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    Local App Developers Needs Mentorship, They Just Don’t Get it

    Posted In Applications - By Tech Mtaa On Saturday, January 14th, 2012 With 14 Comments

    I can tell you for a fact that I get more than 15 apps to review every month. Some of them comes from Africa while a good number also comes from Eastern Europe and Asia. I also get Kenyan apps to check out. Few wow me so they don’t go beyond my trash folder while sometimes I even feel insulted that anyone might try to contact me to share such a shoddily done app.

    There are moments when I appreciate the effort and honestly tell the developers. I have been told of an upcoming app by a friend on Facebook. The friend (name withheld) has been telling me of an upcoming app “which will wow the hearts of soccer lovers.” The app was supposed to be out by 9th January for review. I always don’t give a hoot on the deadline given out by the developers so I thought I could just let them do it at their own pace. It is very hard surviving as a mobile app developer from Africa. The odds are against you in many ways.

    Payuka Local App Developers Needs Mentorship, They Just Dont Get it

    So the app, Payuka, was meant to wow me as a soccer lover to get to share the fun of soccer with other football fans. First in Swahili, Payuka means shed original colour (fade) or wobble (flip-flop).

    The app in question is more of a confused undertaking than a serious challenger. You know which apps rocks in the Android market when it comes to soccer news. They are the Goal, Eurosport, Livescore and ESPN’s ScoreCentre of this world. None of these apps can be replaced by such a lousy app called Payuka. You see, most of the above apps depends on very comprehensive database to get me football scores, stats and related news and allows me to share the experience with my friends. The apps gives me scores in realtime which Payuka will not manage (it is just not easy to do that).

    I strongly believe that Payuka should have started by focusing on the Kenyan Premier League then from the earnings, branching out to other East African states. Content is not an easy thing. And when you want an app like Payuka to rely on RSS/XML feeds for survival, you are basically deceiving yourself. There are many factors which makes it hard for such an app to get the correct feeds. You can’t just rely on third-party data to effectively run a data hungry application like Payuka. YOU WONT SUCCEED!!

    The apps like Goal and Eurosport provides you with even second-by-second Tweets, posts and Facebook comments which Payuka will never manage. Eurosport and Goal have further ability to even stream videos live or recorded.

    The gist of this post is that not well app developers should not chew what they can’t swallow. You are biting big chunks. You can’t beat the competition by building shaky castles on windy planes. You need to start small and expand gradually. Content is KING. On apps like sports scores and news monitoring apps, as long as you rely on third-party data, the users will not take long to figure the source and they will go to the source. Provide unique, consistent andd ever virgin data. Don’t be scavengers for expired data.

    Payuka is a great app in feel but the was the app pulls data, it means that it has to rely on some third-party source. This is the time for app developers to sit down and develop apps for soccer in Kenya since the season is yet to start. When the season starts, you will get those who would want the scores of Gor Mahia, AFC Leoparts, Ulinzi, Mathare, Hope and others on their fingertips. We are missing the chance by focusing on areas already saturated.

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    About - Blogger,Web 2.0 and Social Media Addict, Web 2.0 user, All around advocate of all things Tech. Current affairs is my Food.

    • Local App Developer

      What do journalists know beyond their pens and notebooks.

    • Gitau

      Well! Well! All I can say about the app in context is that it is great, I used it jana for my matchday and I’ve never seen goal.com cover the Australian league which was live on the app.may be the publisher of this article took to post a blog as usual just to do what he does best. Hate on!

    • Mwallala

      The app is actually not what I would give serious thought. Kenyan developers need to look deep into what they really want. This is not encouraging. Looks more like playing with app wizard then putting RSS as source

    • Joshua Wanyama

      Thanks for the blog post Robert. Clearly, you didn’t understand what this app does. I will repeat it again so maybe you get a better understanding. This app is NEVER meant to replace Goal or Eurosport (which I use religiously). This app is meant to be a conversation point for people watching football or following live feeds to talk to each other during game time. The key data here is input from users, NOT feeds or news. We are not in the news business neither are we in data collection business. Give us someone who is producing data for the Kenyan Premier League and we will incorporate it.

      Another thing, this app covers conversation during gameplay and I haven’t seen anyone else dedicated to it worldwide. So why wouldn’t I want to maximize this open market and choose to restrict myself to KPL? That just doesn’t make sense. Before you judge something, maybe you should actually understand what it is meant to do. But once again, thanks for the “review”.

      • http://www.techmtaa.com Robert Alai

        During game play, GOAL, ESPN Soccernet app and Eurosport have better sharing with almost 15 social media connecting options. If you wan’t people who massage your ego, look elsewhere. I tell you my thoughts. You don’t like it, that is your problem but my duty in this world is to be honest with my friends.

        I repeat, you need to have looked no further than local scene. You are really trying hard to compete with people who have the money to get all the content themselves. Even starting to have two content generators follow only matches of two popular local teams will give you a headway.

