Author: Gugu Lourie
South Africans are among the most banked on the continent, ranking second place in a Brookings study that included 21 developing economies across Asia, Africa and South America for both digital and financial inclusion. Around 86% of adults have access to banking in one form or another and, according to On Device Research, mobile penetration is at 133%. So why is it that South Africans are so reluctant to delve into digital? Data released by MasterCard in 2015 showed that the majority of transactions are still cash – a startling 65% – and it’s not just in South Africa where…
Whether it’s calling mom or ordering take-out, we rely on our phones to help reach the people and things that matter. And while mobile phones have pushed us toward the future, home phone service is still important to many families. Landlines can be familiar, reliable and provide high-quality service, but the technology hasn’t always kept up. That’s why today, we’re introducing Fiber Phone as a new option to help you stay connected wherever you are. By John Shriver-Blake, product manager at Google Fiber Familiar features, improved Fiber Phone is meant to give you everything you want from a home phone service,…
“It is my wish for you to recognise that if I can become the luckiest person in the world, then with a little bit of work, and yes some luck, you can give me a run for my money for the title. I won’t relinquish it easily, but you can be certain I will love the competition,” says American business man and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. He makes the interesting remarks in his book ‘How to Win at the Sport of Business If I Can Do It, You Can Do It’. Inspired by Cuban’s “every no gets me closer…
South Korean electronics giant Samsung has the top-selling smartphone and tablet brand in South Africa, according to international researchers. By Duncan Alfreds Samsung dominated South African smartphone sales in the last three months of 2015 with a 53% unit share, according to data from the International Data Corporation (IDC). The growth came despite a weakening rand that did not deter consumers from buying smartphones. Sales of smartphones in South Africa grew 11% in volume and 22% in value on a year on year basis, said the IDC. “The biggest growth comes from the mid-range smartphone class with more than 100%…
Do you want to claim your free GB every month from Afrihost. No payment details required. All you need is a Telkom DSL line. Afrihost says the free GBs will be on offer for as long as it is in business and once you’ve signed up, your free internet is yours to play with. By Gugu Lourie Even if you’re not an Afrihost client yet, you can claim a free GB from them without further obligation to sign up for other products. “We’ll never ever force you to upgrade your free GB to a paid product – it’s really that simple,” says Afrihost. No contracts. Afrihost explains,…
E-toll owner Sanral was on Monday accused of blaming its financial woes and credit rating pressures on opponents of the controversial Gauteng road payment system. “Sanral’s financial predicament is self-inflicted and they should stop blaming others for a mess which they created,” Wayne Duvenage, chairperson of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), said in a statement. Sanral, which is promising to clamp down on non-payers, said e-toll collections of between R80m and R90m for February and March 2016 showed growth in the system. Outa disagreed with Sanral’s calculations, saying payments “remained low and relatively steady, oscillating between a high of…
The ongoing fight between Apple and the FBI over breaking into the iPhone maker’s encryption system to access a person’s data is over – at least for now. This is according to a report in Mashable. The U.S. Department of Justice said Monday that investigators were able to use a new technique to hack into an iPhone that was used by San Bernardino gunman Syed Farook, reported Mashable. The FBI is backing down from their case file against Apple because they’ve hacked the iPhone. This isn’t good news for consumers privacy. Mashable added that the FBI’s sudden success in circumventing Apple’s…
It has been a nightmare of a PR week for Microsoft. It started with the head of Microsoft’s Xbox division, Phil Spencer, having to apologise for having scantily clad female dancers dressed as school girls at a party thrown by Microsoft at the Game Developers Conference (GDC). He said that having the dancers at this event “was absolutely not consistent or aligned to our values. That was unequivocally wrong and will not be tolerated” By David Glance The matter was being dealt with internally and so we don’t know who would have been responsible and why they might have thought…
If you had the opportunity to vote for a politician you totally trusted, who you were sure had no hidden agendas and who would truly represent the electorate’s views, you would, right? By Frank Mols and Jonathan Roberts What if that politician was a robot? Not a human with a robotic personality but a real artificially intelligent robot. Futures like this have been the stuff of science fiction for decades. But can it be done? And, if so, should we pursue this? Lost trust Recent opinion polls show that trust in politicians has declined rapidly in Western societies and voters…
Telkom produces a number of white papers relevant to many aspects of the South African business landscape. In this video, Telkom Business focusses is on Healthcare and Technology: ICT Challenges and Opportunities in the South African Healthcare Industry. “Improving the quality of public healthcare, while also reducing the cost of private healthcare, are two critical objectives in a country with glaring disparities between rich and poor. These objectives can be realised through the roll out of ICT infrastructure that improves the capabilities of healthcare information systems and improves efficiency while streamlining direct and indirect costs,” said Telkom Business.