Author: Contributor
By Staff Writer Huawei is recording impressive sales in South Africa for its flagship P-series devices. The first month of sales of the P10 and P10 Plus have seen a 68% increase as compared to that of the P9. The devices seem to be most popular in Gauteng, with more units sold in this province. In contrast to the latest figures released by the International Data Corporation (IDC) that indicate a 13.6% decline in smartphone shipments in South Africa for Q1 2017, Huawei has recorded an improvement in the sales of its flagship P-series devices. “We have seen four times…
By Staff Writer South Africa’s 35 million plus mobile consumers are set to benefit from a next generation SMS (Short Message Service) service which can replace the two-decade-old USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Data Service) and zero-rate it to boot. Archer Digital’s SMS+ is already in commercial use by one of South Africa’s big four banks and is currently being trialled by a leading multimedia company. “SMS+ has the potential to completely replace USSD. This means over 35 million people needn’t pay 20 cents per 20 seconds to interact with old-style USSD menus. That’s an incredible saving to local consumers who now…
By Staff Writer When consumers visit the Phonefinder.co.za cellphone contract comparison engine, they are able to view and compare packages from various Mobile Network Operators (MNO), including Telkom Mobile. As Lance Krom, founder and managing director at Phonefinder, explains, with over 7,000 unique daily visitors and 200,000 impressions a month on average, the comparison engine is able to generate 20,000 inquiries a month, which the Phonefinder team is able to convert into an average of 1,500 sales leads a day for MNOs. “Phonefinder allows visitors to find their ideal cellphone package in a quick and, importantly, an unbiased manner. However,…
By Reshaad Sha, Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Director at DFA For those who are into science fiction, the term ‘machine learning’ immediately conjures up images of computers taking over the world, either to send murderous terminators from the future to our present or to place us all inside the Matrix as living power batteries. Fortunately, the truth about machine learning is not only far more prosaic, but also much more promising for the future of the human race. Basically, machine learning uses algorithms that iteratively learn from data, meaning that it enables computers to find hidden insights without being…
By Rishal Hurbans, Solutions Architect at Entelect | Founder at Prolific Idea I hit a bird with my car the other day. I felt terrible. I don’t know why I felt that way. Some people might not be at all affected by the death of a bird. Why is that? What makes us respond the way we do in certain situations? What makes us think and act the way we do? The short answer is: No one knows for sure. No one understands exactly how the human brain works or what quantifies intelligence. Humans think they’re intelligent because they’re the…
By Jackie Writing Technology has boomed into a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide, providing jobs and better access to tools like education. In Africa about 3 people in 1,000 have access to a computer, versus about 1 in 40 people on average worldwide. The numbers are looking to go up in Africa, as innovators in the region are beginning to find ways to build their own computers, and use e-waste to bring the continent into the digital age. E-Waste and Donations Despite having little or no access to modern technology, Africa certainly has quite a bit of the e-waste from developed countries lying around. It…
by Ben Dickson I think it’s totally up to me whether I decide to open an email or not. But apparently, others are not of the same opinion. That’s why they use mail tracking applications, a breed of software that will let the sender of an email know when you read their message. I find it invasive, even more offending than link trackers (most mail trackers track links as well). And as it happens, most—but not all—of the tracked emails I receive are of little value. That’s why I block mail trackers and let their users think their emails were…
By Brett Parker, MD at SAP Africa By now, I am convinced that you have heard of M-Pesa, the popular and often-cited mobile banking system that has become Africa’s innovation calling card. But do you know about the Ushahidi crowdsourcing app, also from M-Pesa’s birthplace, Kenya? Built to digitally map demographic events, it is used across the world. Today Ushahidi, which means ‘evidence’ in Swahili, is a technology company with presence in more than 20 countries. The list of African innovations, born from the need to solve specific challenges, is very impressive. For a number of years, Africa’s rise made…
By Staff Writer Today Google announced its support for a Digital Journalism initiative that will see 6 000 African journalists trained in data journalism skills by the end of February 2018. Google News Lab and the World Bank are working with Code For Africa to empower journalists in Africa by giving them the necessary support to better understand the Web and how to use the tools available to them online. The Code For Africa Digital Journalism initiative will take place over the next 9 months (to February 2018) and see 6 000 journalists trained in 12 major African cities -…
By Staff Writer First National Bank (FNB) has launched a new brand repositioning campaign with the bold message of help and how help is one of the most powerful forces known to man. The new campaign reinforces FNB’s purpose of helpfulness, cementing our position as a leader and innovator in banking and financial services. It promotes the ownership of the concept of “help”, by depicting people who are empowered to realise their dreams and take control of their lives by “helping themselves”. This campaign encapsulates where our brand is heading. “At FNB, we want to ensure that we resonate with our…