2. INSERT IMAGE IN BACKGROUND
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A MONTHLY SNAPSHOT OF
MOBILE NEWS, VIEWS, EVENTS
& DEVELOPMENTS LOCALLY
AND ABROAD
3. HOW TO USE THIS REPORT
This report is intended as an easy-to-reference tool
It is a resource that allows you to easily flip through in your
own time – and not to necessarily read it from front-to-back
4. CONTENTS
» Executive Summary
» Section 1: Highlights from Mobile World Congress
» Section 2: Mobile Landscape
» Section 3: Mobile Marketing and Innovation
» Section 4: Mobile Devices and Operating Systems
» Section 5: Mobile Networks
» Section 6: Social Networks
» Sources and Contacts
6. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
» Angus Robinson, NATIVE’s Director of Mobile, attended this years Mobile World Congress (MWC). As a
special feature, we highlight some of his key insights from the 4 day conference in Barcelona.
» Several announcements were made at MWC 2013 including Visa and Samsung’s global alliance to boost
NFC payments adoption, and GM to rollout 4G LTE-embedded vehicles in 2014.
» Smartphones for emerging markets are becoming a popular topic of discussion with the launch of
Huawei’s low-end Windows Phone, and the release of Samsung’s new line of low cost touchscreen
phones called the REX series.
» Rumours included the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S IV being launched in New York on 15 March 2013
and Google’s plans to open its own retails stores.
» The wearable device market i.e. smart watches and Google Glass, is set to explode and definitely a
market to keep a close eye on.
» One of Kenya’s biggest MNO’s, Safaricom, will soon be phasing out the sales of feature phones to
increase smartphone adoption.
7. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
» JoziHub officially opened at 44 Stanley in Milpark, Johannesburg with the aim of connecting potential
entrepreneurs and developers with the critical resources they need.
» If you’re an advertiser you would be interested to know that a study showed that a lack of understanding
on mobile by brands and agencies is still a huge hurdle to developing mobile strategy.
» A survey conducted by Accenture revealed that South Africans spend more on consumer tech that its US
counterparts.
» In an effort to differentiate itself from rival WhatsApp, Blackberry is testing a mobile money transfer app
that will be integrated into BBM.
» Cell C challenges consumers to find out what they are paying their networks in its new campaign, while
the price wars continue to blaze. Vodacom has stepped up the challenge with its new ‘Red’ offering.
» Facebook celebrated its 9th birthday this month, while Instagram passed 100 million active users, just
two and a half years after its launch.
» In a first for Mxit , or any social platform for that matter, a full length feature film call A Lucky Man
premiered on the platform.
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THE MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS IS THE WORLD’S PREMIER MOBILE EVENT HOSTED IN THE
MOBILE WORLD CAPITAL BARCELONA
MORE THAN 72,000 ATTENDEES FROM 200 COUNTRIES WERE EXPOSED TO A WEALTH OF
LEARNING AND NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES; PRODUCT SHOWCASES AND
ANNOUNCEMENTS; AND INSPIRATION AND INNOVATION
10. 1. THE STATE OF THE
INDUSTRY
» The migration from 2G to 3G to 4G has been the fastest technology adoption
in history, pushing MNO’s to battle with new marketopportunities before the
previous generation’s ones have been fully realized.
» Randall Stevenson, AT&T CEO, said that we are moving from the mobile era
to the LTE and cloud era, for which he doesn’t really have an appropriate
name yet.
– The mobile cloud is one of the biggest business opportunities (and
challenges) that businesses face in the next 3-5 years.
» The investment in 4G/LTE is now a reality with rapidrollout planned this year
in both infrastructure, devices and services
» Data growth continues to cause network management challenges, with
more data consumed in 2012 than in all the previous years combined.
» A thought to ponder: if only 15% of the mobile subscribers have smartphones
and this is the amount of datatraffic being consumed, imagine what will
happenwhen the other 85% are smartphones. No wonder we need so many
undersea cables.
11. 2. MOBILE'S ROLE IN
VERTICAL DISRUPTION
» There is no doubt that many industries are primed for significant
transformation and disruption, largely driven by the access to reliable high-
speed mobile broadband.
» Nancy Brown from the American Heart Association, viewed mobile tech as
the game changer that puts healthcare in consumers' hands and
encourages taking control of their own health.
» Traditionally the relationship with a healthcare giver was limited to a few
minutes with poor communication and non-existent follow-up. Then the
internet happened:
– Searchwasthefirstwaveofdisruption inhealthcare,whereinformationmovedfrom
pushtopullwhereconsumersareempowered recipientsasco-creatorsofhealthissue
relatedcontent.
– Trackingisthesecondwaveofdisruption. Smartphonesandsensorshavemadeiteasy
totrackeverythingfromcountingsteps taken,toheartratemonitoringandevenmeal
types.
– Gamificationinhealthcarehasdeliveredamazingresultsinareallyshort timeframe
12. 3. 4G/LTE CONNECTIVITY
EMBEDDED IN CARS
» General Motors madea bold announcement that all its future cars will have
4G/LTE connectivity embeddedin them from the design phase of model
development, and not as a brought-in afterthought.
I loved his comment that General Motors has always been a mobility and
technology company,and now it's closing the loop with other mobile and
technology companies.
It has the General Motors Developer Portal which provides details of the APIs
(applicationprogramminginterface) availablefor appand service
development. Developers now have an entirely new platform to innovate for.
13. 4. MOBILE PREMIER
AWARDS
» The MPA’s are like the world cup for app developers. Countries around the
world have app development competitions with the finalist coming to
Barcelona every yearfor their 3 minute pitch to a panel of judges.
» The winner was atooma.com which is an ITTT (If This Then That) Development
Platform that allows anyone, yes anyone, to develop a series of commands that
tells the platform to perform certain tasks basedon triggers.
» Other interesting apps:
– Blindsquare -handsfreeGPSforblindpeopleusingFoursquaredata
– Circleme–aninterestbasedsocialnetworktoconnectwiththingsyouloveandonlythen
connectwithpeople
– Grabbity –acrazyaccelerometerbasedgamethatmakesyoulookmadwhileyouare
playing
– TheOne-TheHighlanderforsmartphoneswhereyoufightusingyoursmartphoneasthe
sword whenyoumeetachallengerinthestreet. Awesome.
– MyPrice–helpingfreelancerschargetherightamountfortheirservicesbasedonskills,
location,expensesandscarcity. Clever.
14. 5. THE NEXT FEW
BILLION
» There is no doubt what the impactof internet connectivity does to change
the lives of people, and it's clear that this access has to be via mobile
broadband.
Stephen Elop, CEO of Nokia was optimistic about the pace at which this
rollout is going to occur, "Connecting the next billion will occur much
more quickly than the first billion, of that we can be certain.”
