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Design for Africa
ctconversation | 02 October, 2008 02:03
Mobile services can make a major difference in the lives of users in emerging markets, but developers need to understand how to design for these markets. For example, Africa has more languages in use than any other continent, so user-generated localization allows a developer to put the power of language in the hands of a community. When designing for emerging markets, forget about 3G, not all mobile users in emerging markets will even have access to GPRS-level data services. You can design a fall-back mechanism that uses GPRS when available (it's least cost) but SMS when necessary (it's more available).
These techniques are part of a seven-facet framework to help design mobile services for consumers in emerging markets. The framework was designed and implemented by
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Gergely Herenyi, Sr. Software Engineer, Nokia
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JD Moore, UX Manager, Emerging Market Services, Nokia
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Daniel Orwa Ochieng, ICT Consultant and Researcher, University of Nairobi
Here is the SMS bearer code snippet.
Here is the full source code.
We are scheduling an online discussion with the developers. Check back here for time and URL, or make sure you subscribe to Forum Nokia Developer News and we will let you know when the event will take place.
To continue this discussion, post comments to this blog post. No reason to move this to the DiBo.
Check out this video where the developers behind the framework show how mobile applications can make a difference in the lives of users in emerging markets.
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Response to: ...SMS sending cost?
jdmoore | 08/10/2008, 01:35
Hi Damavik. This particular MIDlet uses a "fallback mechanism" to prioritize the cheapest method (assumed to be GPRS) for data transport.
SMS would only be used if GPRS was not available.
Also, it's worthwhile to note that localization of the UI or commands can require only a few SMS messages. Depending on the markup used between the client/ server, the packages can be optimized and reduced further in size.
Also, I'm certain a data size threshold could be applied to MIDlets that do transfer large amounts of data--unlike ours--so as to completely avoid SMS if deemed too expensive. (For example - sending high resolution wallpaper for a phone, or a polyphonic ringtone would require much more SMS traffic than simple text.)
In terms of innovation, I personally feel that allowing end users/ communities to hyper-localize their own UI and User Experience of a client/ server Java solution...with practically no Java skills...is the more interesting aspect of the project.
Thanks again for your comments!
Re: Design for Africa
Damavik | 08/10/2008, 10:08
jdmoore, thanks for the clarifications!
Now I understand that such approach would be useful in many circumstances.
Re: Design for Africa
Hypotheek | 19/12/2008, 00:10
Great video, thanks for sharing. I only think the video had not enough views on youtube (only 267).
Some promotion would be good!
Re: Design for Africa
korsun14 | 21/02/2009, 21:35
>>>Africa has more languages in use than any other continent
Africa has so many peoples and as the result languages, that it's ... terrible problem for localization... Oh, my translator's community had feeled this(
Video is great, thanks!
And what about SMS sending cost?
Damavik | 07/10/2008, 15:52
Hi!
I think it's not a completely innovative way of using sms stuff. Very often quite the same approach is used in DRM stuff (e.g. application license activation). Although we shouldn't assume SMS bearer as channel for transferring large amount of data, because cost of the SMS is quite high. Not only for users of the emerging markets :(