By: Faith Sodipe
Explores how cross-platform mobile development enhances digital access across Africa, benefiting sectors like fintech, healthcare, and education.
The rapid growth of digital development in Africa cannot be undermined as the continent has a unique position of being the best among developing economies in the world today. This can be attributed to the increasing mobile adoption and the rise of innovative tech solutions including cross-platform mobile development by global public and private institutions from India, China, US, the European Union, and others. Remember that these countries have designed programs in Africa specifically for digital infrastructure.
Despite all these solid structures that have been put in place in Africa, some parts of the continent still don’t have widespread access to digital services. This stems from the fact that several businesses and developers are still struggling to create effective mobile applications to reach a wide range of user bases on different operating systems.
Cross-platform mobile app development involves creating applications that can work perfectly on multiple operating systems (iOS and Android) by using a single codebase. Cross-platform mobile app development facilitates easy maintenance, encourages simultaneous deployment on multiple platforms, ensures a good user experience, and is cost-efficient.
The Impact of Cross-platform Mobile Development on Key Sectors
Expanding Financial Inclusion to Fintech: You’ll find the highest rate of unbanked people in Africa, but that too has changed. Cross-platform development has enabled financial service providers to build apps that can work smoothly across various devices, such as allowing users to send money, pay bills, and access banking services regardless of whether they use iOS or Android.
Taking Medical Services to Remote Areas: Telemedicine plays a strategic role where access to healthcare is often limited in specific places in Africa. Thankfully, cross-platform apps have made it possible for doctors to be able to provide remote consultations, track their patient records, and deliver their medical information to users in remote areas.
E-Learning: Today, there are several physical schools in Africa with little or no resources, and some of these students rely on their mobile phones to read and study online. Cross-platform mobile apps have made it possible for e-learning platforms to function seamlessly on both high-end smartphones and budget-friendly devices.
Connecting Businesses and Consumers: Africa’s growing e-commerce sector mostly depends on the Internet to succeed. Cross-platform development has enabled businesses to create apps that work well on all devices. This will help them to reach their customers regardless of the device or internet connectivity they are on.
The Challenges of Mobile Technology Access in Africa
Let’s take a look at the hurdles to the access of mobile technology due to the following reasons:
- Limited Infrastructure: There are some rural parts of Nigeria and across Africa that don’t have basic infrastructure such as electricity or even a telecommunications network.
- The high cost of app development: Currently, several startups and businesses are working on tight budgets, so they try to minimize cost by choosing one platform over the other, which can ultimately limit their reach.
- Lack of mobile signals or coverage: There are significant places in Africa that lack access to mobile brand signals or coverage.
- Uneven distribution of infrastructure and connectivity: Only the urban areas benefit more from the tech infrastructure while the rural areas are left behind.
- Low-income households: Several low-income households in Africa cannot afford a smartphone or other mobile devices.
- The high cost of data plans: This is why several Africans rely on low-cost or outdated devices with minimal processing power, making it difficult to run modern applications smoothly.
- Cumbersome taxes and levies: Some African countries attach cumbersome taxes and levies to the purchase of new devices.
- Low digital literacy: There is low digital literacy among some Africans.
- Gender disparity: Women, especially in rural areas, are often less likely to have access to technology and digital skills than men.
About the Author
Faith Sodipe is a forward-thinking Software Engineer with a passion for developing user-centric, secure, and scalable solutions. Expertise in Flutter for cross-platform mobile applications and .NET for backend systems is complemented by a Master’s degree in Cybersecurity. Faith excels in leading and collaborating within teams to transform visions into functional systems. He is dedicated to using technology for social good, particularly at the intersection of human-centered design and AI, to make technology accessible and impactful for all.
For more information, check out their LinkedIn profile.