» Gary Kovacs who is CEO of Mozilla Corporationsaid: “The first two billion
people took 20 years to connect to the internet, the next two billion will
take five years and will be coming from emerging markets. It's 'the next
generation”
» It's clear that offering services is one of the most importantthings to the
next few billion as they are younger, urbanpeople and not rural people as
assumed. By creating services that improveliteracy and healthcare, the
overall marketfor connectivity and commercewill lift mobile connections
past the nine billion mark.The same holds true for bankingas existing
financial institutions cannot offer branch networks to all. It must be
mobile.
15. 6. BIG BRANDS MAKING A
DIFFERENCE
» As always, a marketingdiscussion cannot go far without Unilever being
close. As the world's second largest advertiser,it has done some amazing
work across the globe using mobile in smart and simple campaigns.
Keith Weed, Unilever's CMOstated that "he wants to get to the future first
and wants Unilever to be the best mobile marketerin the world." He
shared their approachto integrating mobile into their marketingefforts:
– From360 to365
Fromtryingtosurroundthecustomerwithmessages,tobeingwiththemallthe
timeintherightcontext.
– Sevenbilliontoonepersonalization
Usingthepowerofpersonalisationtodeliverthevalue,notmessages,that
customersexpect.
– Digitaltorealworldintegration
Mobilehasthepowertoprovide enhancedexperiencesbytranscendingand
combiningthedigitalandphysicalworlds.
– 1+1=3-howpartnerships arethefuture
Unileveracknowledgesthatitcannotofferglobalsolutionsandcampaignscentrally
andthatitneedstopartnertodeliver localrelevance.
16. 7. THE OPEN MOBILE OS
ECOSYSTEMS
» It was the open source community's big entrance into what is generally
considered to be an unhealthy dominance by the two 'A's’.
» South African, MarkShuttleworth, delivered exceptionally articulate
arguments about the Ubuntu OS Mobile. Considering that his projects could
impactthe connectivity and therefore lives of so many people is a humbling
thought.
» Mitchell Baker,the founder of Mozilla didn'thold back when describing the
state of the mobile and internet industries. Her view that central control
destroys quality was demonstrated in this comment, "when products are
managedby large, dominantcustomers, they will decline to irrelevance. At
one time even Internet Explorer was a good high quality product.”
– Decentralised,web-based platforms arewhatshebelievesarethefutureformobileand
istheonlyapproachtobeabletodeliverwhatthe'rest oftheworld'requires.
» It is going to be tough for the open source movement to gain traction and
distribution, however, with the mobile operators fighting the dominance of
Apple and Android,and throwing their weight behind FirefoxOS, they might
just be ableto makea difference.
17. 8. THE CHALLENGES
WITH LOCATION
» It's clear that location is a complex concept for marketersand has not lived up
to the many years of hype and high expectations. Thankfully there are a
number of initiatives that are starting to really understand the location
opportunity and deliver solutions to supportthem.
» Qualcomm Labs, with its thousands of researchers, has launched a
contextual relevance platform,Gimbal (www.gimbal.com), that allows app
developers to include geo-fencing and relevance into appswithout having to
try and solve these challenges themselves.
» When developing the "Star Trek: Into Darkness" application,Paramount
Pictures used the Gimbal API to 'deliveradvancedreal-world game
experiences, exclusive content and competition rewards based on geo-
fenced locations, image markersand audioscanning.
» Peggy Johnson, EVP for MarketDevelopment at Qualcomm, when asked
about her view of the future, said "I'm not going to predict what's going to
happenin the next 10 years,but I do know that it's going to be magical.”
18. 9. THE MARKETER AND
INNOVATION DISCONNECT
» A theme that emerged from the conference as a whole and was reiterated by one
of the panel discussions was how the rate of innovation and change has resulted
in a number of challenges that agencies, media owners and marketers are
facing:
– Howdoweoptimiseallthenewmarketingchannelsandtechnologieswhenwehave
traditionalmindsets?
– CMOsneeddashboards andproofpointsforeverything,butmanyofthesetechnologiesand
platformsaretoonewtoprovide comprehensivedata
– Wehavethemostadvancedadvertisingmediuminhistory. Butwecan'tdelivereffective
adverts throughappropriate targetingandoptimisation
– With20-30 metricsitisnotpossible toevaluatetheeffectivenessofcampaignsandwemust
ratherunderstand afewkeymetricstoassess success
» This year, CMOs should have experimental and R&D budgets and plan to learn
from failing so they can innovate on a small scale, find out what works and ramp
up over time. Constant innovation must occur with small trials because innovation
has become a factor of survival
19. 10. INNOVATION,
INNOVATION, INNOVATION
» This year's MWC word-cloud is going to be dominated by the word
'innovation'. And surprisingly, the mobile operators are the ones calling for it
and driving it.
» Clearly, MNOs have not been easy to do business with and have often not
been open enough to innovate freely with. Carlos Domingo from Telefonica
Digital was emphatic in his view about how this needs to change.
» Introducing Lean and Agile methodologies, rolling out the OpenAPI initiative,
and partnering with entrepreneurs to take advantage of disruptive new
applicationsof mobile computing are all necessary to deliver on the promises
that the future holds.
» To quote Douglas Gibson: "The future is already here, it is just not evenly
distributed", is clearly evident when seeing the vision that this industry has. It's
now just a case of delivering on this promise
20. 11. THE RISE OF THE
PROGRAMMABLE
ENTERPRISE
» The early days of the internet were aboutstand-alone, closed environments.
This sounds very similarto the isolated enterprise computing and data
environment that corporates around the world currently have. If this can be
changed, a whole generation of new corporate-driveninnovation will occur.
» Chet Kapoorfrom Apigee (apigee.com) presented a compelling case for
open, API-enabled enterprises that encourage developers to innovate by
using the infrastructure that they would not usually have access to:
– Walgreens,alargepharmacychain,hadanunderutilizedonlinephotoprintingservice
thatwasdeclining.Itexposeditswebsite's functionalitytothedevelopercommunity
throughAPI's.
» This allows services like Instagram to offer real-world photo printing, and a
new revenue stream,without having to concern itself with distribution or
infrastructure.
» The opportunities in this spaceare endless. With the MNOs launching
OneAPI exposing their data,services and billing platforms to developers,we
can expect some very interesting innovation during 2013. Imagine a
programmableretailer, bankor airline that allows developers to create
alternative user experiences, services and value based on data and
infrastructure that has never previously been available.
21. 12. APPLE LOSING ITS
LUSTRE
» This is the first year at MWC that there has been such an evident shift in
sentiment towards Apple. Across all four days, swipes and snipes have been
taken at Apple's approachand general arrogance. Success often garners
jealousy and Apple has clearly been a victim of its own success.
» The mannerin which it controls its ecosystem has been a brilliant and
deliberatestrategy to ensure a 'better' user experience, however, this may
also be a noose around its neck.
» The Android and Apple duopoly is a concern for MNOs, developers and
handset manufacturers. There is a strong call for cross platform
interoperability so that a hardwaredecision does not force someone down a
path that excludes them from makingtheir own choices in the future.
