Apps have become the number one driving force behind the growth of the cellphone data economy.
However, instant messaging apps still hold the top positions under consumers' favourites - because of cost - as phone calls decreased and data usage increased.
This is according to two reports presented by World Wide Worx and First National Bank. The biggest shift has been in the use of banking apps, from 1% of people in the middle of last year to 9% late this year. Cellphone banking has grown from 28% to nearly 40%.
Between October last year and October this year, cellphone banking grew to over 5m users, with most users between the ages of 19 and 40. Users of the banking app have doubled to about 650,000 in the same period.
"We are looking at over 28,000 new devices every month and I expect this trend to continue over the next couple of years with the introduction of low-cost devices," said Dione Sankar, head of cellphone banking and messaging at FNB, adding that one in 10 banking customers were now using apps.
World Wide Worx's Arthur Goldstuck said that although SMSs remained important, there had been an increase in the use of instant messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook messenger. WhatsApp has seen a rise from 26% to 53% over the past year.
Goldstuck predicted "the death of the SMS" as the use of instant messaging apps increase and the price of SMSs remains high.
Source: The Times via I-Net Bridge
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