ADEKANMBI: INNOVATIVE APPS WILL ENHANCE TECHNOLOGY DRIVEN BUSINESSES
partnership in the way we enhance customers’ everyday rhythm of life. Is there a link between MTN’s previous initiatives such as the App Developer Challenge, the engagement with CCHub via the MX Lab, the Mobile Apps Experience Lab, my2015 BetterMe App and APPtitude? When we launched the BetterMe campaign early in the year, we actually advanced a cause; we promoted a new meaning. We were asking Nigerians to push on, press on and do what they have never done before. We urged Nigerians to be better at what they do. As much as it was philosophical, we also provided the enabling tools that are required to make people better. We felt that the most powerful and the closest BetterMe driver for every individual, irrespective of social class, is the Internet. If we can simplify access to the Internet, we can drive that conceptual philosophical campaign around BetterMe. We then felt that the way to start this app attitude was to launch an app that aggregates content for Nigerians as a starter. As such, we launched the My 2015 BetterMe app, the first of its kind which curates everyday relevant content on a single platform. However, like I said earlier, there is a long term strategy. After we have exposed people to a single app, the next thing is to expose people to the fact that there are more apps out there that touch every moment of their lives; from banking to shopping, to traffic to buying food in the office, to getting the best deals and even booking holidays. The game changer for us is how we can best organize all of these life-enriching apps, so that everyone can enjoy the essence of BetterMe. How will MTN actualise this?
Moving that idea forward is also the reason for the partnership with the app development community so that as we create these apps, we get them into the hands of as many Nigerians as possible. For anyone who partners with us, the understanding is very simple. Today, with over 61million subscribers on our network, any app on our platform can potentially reach 61million people, which I believe is the intention of every app creator. The whole journey around BetterMe is primarily simplifying access to the Internet, motivating people to see reasons why they need to use the Internet, educating people on the basis and the fundamentals of the Internet and, most importantly, providing free access through stimulating initiatives as we have done with this APPtitude month, where customers can have unlimited access to every app that matters to them and with no data fees charged. It was gathered that MTN is willing to assist businesses to convert their websites to Apps. Why the special consideration? More than half of Nigerians today have access to the Internet, but for most of them it is one-off access because of the challenge of repeat usage where they are required to remember those long and complicated web addresses. I need to ask you when last you visited your alumni website or your professional group web pages.
The fact is most website traffic are one-off visits. The challenge we see made us to think around how best to make the whole experience seamless and simpler.
We understand that there are many businesses in this situation, where your customers find it so difficult to remember your web address. That is why we feel that rather than bothering customers with so many web addresses (URLs) to remember, people can just have your company app on their phone, which they can just click on to get direct access to your website. You know that apps also have a way of beeping when a new content is uploaded, so such repeat visit is guaranteed.
We have recognized that there are many organizations and businesses that we can assist and support to convert their websites to easier, simpler and accessible apps. We are interested in organizations, non-governmental organizations and alumni associations among many others. We are also looking for religious groups, residential associations, professional groups who have websites but need to simplify access for people. Based on that drive, we are committed to this task of simplifying access and we have put in place all that is required to make it happen.
The other thing we have done is that as soon as these apps are ready, we ask those partners to bring the phone numbers of all the people that are members, irrespective of network, and we will send the application download link specifically to their phones to access the download gateway for free. You can imagine the overall transforming snowball effect this has on the larger business landscape. What are your projections for Nigerian businesses, following the release of MTN’s APPtitude? We have seen countries that have been transformed by the power of the Internet. With APPtitude, we would see a nation raising her game and competing with other businesses anywhere in the world. It has been proven that the Internet has a proportionate impact on the total wellbeing of the people and a direct impact on economic value creation of any country. To put these in context, I shall reference a study by McKinsey on Internet Leadership Supply Index of G8 and 5 key countries and concluded that if Internet consumption and expenditure were a sector; its weight in GDP would be bigger than energy, agriculture, or several other critical industries.
MTN, as a company, is able to give people access to learn on the go, shop on the go, order their food on the go, follow up with their family on the go, chat, do everything they want to do on the go.
This means a direct reduction in the cost of living and people can make more savings to do other interesting things. We see business taking a leap in terms of ability to compete and do more business whilst also satisfying their customers’ needs resulting in an incremental spend. For banks, the costs of serving customers would reduce, if most of their customers have apps - so if I need to confirm a transaction like clearing a cheque, I just need to click on my app and I can do it there and then.
Here’s another example that fits this bill. I want to watch a movie, I can read the review of the movie, I can share my moments with my family, I can know what is going on around me, I can do so much on the go, which of course has a direct impact on shared value creation. Are there limitations to the number of free apps that anyone could download? There is no limit to the number of apps people can download. When we started this campaign, we were playing with the word – attitude. We think that everyone has got an attitude which speaks to their interest, tendencies and things that matter most to you.
Your attitude could be that you are a good mother who cooks well and we are saying that for every attitude that you have, be it reading, shopping or a spiritual attitude, there is an app which enables that attitude and gives it a continuum in terms of sustenance and allows you to be committed to it.
