MXit app developers must create amusement, enterainment - Maxxor survey

As Adrian Frielinghaus, head of online games at Maxxor, explains: "One of the things we asked is what apps, besides games, do MXit users want? We ran a survey amongst our players and received an overwhelming response - almost 30 000 people completed a 30 question survey."

As it turns out, MXit users don't care too much for news headlines. What they do care about is hooking up, having fun, and finding out what their favourite celeb did last night. In order to appeal to this unique market, MXit app developers must continually create content that amuses, entertains and connects.

Users do not mind to pay for apps

Perhaps the best news for mobile software developers is that MXit users don't mind paying for apps as long as you give them exactly what they want. As Frielinghaus says: "This is precisely because MXit has spent years carefully grooming its users to buy virtual goods with virtual currency. This is made even easier by allowing them to easily convert their airtime into virtual MXit currency."

As might be expected, MXit users mostly use Nokia and Samsung handsets, but it is interesting to note that 11% of Maxxor's MXit users own BlackBerries. This flies in the face of some speculation that rapid BBM growth in the teen and youth market has been detrimental to the MXit platform. This is encouraging news for developers considering the iPhone or BlackBerry platforms because MXit provides an ideal way to get an app to the front of the mass market queue.

Almost 75% of Maxxor's surveyed users are accessing the web at least once a day on their mobile phones. In other words, the traditional MXit user is no longer trapped in a 'walled garden'. Software developers need to realise that MXit is now part and parcel of a greater Internet experience for mobile phone users.