Founded in January 2011, Mobicanvas is a web tool that helps small-to-medium enterprises and startups generally to easily and cheaply build, promote and monetise their own mobile websites.

The mobicanvas web interface provides a unique way to build a mobile site without any development costs and you can have your mobile site deployed on a domain of your choice in minutes.

With mobicanvas, you can build a mobile website quickly and easily using a drag and drop feature on the mobile site builder. The tool allows you to choose from a selection of themes to customize the look and feel of your mobile site. You can change the colours, header, footer and even add your own images.

Mobicanvas lets you choose from a wide selection of widgets such as twitter feeds, weather, finance, google maps, custom forms, user polls, mobile optimized rss feeds and downloadable content (videos, audio, and images), etc to add functionality to your mobile site.

Mobicanvas mobile site builder from Mobi Canvas on Vimeo.

As an extension of the Mobicanvas service, a worldwide bulk SMS interface is offered with competitive global rates. This could come in handy should you want inform your existing database of contacts about your offerings via SMS.

Mobile sites built using Mobicanvas (e.g sitename.mobicanvas.com) come with Admob ads by default, but you can remove such ads by upgrading to a premium account which costs $10 USD (about N1500) per month. In order to host a custom domain (e.g. sitename.mobi), you’ll have to pay $10 USD and all payments are done via PayPal.

Mobicanvas has already hosted more than 100 sites since launch. Some great examples of mobile sites built using Mobicanvas include m.thedailymaverick.co.za, soulcandi.mobicanvas.com and thepresidencyfm.mobicanvas.com

This is a sponsored post.

In the infographic below, Opera looks at the percentage of users who visit the top social sites, and the percentage of page views being directed toward those sites.

The above graph shows the percentage of users who visit the top social networking sites in the top 20 countries, including Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.

The above graph shows the percentage of page views being directed toward those social networking sites in the top 20 countries, including Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.

No doubt, Facebook is the most popular social networking site in Africa.

Image Via: Opera.com

Vanguard, one of Nigeria’s leading newspapers has emerged on the list of top 5 most visited sites in Nigeria on the Opera Mini browser, according to the April edition of the Opera Mobile Web Report.

The report ranks Vanguard just below BBC.co.uk, thus beating other content news sites such as Wikipedia, Goal.com and CNN Mobile. In February, the site ranked 8th most visited site in Nigeria on the Opera Mini report.

Vanguard has since improved on their content production and distribution and seemed to have re-evaluated their content strategy. Vanguard now remains the 2nd most visited news site after the BBC site and Nigeria’s most visited site on Opera Mini.

Some of the reasons for this surge in the rankings could be attributed to the Nigerian elections in April 2011, which saw a huge increase in mobile usage and hunger for election-related news and reports.

Another reason could be that Vanguard sits on the default landing page of the opera mini browser, so it’s natural to expect existing and first time users of the Opera Mini browser to visit the site.

Will Vanguard move up further in the rankings? I doubt this. In fact, the site will likely drop in the rankings in the Opera Mini report for May 2011, particularly because the elections are over.

Will other Nigerian news sites copy Vanguard’s mobile web strategy? While I’m not sure if they even have a strategy – whatever they’re doing – it’s sure working for them.

We’ve received several unverified reports that mobile communications were shut down in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city on May 29, following a directive by the Federal Government.

ITNewsAfrica reported that,

“Nigerian customers are angry over the recent mobile network shutdown in Abuja. Most mobile kiosks stopped operating on May 29. The mobile network disruption are part of the government’s continued apathy towards its citizens.”

It further said that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) was unresponsive to questions as to why the networks were closed, saying that it was the Government’s decision.

“We cannot divulge complete information as to what the nature of the shutdown was for or why it happened, all we can say is that the networks are back up and running smoothly as of Monday,” said an unnamed source, according to ITNewsAfrica.