» There were repeated discussions about how after creating the new mobile
interface paradigm,iOS has become stale and risks falling behind the new
gesture-rich, flowing, integrated interfaces that have emerged from Windows
Phone, FirefoxOS, Ubuntu OS Mobileand even Blackberry10.
» A classic chirp, 'The wow factor for the iPhone 5 was that there was no wow
factor.’ A bigger and better screen, lighter device and new, enhanced iOS are
all calls that were madeto keep the next generation of iPhones appealing.
22. 13. WHAT'S NEXT FOR
DEVICES?
» Nokia is back. Its Lumia 920 at the high end is a great product and if partnered
with a possibleLumia Tablet could do good things in the enterprise market. It
also showed off the excellent Nokia 105, a Euro15 phone for emerging
markets.
» New technologies like graphene-basedbatteries may finally provide the
breakthroughthat this marketneeds in orderto power these mobile
computing powerhouses.
» Wearabledevices are being mooted as the next major direction that this
industry is taking. From smart watches and glasses (spectacles and not beer
ones), health monitors and even gesture sensors are being seen as the
natural extension to improve information consumption, data capture and
device control.
» It becomes particularly interesting when these concepts are combined.
Imagine combining voice control with gesture control and integrating these
with in-home operating systems that manageentertainment, security and
access control.
24. GSMA: DATA REVENUES TO
OVERTAKE VOICE BY 2018
» Mobile operatordata revenues will overtakevoice revenues globally by 2018
as we move towards a fully connected world. So said the GSM Association
(GSMA) at Mobile World Congress .The mobile dataexplosion is being driven
by a surge in demand for connected devices and machine-to-machine (M2M)
communications and is transforming the socioeconomic future of people in
developed and developing countries.
» A new GSMAreport, The Mobile Economy 2013, developed in collaboration
with PwC, reveals how innovative mobile connected products and services
will revolutionise people’s lives over the next five years.
» “Mobile datais not just a commodity,but is becoming the lifeblood of our daily
lives, society and economy, with more and more connected people and
things,” said Michael O’Hara,chief marketingofficer at the GSMA
Source: Mobile Marketing Magazine, 27 February 2013
25. MOBILE GROWTH COMES FROM
BEING ON 24/7/365
» Mobile usage is big and it’s set to be even bigger. Twitter's latest report highlights
how smartphone and tablet users arethe most engaged consumers. Mobile
users are 96% more likely to follow 11 or more brandsand 58% more likely to
recall seeing an ad on Twitter.
» Google even predicts in three years mobile will overtake desktop as the most
common way to go online – makingmobile marketing more important.
» The infographic shows why this trend will happen.It shows how the time of day
determines what device a person is on:
» Firms with enough data,like Paypal,Tesco Clubcardand Nectar (to name a few)
can mine into these patterns to create specific and targeted mobile marketing
campaigns.
» An exampleof this is Domino’s Pizza.It uses data,combined with personalisation
to target mobile users to increase conversion rates. It’s click through rates are
huge, for example,on the “4 for 2” offers that are sent to a specific demographic
on the afternoon of a premierleague football match.
Source: eConsultancy, 14 February 2013
26. THE STATE OF MOBILE
ADVERTISING, Q4 2012
» Opera’s State of Mobile Advertising report provide insights to mobile ad
monetisation by device, geography and publisher category, based on data from
the OperaMediaworks mobile ad platform during the last quarter of 2012.
» The report also investigates several indicators of changes in the market,as a way
to identify three emerging trends to keep a close watch on in 2013:
– ThegrowthofAndroid asaplatformthatisdrivingtheaccelerationofadrequests and
impressionvolume
– TheemergenceoftheRussianFederationasavibrantmobileadmarket
– Therapid adoptionofmoresophisticateddevicesdrivingequallyrapid innovationinadunits
» The fourth quarter represented more than a two-times increase in impressions
and revenue to publishers comparedto any other quarterin 2012. This reflects
the magnitude of marketingand advertisingspend during this quarter,associated
with the seasonal impactof holiday shopping.
Source: Opera, 7 February 2013
27. GOOGLE TO INTEGRATE
DESKTOP AND MOBILE ADS
» If you buy ads on Google, you may soon be a mobile advertiser— whether you
like it or not. And you could be paying for the privilege.
» Google announced that it is "enhancing" and "upgrading" AdWords for a
world where people increasingly use mobile devices.
» The changes will takeplace by the middleof this year.
» In fact, Google is eliminating some ad-targetingcapabilities— in particular,
the ability to target specific mobile devices like tablets.
» In addition, it won't be possible to run strictly mobile-only campaignsin the
future. Instead, all campaigns will run on both desktop and mobile, according
to a weighting factor set by advertisers.Google will "upgrade" campaigns
previously created as mobile- or desktop-only to run across all devices.
Source: Business Insider, 6 February 2013
28. 'ONLY 16% OF MARKETERS
HAVE MOBILE STRATEGY’
» The CMOCouncil’s latest mobile advertisingreport reveals that mobile
relationship marketing(MRM) was “the single most investigated, tested and
piloted” marketingactivity of 2012.
» The majority of marketers (77 %) report a key impedimentto investing more on
mobile is the lack of case studies demonstrating best practice availableto them.
» Other problems include the ongoing fragmentation within mobile media,such
as devices using different operating systems like Android and iOS, as well as the
lack of a common technology platform for mobile analytics.
» The findings tally with an IAB study launched earlier this week indicating a “lack
of understanding” on mobile, among both brands and agencies, was still the
largest hurdle to bigger mobile advertising budgets.
Source: Marketing Week, 6 February 2013
29. S.A SPENDS MORE ON
TECH THAN U.S
» A new survey finds that South Africans spent more on consumer technology
in 2012 than the averageUS consumer, also beating many countries in
Europe including the UK, Germany,France, and Sweden.
» According to Accenture’s 2013 Consumer Electronics Products and Services
Usage Report, South Africans spent $940 (R8,352) over the past12 months
on consumer electronics in 2012, and intend on upping that spend to $1,164
(R10,340) in 2013.
» US consumers in comparison,spent $848 in 2012, and they intend on
increasing that spend to $970 over the next 12 months.
» The survey questioned 11,000 consumers across 11 countries with South
Africa representing 9% of the sample.
» Download here
Source: BusinessTech by MyBroadband, 14 February 2013
30. ZUMA PUNTS BROADBAND
FOR ALL
» President Jacob Zuma delivered his fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA)
in which he stated that government plans to achieve 100% broadband
penetration in South Africa by 2020.
» “Broadbandpenetration” is often used to refer to how much of a population
has a broadbandInternet subscription, but to date government has skirted
around what it means to providecitizens with access to a broadband
connection.
» In October 2012 the National Treasury further indicated that the
communications departmentmadeno progress on meeting its broadband
penetration targets. According to the treasury’s report the DoC achieved 0%
(zero percent) of its 7% target for the “percentage of broadbandpenetration
per year”.