        Nothing comes easy. You will never succeed with an app depending on easily available data. 

    • Clayton Ongige

      It is a high time for local app developers to learn what the local market want. We can only generate interest in local apps by matching or exceeding the quality of international apps that people are already used to.

    • http://www.techmtaa.com Robert Alai

      And you measure the success of an app by how many times it is praised on Kiss and Classic? That is a symptom of why you really need a reality check. I can pay people to sing praises to me

    • http://www.techmtaa.com Robert Alai

      And you want to say that insults will make the app popular. I wonder how much you are paid to lick ass? Its always peanuts anyway

    • Anonymous

      Sadly, I agree with Techmtaa on this one. I looked at Payuka and I was disappointed that we do not have IN THIS REGION an app that covers East African soccer in depth let alone Kenyan comprehensively. Secondly, the site has no 

      I don’t follow European soccer out of possibly a misplaced anti-colonialist view. One thing I appreciate is soccer is business and Kenya has all that it needs for hat to take off. After talking to a few local soccer buffs, it is estimated that in 3 -5 years we will see soccer grow and regional stars will be coming to Kenya to play in the premier league.

      Payuka doesn’t need to compete with international apps simply because it cannot create a paradigm for soccer that has ascended to the global standard.

      If you asked me, I would get a soccer analyst and give him shares and let him generate content in terms of team structures, strategies and tactics. Then move to regional alliances and “dream” soccer teams based on regional players. Open up this to your audience.

      Create a mobile web app for those who are not on Android yet. Get them hooked. Pay for the site with premium adds.

      From my little mobile web experience, it is international visitors who will hook into Payuka because there is a shortage of this info from East Africa. If the info is good, it will viral across other soccer sites. Only then will Kenyans pick it up. By then, Payuka is a star.

      I heard on BBC, someone ask why there were no East African nations in the Africa Cup. Guess what? No one had an answer. By the way, if Payuka “zubaa” on this expect someone else to pick it up and run.

      • http://www.techmtaa.com Robert Alai

        Thanks @Afrowave:disqus . Lets be honest

    • Festus

      You were in a great hurry to launch this ‘review’ of Payuka that you forgot to check your spelling and grammar. 
      It’s ‘local app developers need,’ not needs.  ’Some of them come, not comes.’  

      • http://www.techmtaa.com Robert Alai

        I thought you had problems with making neccessary apps only. English is also a problem? You don’t know the difference between “need” and “needs” as well as “comes” and “come”.

        Joshua will surely have lots of problems getting to work with such people. I live on content. I know which content sells in Kenya and which one does not. I have sold 3 companies dealing with content.

        Concentrate on making the app better and stop the mediocrity. It is appalling. You guys are looking for ego massagers and not honest reviewers. Look elsewhere. I love it that Beth Ondego is very quiet in all these

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TT37PAP3BV7EZ2UV5DIZ4EVGAI Jaffar

      This is an interesting conversation, however the real tragedy is that the Tech World is unforgiving and most of our Kenyan developers are yet to accept this. Locally, we seem to be in a hurry to replicate the Facebook dream and become the next millionaire and therefore we spend time and resources trying to build something without seeing the need to have a near perfect and relevant solution (as in code, UI, content, support and relevance) that we can monetize as well. If you are keen and honest about the app scene in Kenya, then you will realize that we are not yet there. Too often we have clones poorly done and shipped without the benefit of effort and class. Obviously Payuka is an excellent attempt, but too often the Kenyan dream assumes that mediocrity is a goal in life, that is why what we hear on KISS FM about an app is enough to pass judgement. The relevant questions should be: What is the mark of a good app? Is there space for local content on our app scene? By the way, i always thought the “hater” gene is only present in our local “musicians”, kumbe it is in all of us. When you are criticised it doesn’t’ mean the critic is a hater. Good products are a result of criticism.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TT37PAP3BV7EZ2UV5DIZ4EVGAI Jaffar

      This is an interesting conversation, however the real tragedy is that the Tech World is unforgiving and most of our Kenyan developers are yet to accept this. Locally, we seem to be in a hurry to replicate the Facebook dream and become the next millionaire and therefore we spend time and resources trying to build something without seeing the need to have a near perfect and relevant solution (as in code, UI, content, support and relevance) that we can monetize as well. If you are keen and honest about the app scene in Kenya, then you will realize that we are not yet there. Too often we have clones poorly done and shipped without the benefit of effort and class. Obviously Payuka is an excellent attempt, but too often the Kenyan dream assumes that mediocrity is a goal in life, that is why what we hear on KISS FM about an app is enough to pass judgement. The relevant questions should be: What is the mark of a good app? Is there space for local content on our app scene? By the way, i always thought the “hater” gene is only present in our local “musicians”, kumbe it is in all of us. When you are criticised it doesn’t’ mean the critic is a hater. Good products are a result of criticism.