Visafone, one of the CDMA operators in Nigeria was reported to have informed its customers in a text message about the directive, saying: “Dear customer, as directed by the federal government, our service will be suspended from 6am-10pm on May 29 at Eagle Square, Abuja. Inconveniences regretted”, according to AllAfrica.com

While we’re not sure, the directive may be connected to efforts by the government to forestall possible attacks or disruptions of the inauguration ceremony at Eagle Square on Sunday May 29.

Already, two government websites (NDDC and NAPEP) were hacked last week in protest of the Federal Government’s decision to spend N1 billion (over $6 million) for President Jonathan’s inauguration on May 29.

There were also threats to cripple the telecommunication companies and mobile networks, if the Nigerian Government decides to go on with the N1b inauguration budget.

MobileMonday (MoMo), the global networking event that gathers mobile enthusiasts, developers and visionaries in the mobile space in different countries launched a Nigerian chapter, MoMo Nigeria in March 2011.

This May, the 2nd meetup of mobile enthusiasts and developers in Lagos, Nigeria have been organized by MoMo Nigeria.

The event details are as follows:

Date: Monday, May 23, 2011

Venue: Robert’s (Brown’s) Cafe, 16B Akin Olugbade Street Victoria Island, Lagos.

Time: 5:30 PM – 8:00 PM (GMT+1)

Theme: Government Policy & Mobile Business in Nigeria

AGENDA

5:00 – 5:29          Arrivals
5:30 – 5:35          Welcome
5:36 – 5:42          MoMo Nigeria Update
5:43 – 6:00          Theme Introduction
6:01 – 6:47          Moderated Discussion
6:48 – 7:09          Policy Proposals
7:10 – 7:50          Networking + Light snacks
7:51 – 8:00          Closing

Since 2000, MobileMonday chapters have been meeting offline at physical monthly events – around the world – to explore the many new and exciting opportunities of the mobile industry.

MoMo is a tool to help the mobile industry achieve benefits for everyone by spreading knowledge and encouraging people with good ideas to take action.

So join “mobile folks” in Lagos at MobileMonday this evening to examine how mobile tools and technologies can contribute to making our neighborhoods, our cities, our societies, and our lives better.

View photos from the 1st Mobile Monday event in Lagos here.

Google has just launched AdSense for mobile content in 15 new countries, including Nigeria. It was initially launched to 13 countries in September 2007.

Before now, web publishers in Nigeria could only earn money from ads on their websites, but now can equally earn from their site’s mobile version.

AdSense for mobile content allows publishers to generate earnings from their mobile webpages using targeted Google ads. Just like AdSense for content, Google now matches ads to the content of your mobile site so you can earn money whenever visitors to your mobile site click on the ads they see.

In May 2010, Google acquired AdMob, a leading mobile advertising network that develops innovative mobile-specific ad units and solutions. The aim was to significantly enhance their mobile display ad services for publishers.

In this case, AdSense automatically detects the type of phone viewing your mobile site and delivers ads to match. For example, if someone views your site through an iPhone, Google would deliver ads specifically designed for high-end phones.

Google’s AdSense for mobile content ad units may only be used in mobile websites only, not in mobile applications.

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Saheed Adepoju, Co-founder & CEO of Encipher Group where he shares insightful analysis into Google’s possible strategy towards merging the recently unveiled Chromebook with android-powered devices. He argues that Google will not kill the android ecosystem with the Chromebook and further provides insights into the Google way to Cloud Computing. The post was first published on the Encipher Group website and flags off a series of sponsored posts from Encipher.

At the just concluded, Google I/O, something fascinating was unveiled, the Google Chromebook. According to their website, Chromebooks are built and optimized for the web, where we all already spend about 90% of our time. It would be available from June 15th in stores around the world.

It is believed that Chromebooks would destroy Windows powered laptops and change the way we do our computing, I couldn’t agree more but from an entirely different perspective.

It has also been said that Chromebooks might destroy the Android ecosystem and its advances and ultimately the Android tablets. Well, I simply don’t agree. Why? Because I don’t think a company as big as Google would allow their products to kill each other or at least have seen that they might be a clash in the future of both innovative thinking.

