Nokia, the world's largest manufacturer of mobile-phone handsets, is holding developers' forums to introduce the online store in Nairobi, Kenya, Kampala, Uganda and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

"Nokia is partnering with service providers in the region to provide payment through mobile money channels. We appreciate that the credit card is not widely used in the region," said Agatha Gikunda, Nokia's head of Messaging Services for Middle East and Africa.

The Ovi store is a marketplace where developers upload their applications and Nokia users can download them from anywhere in the world. The Ovi store is in direct competition with the Apple store for the iPhone.

Software developers in Africa have not been competing in global events or uploading applications online because of bandwidth concerns, lack of proper corporate structure and intellectual property issues.

"We have been organizing the Mobile Boot Camp at Strathmore University every year. People present very good mobile applications but they do not enter global competitions," said Jessica Colaco, the coordinator of the mobile boot camp.