» This means that government has madeno progress in its goal to provide
100% “broadbandpenetration” by 2020. Concrete plans as to how the
Department of Communication will achieve this goal also remains sketchy.
Source: MyBroadband 14 February 2013
31. JARRED CINMAN TO HEAD
DMMA 2013
» Jarred Cinman,Managing Director and one of the founders of NATIVE, has
stepped up to assume the role of Chairpersonfor the DMMA for 2013.
» Previously the Deputy Chair,Jarred has been involved with the DMMA for
over five years being one of the first to register his agency prior to the
renaming from the OPA in 2009. “Over the years the DMMA has built its
reputation as being a truly representative body of the digital industry in South
Africa. The team has gone from strength to strength and we aim to continue
the good work the DMMA has done over the years as well as build on that this
year,” he says.
» "It is a great honour to be leading this importantorganisation this year. I think
digital finds itself at an important inflection point. We have gone mainstream
but, in doing so, find ourselves in a complex landscapewith many traditional
players also wanting a partin the digital world. My hope is that together, the
committee and I can assist our members to maximallybenefit from the shifts
in spend toward digital marketingin South Africa," he says.
Source: Advantage Magazine, 5 February 2013
32. DMMA UNPACKS SOUTH
AFRICA’S DIGITAL NATION
» The internet has indisputablydisplacedother media. A study by Columinate
commissioned by the Digital Media and MarketingAssociation (DMMA) revealed that
newspapers were used 62% less, followed by magazines (59% less). Television and
radiowere also impacted to a lesser extent, with a 45% and 28% decline in audience
» The majority of internet users (95%) used the internet mainly for email, followed by
web browsing (84%) and social networking (78%), with respondents citing their
home as their preferred location to access the internet.
» Unsurprisingly, of those who were surveyed that made use of social
networks, Facebook proved to be the most popular,with 88% admitting they were
members. This was followed by Twitter (50%) and business networking site
LinkedIn (36%). 72% of users follow brandson social networks, and 60% of the
content created by pagemembers or followers about brandswas said to be positive.
» It was found that positive comment had greater impactthan negative comment on
other users potentially looking for more information on a brand.It was also revealed
that one in five users spent five or more hours a day on Facebook!
Source: The Media Online, 7 February 2013
33. JOZIHUB INCUBATOR
OPENS FOR BUSINESS
» JoziHub, a technology incubatorwith high-profile backers,including Google
and Internet Solutions, has opened in Johannesburg.
» Based at the 44 Stanley complex, in Milpark,the centre is intended to
encourage young technology entrepreneurs, particularly in the mobile space,
to share ideas,learn, and develop products.
» JoziHub was founded by the PraekeltFoundation, a mobile-focused South
African technology incubator, with support from funding backersincluding IS
Labs, the innovation arm of Internet Solutions; the Google Entrepreneur
programme;and the OmidyarNetwork, a philanthropic organisation set up
by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.
» “Technology hubs can play a pivotal role in fostering the emergence of a new
generation of African tech entrepreneurs,” says Gustav Praekelt, founder of
the PraekeltFoundation. “By providingthe training, support, facilities and
networks required to enable entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into
sustainablebusinesses, incubators such as JoziHub can make an immediate
and lasting impacton local innovation and development.
Source: ITWeb, 22 February 2013
35. MOBILE BANKING APPS –
SURVEY
» VaroliiCorporation,a marketleader in customer interaction management,
today announced the results of a national survey of more than 600 consumer
adults across the United States about mobile bankingapplications.
» The survey revealed a surprising disparityin what consumers want in a
mobile bankingapp and what they actually get from their bankinginstitution.
Americans increasingly want, and expect, to be able to conduct more
advancedfunctions like depositing checks and receiving real-time
notifications on account activity from their mobile bankingapps.
» Nearly two in three consumers believe it's their bank'sresponsibility to
immediately alert them when they have a low balance or insufficient funds to
pay a bill. In fact, nearly 70 percent of consumers believe that a banking
applicationcould have helped them avoid a financial problem in the pastsuch
as a costly and embarrassingoverdraftor bounced check.
Source: Finextra, 5 February 2013
36. FNB OPENS APP TO OTHER
BANKS’ CLIENTS
» First National Bank announced that non-FNB customers can now make use of
its smartphone bankingapplicationto perform transactions through the inclusion
of an e-wallet.
» Users of the bank’s“eWallet” can perform transactions such as buying prepaid
airtime, dataand prepaidelectricity. They can also send money using the app.
eWallet users can makepayments to any SA bank account or make selected bill
payments.
» “The eWallet service on the appand also for existing eWallet users is akin to
carrying a real wallet around in their pocket. The eWallet sits outside of login,” he
says.
» The banksays the move is “strategic” and is viewed as a “means of attracting
non-FNB customers through unique features availableon the FNB app,which
alreadyhas more than 400 000 active users.
Source: TechCentral, 18 February 2013
37. NEDBANK REVEALS MOBILE
POS SOLUTION
» Nedbankhas unveiled a mobile point-of-sale solution aimed at small and
medium businesses, dubbed PocketPOS.
» The PocketPOSdevice can acceptcredit and debit card payments securely when
connected via Bluetooth to a mobile applicationon a smartphone.
» “As long as there is a cellphone signal, the NedbankPocketPOS mobile
applicationand secure card readerwill allow transactions to be completed
securely,” says Nedbank,addingthat the solution is EMV-certified.
» Group managingexecutive of Nedbankretail and business banking,Ingrid
Johnson, says: “Small to medium-sizedbusinesses are importantto Nedbank,
which is why we are delighted to introduce a solution that talks to the heart of any
business operation: receiving payments in a safe, convenient, mobile and cost-
effective way, as an alternative to cash.”
Source: ITWeb, 8 February 2013
38. TABLETS HELP BOOST JOBURG
TOWNSHIP STUDENTS’ SCHOOL MARKS
» Pretoria-basedHouse4Hack is paying it forward by teaming up with non-profit
organisation, African Schools for Excellence, to bring technology into the lives of
Grade7 students in Tsakanein Johannesburg’s East Rand.
» The African Schools for Excellence is basedon the internationally regardedKhan
Academy model where scholars use tablets and laptops to view online
educational videos.
» In this model, a student will review a video as many times as necessary in order to
grasp the material without fear of ridicule by the other scholars.
» According to Kurien, the results of the two projects have been jaw-dropping: “Just
within the recent three week accelerateprogram the scholars participate in they
saw massiveimprovements including a 120% improvement on math scores.”
» While many challenges exist in bringing technology and education together, the
work being done by House4Hack and the African Schools for Excellence can only
signpost the way for future collaboration between the two spaces and continued
success for scholars.
Source: ITWeb Africa, 4 February 2013
39. MTN CONNECTS STUDENTS
TO DESIGN INDABA
» Design students at the Tshwane University of Technology, in Pretoria, were
connected to the happenings at the Design Indabathanks to the MTN “Connector
Bot” programme..Thebots ran live, two-way uplink, streaming footage from the
event to students over 1 000km away.
