Ever heard of MXit? MXit is a South African based messaging platform, but in case you missed the news – the platform is already shutting down.
A messaging platform that onece ruled South Africa has bowed out to international platforms likes of WhatsApp and Facebook, and the coming of cheap smartphones to Africa.
Judging based on the comment of David Luis, former head of internal communications at MXit to Fin24, the shut down can be attributed the growing rate of cheap smartphones on the continent.
“The success of those cheap smartphones I believe put Mxit – sitting without a decent version for smartphones – on a downward spiral that was impossible to come back from, despite the massive effort of the team.” – David Luis
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According to Luis, MXit believed there was enough preparation towards the arrival of smartphone on the continent.
If there’s any lesson any startup in any industry can learn from this is the fact that MXit wasn’t fully prepared for an ever evolving technology market.
Do you want your company in the game for a long time? Then, it should be about constantly improving on your business idea, playing by the trend in the industry.
Mobile remains one of the rulers of the continent with respect to technology at the moment. And the question for African startups now would be – what will rule the continent’s tech space next?
Nigerian startups raised $17.6m in Q1 2019, 8.5% higher than they did in Q1 2018. Find out more in the latest quarterly edition of the Nigerian Startup Funding Report here.
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