Mobile phones overtaking Cybercafes
NaijaRock
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Posted by Felix Okoli on May 03, 2010 at 16:09:17:
Cybercafes are shrinking in number while use of high end mobile phones in Nigeria is practically growing. The reason behind this is probably due to the need to satisfy the growth in internet use by Nigeria youths while at the same time providing reliability and affordable mobile access. People who have become accustomed to browsing the internet at public internet cafes have now realized that they could accomplish most of the tasks that they used to do at cybercafes on the move, even while in a bus. In a BRT bus, you could see students and young people pressing on their mobile phones consistently. They are not really sending sms or making calls, but they are actually browsing!
In the past, many young people have become used to going to cybercafes to check their Yahoo mails and Gmail and then came Facebook even with twitter. But immediately they realized that they could equally check their Yahoo mail with just a mobile phone by going to m.yahoo.com, without having to spend more than N20 credit, they realized that it was no longer worth going to cybercafes to spend at least a N100 just for checking their email and I tell you checking email at a cybercafe can be addictive and financially draining especially if the internet connection is slow. Here is what is fueling the growth of mobile internet browsing:
- Ability to check Yahoo mail on m.yahoo.com
- Access to Facebook on m.facebook.com
- Updating statuses on Twitter using mobile phone apps
- Ability to upload videos and pictures to your Facebook account using mms
- The rise of Opera mini browsing and free browsing hacks particularly
- Ability to connect a computer to mobile phone as modem for full internet browsing
- The faster speed of 3g mobile services by GSM firms like Etisalat, MTN, Zain and Glo
- The availability of a wide range of payment options such as Pay as you browse of budgeted monthly internet costs for as low as N1000 like Zain lite or Etisalat Easynet
- The constant raid of cybercafes by EFCC and rogue police officers
- The unreliably power supply of cybercafe operators
- Lack of privacy
- Capacity to use unregistered sim cards to commit cybercrimesThe reasons why mobile browsing will eventually put cybercafes out of business are numerous as they are not limited to the Nigerian factors I just mentioned above. It is way wider that that as it is a world phenomenom. In the near future, the mobile web is expected to overtake traditional desktop browsing What Cybercafes can do in order to remain in business:
While one cannot arguably deny the shine mobile browsing will consistently take away from cybercafes, operators can still cash in on their business, if they can be able to adapt to these growing changes in the internet world. What I would recommend are:
- Employing more technical staff who are knowledgeable in IT
- Investing in alternative sources of energy like Solar, Wind or Inverters rather than Diesel generators
- Saving energy by using low energy consuming hardware
- Improving on internet speed such that it would be faster than mobile browsing
- Creating accounts for users rather than selling ticketsWhile mobile browsing continues to grow in Nigeria, one cannot deny the fact that there are other reasons people would still want to visit cybercafes and these group of people are mostly students who are seeking admission into higher institutions. In just s few days, Jamb's UTME results were released and Cybercafes were full to the brim and it was seasonal business as usual. These are the best times to cash in as it would make business sense to improve internet speed so that queuing time may be reduced while sales may increase. Later on we are going to be having students checking for their WAEC results also and that will be a boom time for them. Another group of people who would inevitably visit cybercafes are regular job seekers who make up a large percentage of Nigeria's population. Cybercafes should seek a way of providing their customers with satisfying service when they come to brows.
There's also one tip I got from a cybercafe I visited, they actually sell drinks such as coffer and soft drinks and this could add to the little profit one make from the business as people would like to eat or drink something while doing internet surfing in a public cafe
Comments:
Cybercafes are shrinking in number while use of high end mobile phones in Nigeria is practically growing. The reason behind this is probably due to the need to satisfy the growth in internet use by Nigeria youths while at the same time providing reliability and affordable mobile access. People who have become accustomed to browsing the internet at public internet cafes have now realized that they could accomplish most of the tasks that they used to do at cybercafes on the move, even while in a bus. In a BRT bus, you could see students and young people pressing on their mobile phones consistently. They are not really sending sms or making calls, but they are actually browsing!
In the past, many young people have become used to going to cybercafes to check their Yahoo mails and Gmail and then came Facebook even with twitter. But immediately they realized that they could equally check their Yahoo mail with just a mobile phone by going to m.yahoo.com, without having to spend more than N20 credit, they realized that it was no longer worth going to cybercafes to spend at least a N100 just for checking their email and I tell you checking email at a cybercafe can be addictive and financially draining especially if the internet connection is slow. Here is what is fueling the growth of mobile internet browsing:
- Ability to check Yahoo mail on m.yahoo.com
- Access to Facebook on m.facebook.com
- Updating statuses on Twitter using mobile phone apps
- Ability to upload videos and pictures to your Facebook account using mms
- The rise of Opera mini browsing and free browsing hacks particularly
- Ability to connect a computer to mobile phone as modem for full internet browsing
- The faster speed of 3g mobile services by GSM firms like Etisalat, MTN, Zain and Glo
- The availability of a wide range of payment options such as Pay as you browse of budgeted monthly internet costs for as low as N1000 like Zain lite or Etisalat Easynet
- The constant raid of cybercafes by EFCC and rogue police officers
- The unreliably power supply of cybercafe operators
- Lack of privacy
- Capacity to use unregistered sim cards to commit cybercrimesThe reasons why mobile browsing will eventually put cybercafes out of business are numerous as they are not limited to the Nigerian factors I just mentioned above. It is way wider that that as it is a world phenomenom. In the near future, the mobile web is expected to overtake traditional desktop browsing What Cybercafes can do in order to remain in business:
While one cannot arguably deny the shine mobile browsing will consistently take away from cybercafes, operators can still cash in on their business, if they can be able to adapt to these growing changes in the internet world. What I would recommend are:
- Employing more technical staff who are knowledgeable in IT
- Investing in alternative sources of energy like Solar, Wind or Inverters rather than Diesel generators
- Saving energy by using low energy consuming hardware
- Improving on internet speed such that it would be faster than mobile browsing
- Creating accounts for users rather than selling ticketsWhile mobile browsing continues to grow in Nigeria, one cannot deny the fact that there are other reasons people would still want to visit cybercafes and these group of people are mostly students who are seeking admission into higher institutions. In just s few days, Jamb's UTME results were released and Cybercafes were full to the brim and it was seasonal business as usual. These are the best times to cash in as it would make business sense to improve internet speed so that queuing time may be reduced while sales may increase. Later on we are going to be having students checking for their WAEC results also and that will be a boom time for them. Another group of people who would inevitably visit cybercafes are regular job seekers who make up a large percentage of Nigeria's population. Cybercafes should seek a way of providing their customers with satisfying service when they come to brows.
There's also one tip I got from a cybercafe I visited, they actually sell drinks such as coffer and soft drinks and this could add to the little profit one make from the business as people would like to eat or drink something while doing internet surfing in a public cafe
Comments: