Google strategy for Africa penetration

GOOGLE has to tailor its offerings to work better on cellphones if it is to make real headway in Africa, the group said yesterday according to the Business Day. In a continent with a dearth of computers, the cellphone is the only way most people can get online. “The majority of people coming online will be doing it through mobile. We have to find better ways to conduct a search over a mobile phone.” Google’s support for multiple languages sees it offer its search services in Afrikaans, Sesotho, Zulu and Xhosa. Merrill said he was keen to add SA’s other indigenous languages.

AFRO-IP adds that brand owners ought to consider registering translations of their trade marks to ensure they are properly protected as keywords, which in itself is a dynamic and unsettled area of trade mark law worldwide.