» SerameTaukobong,chief marketingofficer at MTN SA, “At this year’s event, we will
showcase how digital innovation can enable South Africans to connect to the rapid
technological change.”
» Developed to connect the disconnected, the Connector Bots were engineered by
the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). The bots were able to rove
around the convention centre, attend lectures and interact with other delegates and
speakers.
» For Taukobong, the programmeshowcases how mobile telephone networks can
be used as a vehicle to advancethe African continent by connecting those in need
through innovation.
Source: ITWeb, 28 February 2013
40. VISA, SAMSUNG TEAM UP ON
MOBILE PAYMENTS
» Credit card giant Visa announced a global alliance with Samsungat the
Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to let shoppers make payments by
waving their smartphones near a special reader.
» The deal could significantly boost the long-touted use of smartphones to pay
for goods worldwide without any physical contact, and without the need either
for credit cards or cash, it said.The system could be used by owners of
Samsung smartphones equippedwith NFC, which lets a phone transmit
information to a nearby readerwithout touching it.
"A Samsung device equippedwith the Visa contact-less paymentservice is a
powerful proposition and will allow us to makemobile payments a reality for
people around the world," Visa Europe vice president MarianoDima said in a
statement.
» The success of the new system agreed between Visa and Samsung, the
world's leading smartphone manufacturer,will still depend on whether
banks can be persuadedto use it.
Source: Bizcommunity, 27 February 2013
41. BLACKBERRY TRIALS
MOBILE MONEY TRANSFER
» BlackBerry is testing a new mobile money transfer applicationintegrated into its
signature Messenger chat service, a move the beleaguered device makerhopes
will keep customers from defecting to rival over-the-top messaging services like
fast-growing WhatsApp, Bloomberg reports.
» The BBM Money app,developed in partnership with m-commerce services firm
Monitise and availablefor download from the BlackBerryWorld storefront,
enables consumers to create and access accounts from their BlackBerry
smartphoneand makereal-time payments to BBM contacts who have also
signed up for the service. Users can also transfer money to bankaccounts.
» BlackBerry(formerly Research In Motion) is kicking off the pilot in Indonesia in
partnership with PT Bank Permata,which will issue BBM Money mobile money
accounts, process financial transactions and manage bank-gradesecurity
Source: MobileMoneyAfrica, 27 February 2013
42. IBM ENTREPRENEUR OF THE
YEAR WINNER FROM AFRICA
» The founders of Mo De, a mobile micro finance company from Kenya, won
the IBM SmartCampentrepreneur of the yearaward in New York.
» Julian Kyula and Josphat K. Kinyua started Mo De to fill a need that impacts
the millions of African customers who buy mobile service by the minute.
Often, peoplewill run out of minutes at night or over the weekend and can’t
refill until the local telecom company reopens for business.
» Mo De loans minutes to the customer on behalf of the telecommunications
provider. It then charges the customer a small service fee for the loan. To get
the minutes, the customer sends a short code asking for minutes. Mo-De,
which integrates its technology into its telco partners,then facilitates the
transaction.
» Mo De says it has facilitated more than 200 million transactions in the five
African countries where it has operations: Kenya, Cameroon, Nigeria,
Uganda and Zambia.
Source: TechCrunch, 8 February 2013
44. CALL FOR $30
SMARTPHONES
» The priceof devices is still a barrierto getting the next wave of mobile users
using the mobile Internet. At a keynote session on connecting the “next
billions”, taking placeat the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona
,Manoj Kohli, CEO of carrierBharti Airtel – which operates in India and Africa —
said the price of smartphones needs to come down to $30, and mobile data
dongles to $10, to breakdown the affordabilitybarrier.
» “Smartphones at $30 arevery important,” he said – echoing comments made
late last year by Wikipediafounder Jimmy Wales, who talked up the disruptive
potential of $50 smartphones that are alreadyselling in Africa.
» Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop, argued that it’s not just the cost of the device that’s
important– but the total cost of ownership, including factors such as network
costs and electricity. The company’s strategy for emerging marketshas been to
beef up its feature phones, in its Asha line and other Series 40 handsets – such
as the Nokia 301 .
Source: TechCrunch, 26 February 2013
45. MOBILE PHONE SALES
DECLINE
» A new report from Gartner has shown that global mobile phone sales
droppedin 2012 – the first decline in 3 years.
» According to Gartner, worldwide mobile sales totalled 1.75 billion units in
2012 – down 1.7% from total sales in 2011.
» Even so, the fourth quarter of the year(2012) saw a record figure of 207.7
million units sold – up 38.3% from the same period in 2011.
» The last time the worldwide mobile phone marketdeclined was in 2009,
accordingto Anshul Gupta, principalresearch analyst at Gartner.
» Demand for feature phones was weak (declining 19.3% year on year), with
Gartner expecting to see the trend continue into 2013.
» Looking at 2013, Gartner is more bullish, expecting smartphone sales to hit 1
billion units, and overall mobile phone sales to top 1.9 billion by year-end.
Source: BusinessTech by MyBroadband, 16 February 2013
46. WEARABLE DEVICE
MARKET SET TO EXPLODE
» A new research report suggests wearablecomputing could become the
norm for consumers within the next five years.This comes amidrumours of
smart watch devices from Apple and Samsung, while Google Glass also
edges closer to mainstream release.
» ABI Research forecasts that by 2015, 485 million wearable computing devices
will be shippedannually. Currently, ABI says about 61% of the wearable
technologies marketis attributed to sport/activity trackers. However, the
research firm says a new category of smartphone-compatiblewatches are
beginning to emerge.
» “Rumours have materialised regardingApple releasing a smartwatch some
time this year. Furthermore, we will see the arrivalof the much anticipated
smart glasses later this year,” says ABI.
Source: ITWeb, 22 February 2013
47. GOOGLE GLASS WILL TETHER
WITH ANDROID & IPHONE
» Google opened up a sort of pre-ordercontest for civilians (i.e., non-
developers) for its new augmented reality headgearthat should ship before
the end of 2013 for $1,500.
» The other significant news is that both CNET and The Verge report that “Glass
will be ableto connect via Bluetooth to both Android phones and the iPhone.
Glass can pull down data from wifi or use the 3G or 4G feed from a connected
phone, but it won’t have its own cellular radio.”
» It’s nice to see that Google is not escalating the platform wars by locking iOS
out of the Glass ecosystem. In truth, that would not have been in Google’s best
interest. The whole point of Google’s strategy is to increase the flow of
information as many ways as possible. Also, as with the rumored iWatch,
squeezing a cellular radio(and another data plan) into the device doesn’t
makemuch sense, especially since the entire target audience alreadyhas a
smart phone.
Source: Forbes, 23 February 2013
48. GOOGLE HAS ‘NO PLANS’ TO
LAUNCH RETAIL STORES
» Rumours that Google was set to launch a series of retail stores are false. At
least that’s the impression Google’s head of Android Andy Rubin gave.