That is why we changed the ‘ATT’ in ATTITUDE to APP to name this movement as APPtitude. Whatever your attitude is, even if it is unlimited, there is an app for it. Whether you love Nigerian movies, or you are a lover of football, or want to read news on the go, there are many apps for that. We are telling Nigerians, whatever their attitude is, there is an app for it even as they turn their attitude to APPtitude in an unlimited manner. How can people connect to the APPtitude app? They only need to send APP to 131 and they receive a response via SMS with a link to a special gateway where we have organised many apps around popular themes like Sport, Education, Entertainment, Business, Religion, among others. What are the benefits of MTN APPtitude? We realised that a lot of Nigerians do not understand the way the Internet is being currently packaged for sale. Right now, we tell Nigerians to buy 10MB or 20MB or even in GB and the fundamental question is, what is in it for me? What do I use it for? Using the APPtitude as an anchor, we are focusing around what people want to use the Internet for and give them unlimited access to it. They also pay a basic fee and know that they have unlimited access to the particular app of their choice. What you are going to see going forward is that with all the relevant apps, as you buy them, you can have unlimited access to that particular app for a period of one day, seven days or even one month. All you just need is to pay a basic fee and then you have unlimited access. Nigerians should be ready for what we call the app-based bundles that we have launched, and many of them would come out in the market. I am sure you are aware of our social networking app bundle already called GoodyBags. This will now be extended to others.
For example, a lot of Nigerians follow Channels TV News. I am happy to announce that there is now a Channels News bundle on MTN which allows you to have unlimited access to the Channels News app when you pay a very small fee. Another example is the MTN Project Fame. There is a lot of content around Project Fame that is never shown on TV. So, we have the Project Fame bundle that provides unlimited access to the Project Fame app and you can view all the exclusive content after paying a basic fee.
You don’t need to bother yourself about how many megabytes or kilobytes you have used because you have unlimited access. The whole essence of APPtitude also helps us to simplify the basis for charging for Internet content to make it easier for people. What are the other benefits? We are very hopeful that APPtitude would help us to get people who have never used SMS before to enjoy the power of the internet. This is because we have seen people who can not compose an SMS but can recognise an icon on the mobile phone. The Afrinolly app for example provides empirical validation to this claim. Afrinolly is an app that curates movies in Nigeria and across the continent and provide trailers and reviews. What we have learnt is that, people of about 70 years and above can click on the app, as they can recognize the faces of their favourite actors and actresses. They don’t need to go to school to recognize that this is actor A or B. Also, nobody needs to teach them how to click, so as they click, it takes them to that page and they can watch the movie.
We have seen it work and that is why we believe that anyone, irrespective of the age, gender or literacy level can have access to the Internet. Now that literacy is no longer a barrier to entry, you can imagine the impact that APPtitude is going to make in the transformation of our nation and drive for advancement as we become a leading country in the world. How would the APPtitude initiative impart on local App developers? The success of app creation for the local app creator in Nigeria is not the fact that he or she has created the greatest app, but that the app is available in as many phones as possible. It’s all about the repeat purchase, the affinity you are able to build and the volume of visibility that you are able to generate as an app developer that ultimately translates to your bottom line.
The APPtitude movement is thus the first bold step to support local app developers with the potential of getting their apps into the phones of every Nigerian without any barriers getting in the way.
This is why we believe that visibility is the most critical way to help this wonderful clan of app creators. We have thus created an upload gateway at www.mtnonline.com/apptitude for them to post their apps into our download interface. Now there is no excuse. This is the month to get your apps across to as many people as possible using the opportunity that we have created. Are there tips or guidance from MTN on how best to use the apps? On the sidelines, we are partnering the app creators, guiding them in terms of how best to optimize their apps, how best to configure them to work optimally on the different types of phones that Nigerians have. We understand that there are some apps that work better on smartphones, there are some that work best on feature phones (the java-based ones), we understand those dynamics and we are making this information available to the community of app creators so that when they are creating their content, they are creating contents that are true to the reality of the market and applicable to the context of the users. Our engagement with the app community is continuous. We are continuously sharing best practices and learning with them as a company that is committed to the development of that part of our ecosystem so that if we are able to build competence and capacity; we know that it has a direct impact on the quality of apps they bring to our network and the kind of experience that the customer will have as they enjoy using those apps. How do you get people who do not know how to use the internet to identify relevant APPs that fit their Attitude? The APPtitude campaign is meant to serve the purpose of education, enlightenment and empowerment. In as much as we are using mass media to educate and enlighten people, especially people who are current users to know that there is a lot more they can download, we have now gone a step further to the level of empowerment which is “I can help you do it”.
As part of APPtitude week, we have some young Nigerians that are working with us, you will see them on the streets, and they will walk from house to house, markets and retail shops. All they are doing is telling Nigerians how to download and what to download. They will be asking people questions like– “What is your attitude”. For responses like – “I love to see what my children are doing on Facebook”, they will help those people download Facebook, Instagram and other social media platform. To be very frank, a good mother in this world today should have a Facebook account, not necessarily because you want to be there but because you care enough to understand the context of the world your child is living in. For such parents, we will help them. Also, there are a lot of grandparents out there, who want to be part of their grandchildren’s exposure and therefore want to join WhatsApp. So we will be meeting them and say to them – “Grandma, this is how to download WhatsApp and with WhatsApp you can be in touch with your grandchildren anywhere they are in the world”. Those people who go from door to door offering these consulting services on different apps are called the hAPPy crew.
We also plan to have them in some of our partners’ outlet. Some banks who are partnering us to download some specific apps, we are going to have them in the banking halls in the month of May.
If you are in any of our retail stores or MTN Service Centres, you are going to see members of the hAPPy crew who will walk you through every step of the way. What you need to do, how to click, how to download, how to pick things here and there and give you that wonderful experience to enjoy the best of the world bundled via the world of applications.
This is our commitment to expand the frontier of internet apps and give every Nigerian the opportunity to raise their game and be better in what they do as we drive to convert every ATTitude to APPtitude in the months ahead and my favourite quote for this campaign is “Attitude is good but it won’t get you the the highest altitude, you need APPtitude to receive gratitude, certitude and latitude, even in the midst of multitude.”