Huawei Stimulates AppGallery Growth in South Africa

Huawei and the US government locked horns early last year. This resulted in the latter banned US companies from doing business with the former due to national security concerns. This meant that Google and several others were forced to kick Huawei out of their inner circle.

This has forced the company to rely on grow its own app ecosystem (AppGallery) to keep its phones relevant outside of China. South Africa is the latest nation to receive a growing number of new apps that are relevant to local users.

It’s part of Huawei’s global campaign to bring better value to its own range of apps. So far, five local partners were promoted across television commercials and AppGallery’s regional platforms, featuring specially created video footage and supporting imagery.

The company hopes to portray the usefulness of its AppGallery in terms of digital marketing, reach, and how it may help developers and publishers reach their target audience. Here are several South African apps that benefited from this approach:

• Capitec – Settle bank work remotely in a secure and easy manner without paying data charges on any of the major SA networks.
• Superbalist – With the widest selection of fashion products, Superbalist brings the latest trends and deals from 400+ of the most-wanted brands.
• Nandos SA – Satisfy PERi-PERi cravings with the official Nandos app where consumers can find the closest restaurant or order for collection or delivery.
• D6 School Communicator – Designed to simplify school-parent communication, D6 School Communicator shares all the information an engaged parent needs at the touch of a button.
• Showmax – Enjoy unlimited access with no ads to a huge online selection of TV shows, movies, kids show and documentaries with Showmax.

Huawei, conducted a survey by looking into what local developers need, and how the Chinese company might be able to help them grow and extend their reach. The road maps and technology provided are supposed to offer a huge variety of competitive routes for developers.

Apparently, the strategy is paying off. South Africa has seen an acceleration of local app creation. This has provided South Africans access to some popular local apps and services,such as Takealot, Woolworths, Zomato, SuperSport, News24, Absa Banking App.

This same campaign is taking place across 20 other countries, which indicates Huawei’s faith in its own app ecosystem. One of the top three mobile app market, AppGallery has been trying to gain a foothold in the mobile app space as an alternative to Google’s Play Store. It currently has 460 million active users across 170 regions, which may increase further with the new campaign.