One year of Mxit open APIs [Infographic]

It’s the birthday of Mxit’s open APIs and the launch of its mobi portal. To celebrate the last year we’re not having cake, but rather showcasing a lovely infographic on the South African social network’s developer (dev) and app growth.

Since the mobi portal launched in April 2012, 126 active developers have launched 219 apps onto the platform, showing steady progress.

Highlighting the infographic’s stats, the 2012 to 2013 growth saw between five to 35 apps published each month, taking the total number of apps on the platform from 209 in March 2012 to 428 in March 2013.

In terms of categories, entertainment leads the way with 23% while finance lags at seven percent. Strategy games lead the games categories with 19% followed by simulation games at 17%.

Mxit’s app store is quite different to Apple’s iTunes in terms of monetisation. All apps are installed for free, and monetisation takes place in-app, through purchases and advertising.

In-app purchasing is facilitated by Moola – Mxit’s virtual currency – which is valued at R1 to 100 Moola. There is a 70/30 revenue split (after costs) of Moola spent in favour of the developers. Mxit’s “rules of the road” warn though, that in the case of disputes the platform will side with the user by default.

Another avenue for revenue is advertising. Developers may display approved ads in their apps, and will receive a 70% share of the profits generated.

Mxit’s Sarah Rice said this of its app-ecosystem:

“Mxit launched in-app advertising in June 2012. Since then we have seen that the split between revenue coming from in-app spending (Moola) and advertising has settled into a 60/40 split. 60% Moola and 40% advertising across all our applications. “

It appears that in-app purchases are the most effective way for devs to make money within the ecosystem, yet there is a third option, with the preferred developer programme launched in February this year.

In short, the programme recognises and rewards the best developers focused on building apps for third parties. So far there are eight members of programme, including NATIVE, Kazazoom and Springfisher.

To see the full size infographic, click the image.