GhanApp, the latest digital platform which serves the average Ghanaian with basic information at a glance on their handset devices is currently making waves among the teeming smartphones users in Ghana.
The new mobile application which is available now for android users only is receiving impressive downloads from Google Playstore due its friendly usage by customers.
Users of the new GhanApp don’t have to struggle with installing several apps or services that provide daily basic local information like weather updates, exchange rate, entertainment that ends up taking up space on their low to mid-range phone with limited storage capabilities.
Speaking to Biztech Africa in Accra the Ghanaian mobile app developer, Yaw Owusu-Sarpong said GhanApp seeks to provide these basic yet relevant info on a single platform to start one’s day.
“Beyond that, it is also a combination of several apps I had envisioned and actually developed over time in a personal initiative I called ‘An App a Week’ just to showcase to young people that they could venture into app development with basic programing skills while building up for more complex developments later,” he noted.
Challenges
Although the young app developer is impressed with current buzz his new app is receiving from end users, he is also worried about the high demand in foreign developed apps by consumers instead of patronizing available local apps that are tailored to their needs.
“I think the major challenge is the interest in foreign apps. While there are a lot of local apps, the consumers tend to focus more on the bigger international brands,” he said.
Mr. Owusu-Sarpong also identified the issue of sustainability as one of the main challenges bedeviling locally developed apps face, according to him following the initial buzz for being local in their early stages, they tend to die out and become unpopular quickly attributing it to lack of investment in marketing.
He maintained that unless an app is super innovative, it needs a lot of marketing, and in-app engagement to maintain that top of mind awareness for consumers, adding that if you look at the stores now the most downloaded local apps are mainly news apps, because there is something new in the news everyday but compared to games which can be very stale for a long while, they are not able to maintain that level of interest and freshness on a daily basis.
Tech Showcase
The GhanApp developer believes that the future is bright for young Ghanaian app developers and called for continuous assistance from the media.
“Things can only get better. Skill development is becoming less of a hurdle for people who are determined to go into the industry. It leaves marketing of apps as the real major challenge. I believe people like you and the media industry as a whole can play a huge role in improving things by giving developers the platform to showcase and promote their apps,” he added.