» “Google has no plans and we have nothing to announce,” he is quoted as
saying by AllThingsD.
» In fact, Rubin reckons that there’s no reason for the internet giant to ever do
so because so many peoplenow decidewhat devices they’re going to buy
based on conversations with friends and online reviews.
» “They don’t have to go in the store and feel it anymore,” he said.
» He addedthat Google’s hardwareprogrammewas still very much in its
infancy: “For Nexus, I don’t think the programmeis far enough along to think
about the necessity of having these things in a retail store.”
Source: Memeburn, 26 February 2013
49. GALAXY SIV SET FOR
MARCH 14 RELEASE
» Samsung will unveil the next-generation of its flagship Galaxysmartphone on
Apple's turf with a March14 launch event to takeplace in New York City, it
emerged today.
» The SIV will bring the fight to Apple in its home market,where the Cupertino,
California-basedfirm overtook Samsung as the top mobile phone seller for
the first time in the fourth quarterof 2012.
» It will be the first U.S. launch for the Galaxy in three years, company
spokesmanChenny Kim said,and comes amid an advertising blitz there that
has taken jabs at Apple fans.
» Apple investors have grown anxious about the company'sprospects amid
intense competition from Samsung'scheaper, Android-poweredphones,
and signs the premium smartphonemarketmay be close to saturation in
developed markets.
Source: Daily Mail, 25 February 2013
50. I.B.M. TO TAKE BIG STEP
INTO MOBILE
» For I.B.M., mobile computing has come of age. At least, smartphones and
tablets may be popularenough to makeI.B.M. several billion dollars.
» The companyis announcing a major mobile initiative involving software,
services and partnerships with other large vendors. I.B.M. plans to deploy
consultants to give companies mobile shopping strategies, write mobile apps,
crunch mobile data and managea company’s own mobile assets securely.
» “Mobile is the next big growth play that I.B.M. is going after,” said Michael J.
Riegel, the head of mobile strategy. He said his company had made10
mobile-related acquisitions already,and would have a global research and
development team of 160 people dedicatedto mobile technology. In 2012
alone, he said,I.B.M. won 125 patents related to mobile.
» Despite its roots in computer hardware,I.B.M. long ago moved from the
business of selling things like personal computers. Much of its business now
comes from higher-value work like software creation,
Source: The New York Times, 20 February 2013
51. EXCLUSIVE WINDOWS
SMARTPHONE IN AFRICA
» Chinese telecoms giant Huawei launched a Windows smartphone tailored
for and exclusively availablein Africa. The device, a customised version of the
Huawei Ascend W1, was created in partnership with Microsoft as part of its
new 4Afrika initiative.
» The phone’s initial rollout will be in Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Angola,
Morocco and South Africa
» Prices have not yet been announced, but Gustavo Fuchs, director of the
Microsoft Windows Phone division in the MiddleEast & Africa, told the BBC
that “our aim is to be the most affordableWindows phone in Africa.” He
estimates that there will be “tens of millions of smart devices available across
the continent in the next couple of years.”
» “Affordability is important but without the right local content we believe a lot of
users will not see the benefit in the change from a basic feature phone to a
smartphone,” says Fuchs.
Source: TechCrunch, 4 February 2013
52. SAMSUNG LAUNCHES PHONES
FOR EMERGING MARKETS
» As excitement builds ahead of the launch of the next Galaxy smartphone
Samsung has quietly released a new line of low-cost touchscreen phones,
signaling its intent to dominate both ends of the mobile market.
» Samsung’s new feature phones, dubbedthe REX series, come in four
different models: REX 90, REX 80, REX 70, and REX 60. The phones were first
introduced in India this week, and are planned for release in Russia, Africa
and South America. A person familiarwith the matter said they are likely to
be sold at a price range of $50 to $100 each.
» Mobile phone makersare increasingly targeting emerging markets,where
low-cost handsets remainpopularand penetration rates for smartphones
and feature phones are low. By launching the REX line, Samsung looks set to
compete not just with Apple and Google but makersof low-cost handsets as
well.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, 15 February 2013
53. HP MOVES TO ANDROID-
BASED MOBILE DEVICES
» HP plans to switch to Android for its smartphones and tablets, ReadWrite
Mobile reports citing sources familiarwith the matter.
» HP launched its first consumer tablet Slate 7, which is the first of many
Android offerings. The company is also reportedly considering launching an
Android-powered smartphone,though HP CEO Meg Whitman said the
company has no planto launch a smartphonein 2013.
» HP at one point even considered abandoningits breadand butter — the PC
business. HP droppedthat plan, but still seems out of step with the
mainstream computing business, which has made a radicalshift to mobile
computing. Can HP regain some of that marketwith Android-based
smartphones and tablets? We're not sure, but the company has to do
something if it wants to stay relevant.
Source: Mashable, 14 February 2013 Moneyweb 26 February 2013
54. BLACKBERRY COULD
LICENSE BB10
» BlackBerryhasn’t ruled out the possibility of licensing its new operating
system, BlackBerry10 (BB10), to other smartphone manufacturers if the
business model and timing for such a move were right.
» “Licensing is partof our strategic review and we’re looking into this,” Heins
tells TechCentral at BlackBerry’sCanadianhead office. The move could
makelow-cost BB10 devices a reality without compromising BlackBerry’s
own devices.
» Although BlackBerrycould potentially increase the impactand reach of its
new operating system if it were to go the route of Google, with Android,and
allow rival device manufacturers to build phones using the platform.
» “It’s a question of the business model and timing,” Heins tells TechCentral.
“When does the mobile computing marketmature so much that it crosses
the mobile communications market? That’s the trigger point when you could
move to a licensing model.”
Source: TechCentral, 14 February 2013
55. UBUNTU FOR TABLETS
ANNOUNCED
» Taking another step towards realising its vision of 'Ubuntu on every device',
Canonical today unveiled its Ubuntu interface for tablets.
» According to Canonical, a key feature of the new tablet design is its 'real
multitasking'. "Uniquely, Ubuntu allows a phone app on the screen at the
same time as a tablet app. The Ubuntu side stage was invented both to
enable efficient multitasking and to improve the usability of phone appson
tablets."
» Canonical and Ubuntu founder, MarkShuttleworth says: "Our family of
interfaces now scales across all screens, so your phone can provide tablet,
PC and TV experiences when you dock it. That's unique to Ubuntu and it's the
future of personal computing."
» Canonical says the tablet interface is presented by the same OS and code for
its phone, PC and TV interfaces, in order to enable true device convergence.
"Ubuntu is uniquely designed to scale smoothly across all form factors."
Source: ITWeb, 19 February 2013
57. KENYA’S SAFARICOM OPTS TO STOP
SELLING FEATURE PHONES
» One of Kenya’s biggest mobile network operators has announced that it will soon start
pushing smartphone adoptionin a big way: by phasing out the sale of feature phones.
