Norwegian browser developer, Opera Mini has picked two Kenyan artists Brian Omolo and Lulu Kitololo for the creation of Hype, the first African chat service.
The two will collaborate in the creation of Hype’s sticker packs with an Africa theme to give Opera Mini browsers a variety of stickers when using the chat service.
Hype will be piloting the new product in the Kenyan market where Opera Mini users will enjoy an end-to-end encryption as they set up their Hype account.
“We are extremely happy to celebrate African culture with Hype. We are very excited to collaborate with Brian and Lulu. These unique stickers with original designs are something we are very proud of at Opera as we become the first major browser to integrate real African art and pop culture into our products,” said Charles Hamel, Product Lead for Hype according to People Daily.
Opera will make record in being the first entity to collaborate with African artistes in the chat service.
It has additional features such as WebSnap to make the chat experience better. A user can share the link from the original website where the snap was taken.
“Hype also brings WebSnap, a feature previously known from the Opera desktop browser,that allows users to take snapshots from the web. Once a websnap is captured, users can edit it by adding colors, text, and emojis, making it fun and entertaining before sharing with others,” Hamel added.
Opera is capitalizing on the user-friendly nature of the chatting service to get more users into the browser.