Google's products including; Gmail, Google Maps and Google Chrome can all be surfed in Swahili which is widely spoken in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.
The company's announcement coincided with the commencement of the EAC Common Market, a significant milestone for an estimated 126 million people of the region, which will create new opportunities for the free movement of capital, goods, services and persons across East Africa.
In a statement, Joe Mucheru, Google lead for sub-Saharan Africa, said; "The internet offers so many opportunities, and we want to make the internet more relevant and useful to East Africans. Being able to use products like Chrome, Gmail and Maps in Swahili means that our users will now have a much better experience of the web in their day-to-day lives. And this is just the beginning."
In Nairobi, Dr Leonard Chacha Mwita, chairman of the Kiswahili and African Languages Department at Kenyatta University said; "Such locally-relevant web tools will no doubt foster integration by enabling East Africans to communicate, learn and work together with greater ease."