» Speakingat the Mobile Web East Africa conference in Nairobi,Nzioka Waita, Director or
CorporateAffairs at Safaricom,said that “Safaricom is soon going to stop selling the
cheap feature phones in all our retail outlets, as we try to skew the Kenyan market
towards smartphones”.
» He addedthat as much as the company understands the importance of feature phones
in the African market,as a leading telecoms providerit took it upon itself to ensure
smartphonepenetration increases. The declining cost of smartphones has madethis
possible. “You will now see the feature phones replaced by the cheap smartphones that
are now readily availablein the country,” he added.
» Nzioka explained that the move will not only ensure customers switch to smartphones,
but that the marketfor Kenyan-madedigital content will grow. “Developers will now
have an increased marketto consume the content they produce, thereby developing the
local tech scene further,” Waita added.
Source: Memeburn, 22 February 2013
58. MTN CLEARED OF TURKCELL
GRAFT CHARGES
» A year-long investigation has found that allegations of bribery by Turkish
cellphone operator Turkcell against MTN Group are unfounded, the South
African company said on Friday.
» The probehad cleared MTN's former group president and CEO Phuthuma
Nhleko and its former commercial director Irene Charnley, said MTN
chairpersonCyril Ramaphosa.
» "Allegations of complicity against the chairpersonand the group presidentand
[current] CEO Sifiso Dabengwa were similarly found to be without substance," he
said.
» The Turkish mobile operatorTurkcell filed a $4bn (about R35.5bn) lawsuit against
MTN in a United States court last year.
Source: Fin24, 1 February 2013
59. CELL C DENIES IT IS OUT
TO PITCH
» It has been widely speculated in the ad industry that Cell C would be ill
pleased to sit in the samegroup (WPP) as Vodacom(with Ireland/Davenport)
and MTN (with MetropolitanRepublic)and that the account has gone out to
pitch.
» This follows Vodacom’smove from Draftfcb to WPP controlled
Ireland/Davenport.Ogilvy Johannesburg, also a WPP company,retained the
Cell C account last year after CEO Alan Knott-Craig pulled the plug on a pitch
won by FoxP2 and King James.
» Knott-Craig, during his tenure at Vodacom,worked closely with Draftfcb,
which had held the Vodacomaccount for more than 19 years. Draftfcb has
retrenched 40 staff members since the account loss was announced last
week.
Source: Marklives.com, 13 February 2013
60. CELL C UNVEILS R175M
MARKETING CAMPAIGN
» Cell C is looking to rile up the competition with a new R175 million marketing
campaignchallenging consumers to ask their networks some tough
question.
» At a media presentation in Sandton) Cell C lifted the veil off a new marketing
campaignwhich the operator promises will shake up the market.
» The campaignfollows the introduction of Cell C’s Supachargeproduct
offering, which offers 1000 free on-net SMSes,talk time and 1GB of data to
prepaidand top-up customers, when they recharge with R500 or more.
» According to dos Santos, a new campaignkicking off this week is aimed at
educating consumers as to what they actually pay on networks.
» Cell C has issued a challenge to consumers through it’s new marketing
campaign,indirectly calling out other networks on their prices.
Source: BusinessTech by MyBroadband, 8 February 2013
61. MOBILE PRICE WAR TO
HEAT UP
» The mobile price war, instigated by Cell C when former VodacomCEO Alan
Knott-Craig took control of the company last year,is about to heat up.
» This comes as the final reduction in wholesale interconnect rates under the
Independent Communications Authority of SA’s (ICASA’s) mobile termination
rate (MTR) glide path is about to set in, in just over a week’s time. Interconnect
MTR is what operators pay each other to terminate traffic on their networks.
» As of 1 March,MTRs will drop to 40c (peak and off-peak),down 30% from the
previous rate of 56c - and 68% down from a high of R1.25 three years ago,
when ICASA instituted the sliding scale that saw MTRs droppingby 16c
annually.
Source: ITWeb, 21 February 2013
62. MTN REACTS IN PREPAID
PRICE WAR
» MTN has finally reacted to the price war that erupted this month between
Vodacomand Cell C with a new prepaidproductthat promises free data and
SMSes.
» Offered as a new starter packcalled MTN Mahala,the operatorsays it offers
“addedvalue, including free airtime, Internet bundles and free SMSes for the
first six months of use”.
» Calls using the Mahalastarter packare billed at per-second rates — unlike
Vodacom,which charges per minute — and “guarantees” 20% free MTN-to-
MTN airtime value backfor recharges of at least R10.
» MTN’s move comes after rival Vodacomcut the cost of prepaidrates to
R1,20/minute (billed per minute) to all networks. Vodacomalso announced
that users who call other Vodacomnumbers for three minutes will get the
next 57 minutes free of charge.
» Vodacom’saggressive move came just a week after smaller rival, Cell C,
moved to offer prepaidcustomers free value for recharging.
Source: TechCentral, 19 February 2013
63. VODACOM GOES
LIMITLESS WITH 'RED’
» SA’s largest mobile operatorhas madeanother move in the mobile price war
with the introduction of new “holistic” pricing plans for contract customers.
» This morning, Vodacom outlined its new smartplans, which include
unlimited voice calls, unlimited SMSes,more dataand a range of new value-
addedservices. The new offer will be availableto contract customers as of 7
March.
» The operatorsays the smart plans will introduce customers to a “Smart
Lifestyle” that it says is simple and easy to understand,and helps customers
to get the most out of their new smartdevice and mobile Internet lifestyle.
» The proposition introduces tariff plans that include Red, an offer comprising
three plans with unlimited voice, unlimited text, data and other services.
Source: ITWeb, 1 March 2013
64. VODACOM PLANNING
SIMPLER DATA BUYING
» Vodacomis currently investigating more convenient ways for their customers
to purchase data,and will announce details about this initiative in the near
future. This is according to Mostafa Elbeltagy, Vodacom’smanaging executive
for pre-pay.
» Numerous Vodacomcustomers have been askingfor pre-paiddata
vouchers, removing the need to convert airtime into data for more affordable
data rates.
» It is understood that many Vodacomcustomers are still payinghigh out-of-
bundle data rates (R2.00 per MB), despite the fact that they can save lots of
money by purchasing a databundle.
» A simpler data bundle purchasing method may therefore help to move
consumers away from expensive R2.00 per MB datacharges.
Source: MyBroadband, 15 February 2013
65. SA LTE MOBILE GROWTH
PREDICTIONS
» New data from Cisco finds that Long Term Evolution (LTE) is expected to
support 6% of all mobile connections by 2017.
» According to the Cisco Visual Networking Index Global Mobile Data Traffic
Forecast for 2012 to 2017, mobile data traffic in South Africa is set to reach
98,347 Terabytes per month in 2017 – the equivalent of 25 million DVDs each
month, or 271 million text messages each second.
» In the MiddleEast and Africa (MEA), Cisco predicts that there will be
approximately849.23 million mobile users in 2017 with the number reaching
54.24 million in South Africa.
