
Over 50% of Nigeria's web traffic is from mobile phones - dave1010uk
http://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2012/02/q4_2011_mobile.html
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trustfundbaby
... And almost 80-90% of them use Opera mini.

I run a Nigerian news site here but most of our traffic is from Nigeria, we
get about 1500 uniques a day, only 200-300 of them will be from the web, all
the rest is mobile. I finally went and pulled up our site on opera mini using
Opera's emulator and was shocked to find that our ads do not appear on those
handsets ... so all our revenue is coming from 200-300 people each day.

Analytics is a lovely thing.

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AlexMuir
The vital question: Is mobile traffic going to (proportionally) increase in
the UK, or is desktop traffic going to increase in Nigeria?

Are people using mobile in Nigeria because they don't have a laptop? Will they
be using their Raspberry Pi in a couple of years? Or is the UK behind in the
adoption of using mobile internet? I guess it's a bit of both.

~~~
pavlov
_Will they be using their Raspberry Pi in a couple of years?_

I don't think most Nigerian mobile users will have access to a HDMI-capable TV
within the next couple of years, so the Raspberry isn't the way.

The appealing thing about mobile phones in Africa is that they are physically
small: they're reasonably easy to import (legally or otherwise) and can be
carried on your person, so they are less susceptible to theft. Large
electronics like notebooks and TVs don't have these advantages, and so they
are only accessible to the small middle class that can afford them and have a
secured house in which to keep them.

~~~
kamjam
_I don't think most Nigerian mobile users will have access to a HDMI-capable
TV within the next couple of years, so the Raspberry isn't the way._

Raspberry Pi also has RCA and stereo output, so could quite easily connect to
a any standard TV with scart socket.

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EREFUNDO
It's amazing to see how developing countries simply jumped to wireless
technologies without having the need to build expensive cable based phone
networks like what developed countries had to go through. I read a story of a
farmer in China who sells his crops to a shady middleman who lies to him about
the market price of grain. Finally when he got a cellphone and was able to
subscribe to a messaging service that gives him live updates on prices he was
able to negotiate better and improve his standard of living. This is truly
empowering.

~~~
ericktai
information can be pretty empowering. that's a great story

------
icki
On a similar note, Cisco predicts that "in 2015, wired devices will account
for 46 percent of IP traffic, while Wi-Fi and mobile devices will account for
54 percent of IP traffic [globally]."

For more stats and figures from their Networking Index Forecast, check out
[http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns341/ns525/...](http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns341/ns525/ns537/ns705/ns827/white_paper_c11-481360_ns827_Networking_Solutions_White_Paper.html)

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Zakuzaa
For India: [http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_vs_desktop-IN-
monthly-2011...](http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_vs_desktop-IN-
monthly-201101-201201)

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OoTheNigerian
The situation in Nigeria is unique. Because of the power situation (mobile
phones have longer lasting battery), the very poor infracstructure (wired last
mile is non existent), and of course pricing ($40/month is the minimum package
on WiMax vs $7 on mobile). Non-mobile browsing stands no chance.

Just a thought: Are tablets considered mobile in this context? Because that is
where I see major growth potential)

~~~
jcr
Yes, many tablets are "mobile" in this sense. The majority of modern tablets
have support for "WiFi" (802.11?) networks and also the same cellular data
networks (EVDO, GPRS, EDGE, HS?PA, LTE, ...) used in mobile phones.

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impunity
I've read that in some countries, a single person with a cell phone can act as
a money transfer office for an entire village. Here's how:

1\. A friend or family member in the U.S. wants to send $50 to someone in the
village. The friend buys a $50 prepaid minutes card and transfers the minutes
to the cell phone in the village.

2\. The cell phone owner in the village checks his minutes, sees that he now
has $50 worth of minutes and gives $50 to the person the minutes were for,
minus his fee.

It's amazing how ingenious people can be when you let them.

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angelortega
The other 50% is from Nigerian scammers.

~~~
OoTheNigerian
Take a deep breath, read your comment again, try to think and then ask
yourself if it makes sense in ANY context.

~~~
angelortega
It's a non-sequitur.

