Africa’s biggest online social network, Mxit, plans to expand its business model by focusing more on helping third party developers to build apps for the service.

Speaking at the Tech4Africa conference in Johannesburg, South Africa yesterday, Andy Volk, vice president for developer relations at Mxit, said app development is the next logical step for the company.

According to him, Mxit runs on over 3000 models of mobile devices, that range from smartphones to basic feature handsets.

Mxit also has 50 million active users across Africa who send about 750 million messages daily, making it the perfect platform for developers, said Volk.

But the firm only has 74 apps on its application showcase page on its website.

“Basically what we are trying to do on Mxit with the app development platform is to extend the ability of a feature phone,” he said.

Volk says developers shouldn’t have to ‘overthink’ application building processes as building apps on Mxit is simple and presents the potential to reach large crowds in quick time.

Therefore, the firm has unveiled a four step process for app development on Mxit, which involves creating an application in the web code language HTML, uploading the application to a host, registering its web address, and adding it as a contact.

He added that Mxit also plans to implement a set of rules, which would restrict developers from building, for instance, pornographic or gambling apps.

Volk also explained that revenues are planned to be split between the developers and the company, with 70% going to developers and 30% going Mxit after deduction costs.