In one of such discussions that Chrome is going to kill android, it is said that Google may scale back its android development because of Chrome. Although this was way back in 2009, I still think that most industry experts still believe that end users still need to choose between both platforms.

However, this year’s Consumer Electronic show (CES 2011) gave rise to a seemingly interesting product which most industry experts may have missed: Motorola Atrix 4G.

From the specifications, it feels seemingly decent but the real deal with the Motorola Atrix isn’t the phone but the Laptop dock accessory. The beauty about the dock is that it is powered by the Atrix’s Tegra-2 processor which is a dual-core 1Ghz processor. When docked, it charges the Motorola Atrix and launches a tiny kernel within the laptop Dock and this mode is called Webtop mode. It has generated a lot of buzz and interests amongst tech savvy geeks and also corporate executives who want a phone laptop combo without the risk of losing anything if both devices get missing.

Google, I believe is going to build a combo just like the Motorola Atrix and its laptop dock. It would eventually be Android powered Chromedock devices. Since Android 2.4 (codenamed: Ice-cream Sandwich) is said to be the end of android fragmentation and the merging of tablet experience and the mobile experience, unifying it brings developers some relief as they would just end up coding once and the experience is shared across multiple devices. I believe this is simply the beginning of Google unveiling their ultimate product line up yet, the unification of Android Ice-cream sandwich and the Chromebook.

The Chromedock essentially would be no different from the Motorola laptop dock. Both are powered by a tiny Linux kernel, both run applications within a browser, Firefox for Motorola and ChromeOS for ChromeDock. So I believe the upcoming Tegra-3  chip (quad-core based) would be an interesting mix to the entire deal as I believe that future Chromebooks would spot a dock-like feature which would allow Android ICS be docked and access all your contacts, applications via the Chrome browser and allow a user switch between Android-mode & Chromebook mode. In the end, it would be beautiful to fully live in the cloud as described by Google.

Since Google already has a solid move in it ChromeOS venture and partnerships with ACER & SAMSUNG, I believe these partners can develop ChromeDocks for future Android-powered phones. In the end, ACER, SAMSUNG and others would release Android-powered phones to work respectively with their ChromeDocks stations. Even Encipher would jump on this bandwagon.

What’s the future like?

Google’s strategy is to take over cloud computing not just via services but control the hardware and also certify such hardware. Their ultimate strategy isn’t really to kill the laptop PC running windows OS but to take over a budding cloud computing enterprise where industry players are yet to really make a big dent. In a bid to win the race for social, which Facebook currently dominates, they are creating hardware to help them connect to this social experience and monetize via it. I believe with such integration, Google kind of puts a dent in the social media experience in being able to integrate your social experience on a mobile device and ChromeDocks.

This also appeals to enterprises as Google has almost any services that are done in premise.  Their Google Apps & Google Apps marketplace has a plethora of applications that can compete with Microsoft anytime. Apps ranging from Google enterprise mail to ERP solutions. And this list is endless. Some are free while some are on a rent basis which allows one to ensure ROIs immediately rather than spend so much and wait for ROIs later on during the quarters.

Microsoft also has a cloud strategy for its products and also gaining recognition but with its slow pace within the tablet market and the mobile space, in the end a combo like a Android powered Tegra-3 device and a ChromeDocks might eventually slow down their pace in being king in such a thriving and bubbling space. This futuristic move might as well kill Microsoft in the enterprise market space where it is currently king. Although I strongly believe Microsoft office is still a killer reason why anyone would stick to Windows for a long time to come.

This also would eat deeply into other ERP solution providers like SAP and Oracle as all infrastructures would be hosted by Google and small start ups can compete with the big boys in terms of scalability without breaking the bank.

What’s in it for developers?

This could be a dream come true. Java’s inspiration as always been, “Write once, run everywhere”. Everywhere refers to any platform be it SPARC, INTEL etc. I believe with Android ICS + ChromeDocks, it would really be a true “Write once, run on every device”, every device being Tablets + Mobile + PC (Chromebooks, Windows, Linux), Apple (via Safari).

