Internet search and advertising giant Google has just unveiled several new services they are putting in place that will provide information via text message to mobile phone users in Africa.
“Most mobile devices in Africa only have voice and SMS capabilities, and so we are focusing our technological efforts in that continent on SMS,” Google said.
The number of people using mobile phones in Africa is increasing daily although there are still a relatively low number of Internet users. Indeed, Google points out that mobile phone use is six times greater than Internet penetration.
“At Google we seek to serve a broad base of people — not only those who can afford to access the Internet from the convenience of their workplace or with a computer at home,” Google said.
“It’s important to reach users wherever they are, with the information they need, in areas with the greatest information poverty,” Rachel Payne, Google’s Country Manager in Uganda said in a company blog.
Ok so the service will only be available to users in Uganda and only those who are on the MTN Uganda’s mobile phone Network but Google, as always, have plans to develop that further should the services prove successful and there’s every chance they’ll roll it out the services to other parts of Africa soon after.
The types of topics that will be covered by the Google SMS services include health related information, agricultural tips, news reports, sports results and local weather information.
Google Trader is another service Google will offer, it is an application based on SMS that will help buyers and sellers of all sorts of products and services communicate with each other.
If the services catch on, the benefits to users could be enormous. It has the potential to boost business by facilitating easier buying and selling and enable people to find work opportunities that they might not otherwise be able to access.
Another service on the cards is a web-like search experience for users. Google SMS Tips which will allow users to enter search queries via text and Google will supply the most relevant answers to their queries after searching a database of information.
Both Google Trader and Google SMS Tips were developed by Google in partnership with MTN Uganda, the Grameen Foundation as well as several other local organisations.
Sounds good in theory but it all depends on whether it is effectively used in practice.
If you want to find out all the latest news on tech why not subscribe to our RSS feed?
Leave a Reply