SA iPhone app market poised to boom…

According to AdMob, the world’s largest Mobile Advertising Network, South Africans are slowly catching on to the worldwide iPhone phenomenon. Stats show that the penetration of the iPhone into the South Africa market has slowly increased over the last couple of months, as users of the device start seeing the potential benefits, both from a business as well as a personal perspective.

South African iPhone developers have been growing quickly over the past couple of months, with corporates now also seeing the benefits of having an iPhone application included in their media portfolio. Media24 have seen a fantastic response to their iPhone app News24, which allows users to get breaking news as it happens. Recent additions to the app now include allowing users to upload user-generated content and photographs on the go, as well as being able to receive push notification alerts of breaking news from around the world.

The app was co-developed with the team from Glucode, who were pioneers in South African iPhone app development. Glucode, who have developed a couple of other apps, including Creamer publications, Mining Weekly and Engineering Weekly, also co-developed the iPhone app for the popular social networking chat service, MXit.

Sports media house Supersport; also recently launched their own iPhone app, which is a mirror of their supersport.com site. The app allows for live scoring from global sporting events and provides up-to-the-minute sporting news. The app was developed by iPhone development & media house immedia, who are based in Durban. The team from immedia are no strangers to the iPhone app development world having developed other successful apps such as RadioPod, Portfoolio & ZATV Guide.

Other companies have started seeing the benefit of being able to offer an iPhone app alongside their product offerings, with the likes of Pastel including the “Pastel Business online” iPhone app into their product suite. Another company in South Africa taking advantage of the iPhone boom is JSE-listed MIX Telematics. Their vehicle tracking system X-Drive, is now accessible as an app on your iPhone, and allows you to view your fleet of vehicles live on your phone.

These are just some of the iPhone application offerings coming out of a fairly small market and, if indications are anything to go by, we should be in for some fantastic applications from local developers in the next few years. To see a full list of South African developed iPhone apps, as well as make contact with developers, visit SAiPhoneApps.co.za.

My Top 10 Recommended SA-developed iPhone apps:

1. Airship – Data Transporter
The app allows you to seamlessly sync files between computer and iPhone using a web interface and your wireless network.

2. News24
Up-to-the-minute news from South Africa’s biggest news site. Push notifications also allow you to receive breaking news without having to access the application.

3. My South Africa Essentials
A fantastic app developed for South African Tourism, which gives visitors to the country essential tourist information, as well as allowing users to upload user content, including stories and photos of their visits to South Africa.

4. ZATV Guide
With ZATV guide you are able to plan your viewing, with full schedules from all DSTV channels.

5. Supersport.com
With the ability to view live scores on the go from all major sporting events around the world, this is a must have.

6. Platters Wine Guide
The popular wine connoisseur guide is now available on your iPhone, which lets you read reviews of all your favorite South African wines.

7. Portfoolio
Up-to-the-minute JSE share prices, which also allows you to create your portfolio and keep track of it.

8. Powertime
You can now buy your electricity vouchers through the Powertime iPhone app, ensuring you are never left in the dark. Only available in the SA iTunes store.

9. Pastel My Business
Keep up-to-date with your business finances, and perform basic accounting functions using this iPhone app.

10. MXit
You can also access Africa’s largest mobile social network using the MXit app, and connect with friends.