The use of mobile internet in Kenya rose by 615.4% between November 2008 and November 2009, quite a heavy increase compared to other countries placed top 10 by  State of the Mobile Web, November 2009 a report by Opera, the most popular mobile browser currently. Got me thinking, Ghana is the biggest riser in this list, with over 4000% increase, followed by Kenya, the number of local mobile websites is ashamedly low and the increase within the said period of local mobile websites (or visits to them) is barely unnoticeable.

While the use of mobile internet is rising, content is lacking and this is where I say the African developers are sleeping on the job. We have most of the African traffic headed to Google, Facebook, Youtube, Yahoo and other major American sites, while the local websites remain unnoticed. Its funny that on that list, Safaricom’s wapsite is not even on the top 10 of the Kenyan traffic while its the start page on default browsers on mobile phones if you are using their connection.

I have mentioned before that corporates need to brace up to these stats and start giving mobile web the place it deserves. Nation Media is one of the most visited website in Kenya on the web but its also not appearing on the list because their site is not mobile friendly and they do not have a wap version – Standard group appears at number 10 because they actually have a mobile news site.

For the next few years, the best traffic you will get on the African web is mobile and this is a challenge to developers to provide mobile content for Africa and you will create traffic like never before.

Well, Safaricom, thanks to M-Pesa, has done it again by scooping the Gold Award on the category Best Mobile Money Services for M-Pesa Money Transfer Service. Makes it the solo African winner. Below are the final winners of the Mobile Content Awards 2009

Winners – Mobile Content Awards 2009

Best Operator

Gold – Orange UK
Silver – CSL
Bronze – FREEDOM4 WiFi

Best Handset

Gold – HTC for HTC Hero
Silver – Nokia for Nokia 5800
Bronze – Research in Motion for BlackBerry Curve 8900 Smartphone

Most Innovative Business Model

Gold – Orange UK for Orange Dolphin
Silver – Spin3 for Mobile Casino Partner Program
Bronze – i-wood for Permission Based Mobile Marketing

Best Handset Application

Gold – Financial Times for FT iPhone Application
Silver – Alchemy Content / MSHK for Ministry of Sound Clubbers Guide to Ibiza iPhone Application
Bronze – Airborne Mobile for Homes on Mobile Phones Real Estate Application

Best Marketing Campaign

Gold – Samsung Mobile UK for Carphone Warehouse Interactive In Store Window Display
Silver – OgilvyOne for Kodak Snow Stories Mobile Application
Bronze – Clickatell for SMS Speech Excerpts to Global Citizens by President Obama (From Cairo to Ghana)

Best Social Communities and UGC

Gold – Utel for FOTOCHAT
Silver – aka-aki for The People Nearby Application
Bronze – Cellufun, Inc for Cellufun

Best Technology Innovation

Gold –  Movidia for MA1110
Silver – dotMobi for Instant Mobilizer
Bronze – DeviceAnywhere for DeviceAnywhere Proof Center

Best Mobile TV and Video Service

Gold – Vantrix Corporation for Media Profiler
Silver – QuickPlay Media for PrimeTime2Go
Bronze – Mobix Interactive for 3 on Demand

Best Mobile Game and Gambling Service

Gold – Spin3 for Mobile Gambling Software
Silver – Cellectivity for Bet2Go Mobile
Bronze – HeroCraft for High Speed 3D

Best Mobile Money Services

Gold – Safaricom for M-Pesa Money Transfer Service
Silver – Accumulate for Accumulate Mobile Everywhere
Bronze – Valimo Wireless for Valimo Mobile ID

Best Start-Up Company

Winner – eyeSight Mobile Technologies

Industry Personality of the Year

Winner – Pieter de Villiers of Clickatell