Developers wouldn’t need to boot different operating systems to build innovative programs anymore as there now cloud-based IDEs (e.g. Cloud9) which allows developers build and execute web apps straight from your browser. This would enable developers build scalable applications and test on Google App Engine instantly and test it out on the mobile for mobile phones, tablet via the tablet features of ICS via the Chromebook interface emulator for Tablets and finally on Chromebooks itself for a browser feel. Also remember, the Google web-based IDE for Android development (App Inventor) which allows building Android apps straight from your browser to the docked Android phone and tested straight from the ChromeDocks interface for mobiles all courtesy of the power of the ChromeOS.

What’s in the bank for Google?

At the end of the day, this has to translate to revenue for Google. As always, they have been generating revenue from search since inception and I believe it would be no different. Now that they certify both products (Chromebook & Android ICS), I believe they would invade users with ads (though in a positive way).

Interestingly, Chromebooks (ChromeDocks) could have a segment to the right-hand side with interactive HTML-5 ads which changes when a user searches for results. When a phone is docked, it instantly displays relevant apps from the market place which a user may choose to install directly on the docked phone and either played via the ChromeDocks or when the phone is undocked.

With YouTube having a lot of user-generated content and now trying to gain Live-TV attention, your bet is as good as mine. Youtube may replace your TV which in turn translates to more revenue for Google. It would be cool to have HDMI outputs from the ChromeDock to your TV and allows the user watch TV comfortably and use Bluetooth keyboard/Mouse to control the ChromeDocks (with phone docked) and can interact. Adverts would be streamed and played for the user based on interests all stored up in the cloud.

What’s fishy about all these?

Security

It all sounds good and fun, until a breach happens someplace and it dents our happiness. The recent SONY PLAYSTATION breach is a classic example. A lot of enterprises still love on-premise computing as they can safe-guard their data and also prevent exploitation from cloud infrastructure. Google must be able to ensure secured data and also timely delivery of critical transactions whilst using cloud-based applications.

Integrity

Would Google keep their integrity and maintain their mantra? The mantra “Don’t be evil” has shaped them to become a world-class company but occasional breaches such as the Google Street cars snooping of Wi-Fi passwords can dent such integrity especially since a ChromeDocks + Android combo would highly depend on such integrity. However, Google has been a kind company in admitting to such mistakes and I believe they genuinely admit when they cross lines that breaches their motto.

Outage

Ok, I love the idea of outsourcing all my on-premise computing infrastructure to the cloud but what in the world do I do if Google cloud infrastructure goes off for a few hours? I sit and hope they fix it. There have been outages even from the masters of cloud infrastructures. Amazon, Microsoft and Google occasionally report outage and end up apologizing. I believe we cannot dodge this fact since we are talking about computers running the infrastructure. They break down, parts needs to be replaced; OS needs to be upgraded etc. However, I believe Google in time would master the loopholes and provide incredible failovers for such outages. Only time will tell.

Bandwidth

Well, for most part of North America and some other parts of the world, this isn’t an issue but writing from Nigeria and being part of a budding enterprise here, it is a heavy concern. How would a thriving startup here plug into such an innovative idea without decent broadband?  They can’t. However there is hope, with more cables landing, I believe the prices would go down much further producing more competition and faster speed. It is also good that it is happening now so when the combo hits, we would be able to enjoy the innovation as well within Nigeria.

Final Thoughts

I hope I have been able to shed more light into what I believe might be a strategy Google might employ to marry both Android ICS + Chromebooks into what I have termed (Android ICS + ChromeDocks). Disclosure: I don’t work for Google so these are entirely my own insights and forecasts for a thriving cloud computing industry.

I believe strongly that Google I/O 2012 would be a very interesting one for Android + Chromebooks. They might even be giving away the duo for free. Either way, I hope to participate at Google I/O in 2012.

