What Yahoo! can learn from a kelewele seller

Yahoo! says Flicker isn't available in Ghana

 Naa Merley is one of the earliest Kelewele sellers in her neighbourhood.
She enjoyed a greater share of the market until other Kelewele sellers began operations in the same neighbourhood. Naa wasn't disturbed because she still had customers loyal to her 'brand'.

Then reality hit.

Customers were patronising other vendors who had both kelewele and groundnuts for sale. They no longer bought Naa's kelewele, as it meant they had to go to another place to get the groundnuts.

The above scenario is what Yahoo! is facing. As a Yahoo! Mail user in Ghana, I am able to download and use the mobile app, but then I'm surprised I can't download and use the Flickr app -- Yahoo! says it's unavailable in Ghana.

I. Don't. Get. It.

If I can use the web versions of both services in Ghana, why can't I equally use the mobile apps?

Yahoo! Mail App is ready to be installed.

Customer retention is based on value being got out of using a product. If Yahoo! is really looking at gaining popularity and usage for its photo-sharing app Flickr, it has to make it available in countries -- like Ghana -- where photo marketing; local content creation using pictures is gaining ground.