» Mobile data traffic, it adds,will account for 15% of South African fixed and
mobile data traffic in 2017, up from 11% in 2012. The same proportion of all
cellular traffic will be off-loaded to fixed or WiFi Networks, the technology firm
says.
Source: BusinessTech by MyBroadband, 15 February 2013
66. MEGA MERGER FOR AFRICA’S
TELECOMS MARKET
» A mobile service providersimilarto the UK’s Everything Everywhere (EE)
could emerge in South Africa and Kenya’s telecoms markets in 2013.
» This is according to predictions madeby International Data Corporation
(IDC) in its report, titled the ‘African Telecommunications MarketTop 10
Predictions for 2013'.
» The report says that Africa's first major consolidation transaction in the
telecoms space could occur, similar in model to the UK’s EE.
» The Communications Commission of Kenya says that from October 2012
to January 2013, the number of mobile subscriptions grew over 2% from
29.7 million to 30.4 million. According to BuddeCommresearch, South
Africa - which has a population of 50 million - has a mobile penetration rate
of just over 100%..
» The IDC says that companies in the right position to consolidate their
operations could stand to gain more customers.
Source: ITWeb Africa, 4 February 2013
68. FACEBOOK TURNS 9
YEARS OLD
» Nine years ago Facebook was a Harvardsocial network with a few hundred users
and a nerdy creator. Today,it's taken over the world.
» An article about Facebook in the HarvardCrimson from February 2004 gives a
few insights into just how far Facebook has come and how different it could have
been.
» “At one point I thought about makingthe website so that you could upload a
resume too, and for a fee companies could search for Harvardjob applicants.But
I don’t want to touch that,” Zuckerbergtells the Crimson. What if Facebook had
been a glorified LinkedIn for Ivy Leaguers?
» Zuckerbergalso told the Crimson that Facebook members can "search for
people accordingto their interests and can create an online network of friends."
Members can search for people according to their interests? Maybe we shouldn't
have been so surprised by GraphSearch.Its features are in the original site
description, after all.
Source: Grant Thornton, 13 February 2013
69. INSTAGRAM PASSES 100M
ACTIVE USER MARK
» Instagram has revealed it has surpassedthe 100 million monthly active user
mark,nearly two-and-a-halfyears after its launch.
» This follows Instagram’s first release of user numbers in January,amid
speculation that the outcry over its new terms of service resulted in users
droppingthe service altogether. At the time, Instagram said it had 90 million
monthly active users, and that it was continuing to see strong global growth.
» By way of comparison,in December last year, Twitter announced it had
surpassedthe 200 million monthly active user mark– six years after its
launch. According to an Instagram engineering post last month, the service
processes 10 000 likes per second at peak.
» In recent months, competition has heated up between Instagram and Twitter,
the micro-blogging service that formed an integral partof Instagram’s early
success. Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012 as it rampedup its photo-
sharing services, and as Instagram has continued to grow, so too has the
rivalry with Twitter.
Source: ITWeb, 27 February 2013
70. MAPPING TWEETS IN
AFRICA
» Who uses Twitter in Africa - and where are they based? MarkGraham and
the team at the Oxford Internet Institute have looked at Tweets from key
African cities - and the variationtells you a lot about access to technology
across the continent. Just look at the variationbetween Johannesburg and
Mogadishu. The data is not normalised for populationbut it still provides a
unique insight
» To see more go to:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/gallery/2013/feb/14/africa-
tweets-mapped?CMP=twt_gu
Source: The Guardian, 14 February 2013
71. TWITTER UPDATES
MOBILE APPS
» Twitter has announced an updatefor its iPhone and Android appsthat offers
an improved experience when viewing the Discover tab and adds a new
persistent search button (iPhone version). The new Discover tab aggregates
tweets, activity, trends, and suggestions of accounts to follow into one stream,
while the search feature has been similarly upgradedto surface tweets,
accounts, and photos all in the same stream.The iPhone app also gains a
persistent search button next to the tweet compose button, letting users
initiate searches from wherever they are in the app(the Android version has
had this feature for some time).
» Finally, Twitter has enabled the ability to directly go to a URL from your
timeline with one click, eliminating the need to expandthe tweet first. Overall,
these updates are pretty minor, but they should make it easier for casual
users to search the service while on the go.
» Its new search feature has an additional update— while previously search
would only displaytweets from up to a week ago, you should now start to see
older tweets show up in your results.
Source: The Verge, 6 February 2013
72. AMEX LAUNCHES PAY-BY-
TWEET SERVICE
» The service uses American Express’ proprietaryCardSync technology, which
launched in 2011 allowing customers to connect their Facebook,Foursquare,
Twitter and Xbox Live accounts to get access to discounts and deals.
» The updateoffers American Express a marketingopportunity each time a
customer tweets to purchase a product and the possibility of the associated
hashtags trending on Twitter to increase the brand’s reach.
» American Express will also promote the new programmewith its own paid-
for Promoted Trends and Promoted Tweets as well as emails to card
members.
» Leslie Berland,American Express senior vice president of digital
partnerships and development, says the company took learnings from the
initial launch around offers to enhance the service and introduce “a seamless
solution that redefines what’s possiblein the world of social commerce”.
Source: TechCentral, 14 February 2013
73. PISTORIUS HEARING BY THE
SOCIAL MEDIA NUMBERS
» The case surrounding paralympicicon OscarPistorius, who stands accused
of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp,received massive social media
attention from day one.
» In the early hours of the day on which the actual shooting took place,Twitter
took up the role of news breakerwith each new piece of information
retweeted and dissected by a hungry public. Then when the presiding
magistrateordered that there be no cameraspresent during the ensuing bail
hearing, it became a crucial means of getting the latest facts coming out of
the courtroom.
» According to Acceleration Media,there were 1 306 313 online posts about the
incident between 14 and 20 February 2013, averaging out to 186 616 posts per
day,7776 posts per hour and 130 posts per minute. Each day,of course, came
with its own hot conversation topics.
Source: Memeburn, 22 February 2013
74. MOVIE PREMIERS ON MXIT
» A Lucky Man,a film aboutErnie ‘Lastig’ Solomon, the legendary ex-gang
boss, is the first full-length feature film to premiere exclusively on a social
network.
» Mxit users can download the movie using the newly-launched Cinemo app.
Lucky Man has been brokeninto 18 four-minute episodes. A new episode will
be uploaded every weekday at 10am from 18 February 2013.
» Cinemo is an appwithin the Mxit Reach ecosystem, the platform for social
good within Mxit. MarlonParker,VP of Mxit Reach says, “We know the power
of video and want to use this to encourage conversations about social issues
such as drug abuse,HIV/Aids and gangsterism. Cinemo has three content
streams. It has movies, of which A Lucky Manis the first, public service
announcements on issues such as condom use, and music videos like
Freshly Ground’s popular,‘Take me to the dance’.”
» Since Cinemo’s launch in January, the app has attracted over 90 000
subscribers.
Source: Web AddiCT(s), 18 February 2013
