth of the web in SA and Africa. If a country has vast bandwidth available, but no way to integrate it into normal life, then a ceiling will be reached when it comes to the uptake of the technology. For instance, there is still no way to easily do e-commerce in South-Africa and Africa. If you have all the bandwidth in the world, but no way to improve people’s lives with it (transferring money, safeguarding money, etc), then allowing people to watch all the Lolcats they want, will only interest them for so long. And, it’s certainly way less important than actually surviving.