Saheed Adepoju is the Co-founder & CEO of Encipher Group, a software development company based in UK and Nigeria with expertise in ensuring that products and services are always available on the “cloud”, regardless of platform or device.

Image via: Reuters

We’ve just learnt that Thisday, one of Nigeria’s leading newspapers have launched an iPad version, available on the Apple app store. The app was released on April 14, 2011.

Currently on version 1.1, the Thisday iPad app (1.1 MB) requires iOS 3.2.2 or later and is available in English and German languages. It was developed by Decisive Media Innovations Ltd.

The last time we covered ThisDay, it was about their launching of a new website on their N7.5million domain name (thisday.ng), which they ‘supposedly’ bought through NIRA’s auction process. That purchase made them the first Nigerian company to acquire the .ng second level domain.

We’ll get our hands soon on the app and do a detailed review.

Nigeria’s mobile advertising market is currently undergoing a “seemingly unstoppable growth trajectory” according to BuzzCity’s recent quarterly report of the mobile internet.

Driven by an ongoing consumer demand for mobile content, a total of 189.9m ads were served to 3.84m unique users in March 2011. Compare that to March 2010, just a year ago when about 40 million ad impressions were served.

With a Q4 2010 to Q1 2011 growth rate of 43%, Nigeria remained in 9th place on the list of top 10 mobile advertising countries in the world and now has a recommended bid (Cost-per-click) rate of USD 0.04.

The report also shows that consumer demand for (paid) content saw an upsurge of mobile apps and games downloads. As a result, Nigeria ranked 3rd on the list of most active countries for game downloads with over 1.5 million game downloads and  a 3% Q-on-Q growth as at March 2011.

BuzzCity is a mobile media company offering brand owners and agencies access to a global advertising network on the mobile internet. As a leading international player, BuzzCity has developed in-depth knowledge of the mobile consumer and provides marketers with clear opportunities to reach this audience via its advertising and publisher programmes.

Here’s the full report courtesy of BuzzCity.

Perhaps the most memorable royal wedding to date is that between Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer who got married on the 29^th of July, 1981 at St Paul’s Catheral before an invited audience of 3,500 and an estimated global TV audience of 750 million.

Fast-forward to 2011, about 30 years later and we are about to witness the first social media royal wedding between Prince William & Catherine Middleton, which could become the most memorable royal wedding of all time. William is second in line to the throne and marrying Middleton will make her the next Queen.

Apart from news coverage that could attract viewership from more than 1 billion people around the world, it is expected that people all over the world will be tweeting, facebooking and blogging on the day of the Royal Wedding.

Already, discussions about the Royal Wedding have taken over social media. According to Greenlight, a London-based independent search marketing specialist and technology firm, new research shows that in the past seven days the royal nuptials are getting one new mention every 10 seconds.

About 12 years ago, the world witnessed a Royal Wedding between Prince Edward Windsor and Sophie Rhys-Jones on the 19th of June 1999, but without the help of social media. Even the last Royal Wedding between Peter Phillips, the Queen’s eldest grandson and Autumn Kelly on 17 May 2008 (in the age of social media) couldn’t produce the world’s first social media royal wedding.

But on the 29^th of April, 2011, the world, yeah I mean even the worldwide web and the social web will witness the first ‘Royal Wedding’ of the digital age between Prince William & Catherine Middleton.

The Official Royal Wedding website for Prince William and Catherine Middleton’s wedding was launched on 2nd March and has received 9.5 million page views as at 19th April. The website features news and information about the royal wedding which holds at Westminster Abbey, London at 10 am (GMT +1).

The site, powered by the Google Apps Engine, provides details about the service, the procession and the reception. It also features exclusive photos and videos, including links to official Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Youtube accounts as well as a virtual tour of Buckingham Palace.

For such a significant and historic event, social media has cemented its place in our lives and it’ll be interesting to see what impact this event would have on social media usage for future weddings.

Will the royal wedding help increase people’s hunger for social media weddings? Will you use social media for your wedding? If you’re already married, do you wish you used social media?