Author: Gugu Lourie

By Staff Writer The Apple magic is as strong as ever. The proof is in the sale of two Apple Watches on www.bidorbuy.co.za at prices that can only be described as premium. Tech7, one of thousands of sellers who sell regularly on South Africa’s online marketplace, posted his wares on 28 April: two beautiful Apple Watches, one made of aluminium alloy, and the other of stainless steel. On 3 May, one buyer snatched both, presumably happy to pay the premium price for the bragging rights of being one of the first in South Africa to wear Apple’s newest wonder. The…

By Staff writer Vox Telecom will be partnering with Sage SA to include Sage One Accounting online software to its suite of products as part of a complete IT services solution for small and medium-sized businesses. Sage One Accounting is a simple, secure and affordable online accounting solution, developed specifically for South African businesses. It offers you the freedom to run your business anywhere, anytime with simple, secure online access from the cloud to your customer and accounting information. “The availability of Sage One Accounting as part of our solution set means we can now fulfill on the business fundamentals of reliable, high-speed…

By Gugu Lourie Vodacom, the country’s biggest mobile phone operator by subscribers, on Monday launched a bonus prepaid airtime promotion, which provides customers with additional airtime tomorrow equivalent to the airtime used today. Whatever you use today, you get 100% back for free tomorrow through the Use & Get prepaid promotion. Vodacom said the new promotion is designed to attract new customers and reward loyalty. For example, if a Vodacom customer uses R5 worth of airtime today they will get R5 airtime back for free tomorrow. Bonus airtime will be charged at standard Vodacom rates and the promotion will run until the end of…

By Gugu Lourie With revenues from voice telephone services in decline – owing to more people opting for cheaper message services – South African mobile phone companies are becoming more innovative as they position themselves to tackle changes in demand. Demand for data is increasing as more South Africans get connected through their low-cost smartphones. The development means that operators have to find new ways to connect users to their “quality and bigger” networks. On 23 April, MTN SA revealed that its data usage had surged by 62.6%, while data users rose 18.1% to 17.2m in the three months to…

By Gugu Lourie The approval of Telkom’s R2.7 billion proposed deal to buy JSE-listed technology firm Business Connexion (BCX) is at an “advance stage”, says the country’s competition watchdog. Last year, BCX shareholders overwhelmingly voted in favour of Telkom’s R6.60 per share offer to take over the fast-growing technology company. This pave the way for the regulators to  review the proposed transaction. Telkom, the country’s fixed-line telephone group,  is offering BCX shareholders R6,60 per share to buy 100% of BCX. The deal has already been given a nod by four regional watchdogs – the Namibian Competition Commission, Tanzania Fair Competition Commission, Competition Authority…

While women sitting on company boards remains a much-discussed topic, there is something new waiting to take a seat at the table: artificial intelligence, computers with company voting rights. By Graham Kendall Deep Knowledge Ventures has appointed an algorithm called VITAL (Validating Investment Tool for Advancing Life Sciences) as a member of its board. It uses state-of-the-art analytics to assist in the process of making investment decisions in a given technology. Of course, companies have used computer assisted analysis to analyse investment opportunities for a long time, but is the vision of a computer with equal voting rights as human board members…

When companies are in the process of being acquired by bigger rivals, they tend to lose focus to the point of neglecting their own business strategy. In some extreme cases those in management begin to display less enthusiasm for the work they do. Employees start looking for alternative employment. This situation often results in reduced revenues and profits. By Gugu Lourie But Business Connexion (BCX), a JSE-listed technology firm, is bucking the trend. BCX is pursuing its aggressive pan-African growth strategy through targeted mergers and acquisitions, despite being involved in a R2.7bn deal in which Telkom intends to buy the technology firm. The deal is being scrutinised by South Africa’s competition authorities for possible approval. Management and employees at BCX have remained focused…

The recent WhatsApp  ‘scam’, where consumers inadvertently added a potential R200 per month to their phone bill for add-on services, created a lot of fear in the industry. This occurs when consumers, who may be distracted at the time, fail to notice the pricing information which, in accordance with regulatory requirements, is always displaced immediately adjacent to the button that initiates the next step in the sign-up process (known as the “Call to Action”). By Anzelle Robertson Should one be worried? Yes and no. Some companies send out thousands of SMSs based on the assumption that a percentage of people will not…

MTN South Africa debuted MTN Music+, a subscription based music streaming and download platform. Music+ is the only platform that offers its users the ability to simultaneously stream and download music and videos offline. Music+ subscribers can also share music and videos with friends and preview tracks under the same user profile. MTN subscribers can access Music+ through the web and mobile devices, and the service is compatible with a range of operating systems including iOS, Android and BlackBerry. Larry Annetts, Chief Marketing Officer of MTN SA, says one of the key differentiators of Music+ is that the content is…

By News24 Agency staff  Cellphone provider MTN denied reports out of Nigeria on Thursday that its office in Abuja had to shut down after coming under attack because of xenophobic violence in South Africa. “It is causing huge reputational damage,” MTN executive for group corporate affairs Chris Maroleng told News24. He said there was peaceful protest action outside its Abuja office on Tuesday – not Wednesday, as reported – and a memorandum was handed over. The only “disruption” was for about an hour when MTN staff could not access the building due to the protest outside, said Maroleng. The Daily…