South African application (app) PriceCheck was named International App of the Year at BlackBerry Live, BlackBerry’s annual international partner conference, in Orlando, Florida on Wednesday night. The app, an extension of South African comparison shopping website www.pricecheck.co.za beat 100 000 BlackBerry 10 applications from around the world after making the BlackBerry Achievement Awards shortlist and then being voted for by the international public. “What is most gratifying is that users chose an app that makes a difference to their lives,” Andre de Wet, general manager of PriceCheck, said in a statement on Thursday. “Not a social or chat app, but one that helps them make better buying decisions. “The fact that a South African app won demonstrates what I have always believed – Africa is leading the way in terms of useful, elegant and technically sophisticated mobile application development.” De Wet said that nearly two years of research, development and subsequent fine-tuning had gone into the app, which “takes the best of the BlackBerry handset and the PriceCheck platform and presents an intuitive, functional and incredibly useful app to the user”. According to PriceCheck, the South African website generates monthly traffic of over 1-million unique shoppers searching for products on their web and mobile sites, with over 30% of this being mobile traffic. The website, owned by South African media group Naspers, recently reported rapid growth in the use of app, with weekend traffic in April surpassed that of the Christmas shopping period in December. De Wet attributes its growing success as a mobile price comparison tool to its ability to seamlessly integrate the shopping and buying experience. The app provides on-the-spot guidance with making a purchasing decision, driving highly qualified traffic directly to product pages through an advanced search and categorisation system. “Mobile shopping is not mobile buying,” De Wet said. “Our app is designed to help people shop, make decisions and get the best price. We have everything from daily updated pricing on 30-million items to expert reviews on 130,000 big-ticket items like cameras and television. “Our users are looking at products while in store and confirming that the product and price is right.” PriceCheck launched in Nigeria this month, and according to De Wet will be expanding into Kenya and Ghana by the end of the year. *Source African Globe
