These days, the iPhone is one of the most popular cameras in the world – but it’s hard to think that it launched with a relatively terrible camera back in 2007. The original iPhone launched with a fixed focus 2MP camera, which did not even have a flash.

The camera has been steadily upgraded, and has been a big focus for Apple since the iPhone 3GS, which was the first iPhone with a decent auto focus lens system.

The camera interface has not changed much though. Despite the massive upgrades in lens and photo quality, the actual UI of the camera is as simple as ever.

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TAKEALOT.com has taken another step towards customer convenience by launching their iPhone and Android shopping apps in addition to the Blackberry 10 app launched earlier this year. With Africa’s internet users primarily using mobile devices, the apps aim to deliver an enhanced experience for customers, allowing them instant access to the world of retail via their mobile device, regardless of time or location.

“We’re not joking when we say it’s a mall in your pocket. The apps are designed to allow the user to access the world of online shopping without ever having to use a laptop or desktop computer.” Says Kim Reid, CEO. (more…)

We have seen a leaked promo video in the past, and now it has finally been made official. Google Now is available on iOS, compatible with iPhone and iPad. We first saw it with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean but it is now available to the hordes of iOS users.

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local finance startup 22seven, that was acquired by Old Mutual in January 2013, has introduced an iPhone app.

According to 22seven, the value of the app lies in not just where you can use it but how. “At the supermarket, find out if your money’s tight or safe to spend. At a restaurant, see if you’ve spent more or less than you planned to on eating out. Use it to make better money decisions, more often.”

As a work in progress 22seven says that there is a lot more to come:

“We have huge ambitions for mobile and we’ll always be evolving and improving it. But this is our first edition, and there are some things it can’t do just yet.”

For now, users will need to use their laptop or PC to:

• sign up with 22seven or link accounts
• update Investec and Capitec accounts using your one time password
• make your own plan if you don’t want to use 22seven’s automatically generated one

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It’s been a long wait for their customers but Absa has finally launched their mobile banking application. They’ve taken some criticism for taking so long and have left many people wondering if it’s too little too late and why it took so long in the first place.

Yesterday I attended a customer launch event for the Absa app. I was able to chat to a few people at Absa who are behind the app as well as their mobile and digital strategy. They answered some really tough questions from me and provided some insight and shared their vision going forward. Based on what I know and have experienced, I’m going to share my thoughts as an Absa client as well as someone who has a keen interest in the intersection of banking and technology.

Why did Absa make us wait so long? (more…)

To say Apple and Samsung are friendly rivals in the smartphone market would be to say that North and South Korea are friendly neighbouring countries. Although there exists no nuclear threat, tensions between the smartphone giants tend to be as explosive as a full-scale nuclear war. Apple has a love-hate relationship with the Korean giant due to their chips being developed there and that has always been a slippery slope for the Cupertino based company. (more…)

iPhone – The smartphone’s new hope

I have been, like many other consumers around the world, a loyal and dedicated follower of the Apple product range. The original iPhone was the “big-bang” moment for the lucrative smartphone market we see today. Although Microsoft, and after them RIM, were the actual trailblazers, the iPhone made the smartphone a must-have product. With the launch of the 1^st generation iPhone back in 2007, Apple’s share price shot from $120 to $700 (Google Finance) in September 2012 after the launch of the iPhone 5. Their share price has dropped recently to around $430 but the business is still one of the biggest in the world, but for how long? I have owned 3 iterations of the iPhone, the 3GS, 4 and now the 5. I have also been through many an iOS upgrade and one thing I have noticed is that through all these devices, the primary look and feel hasn’t changed a bit.

There are a few big dogs in tech that always seem to know more about what is going on behind the scenes at Apple. These include guys like MG Siegler and John Gruber amongst others. These guys started chatting on Branch, and there are some very interesting blurbs of info which will be of great interest to fans of the iPhone.

Apparently the iOS7 update is bigger than originally planned, and is currently running behind. Apple has moved engineers from the Mac OS X 10.9 team to hurry up the iOS7 development. The big news with iOS7 is that Scott Forstall (which headed up iOS since day one) has moved away from Apple, and Jony Ive (the Senior Vice President of Industrial Design) has taken his place for UI design.

The new iOS7 changes is apparently so big that current engineers are using special filters on their phones so that no one can peak over and see the new design. iOS has been heavily criticised for its skeumorphic heavy interface, and the new iOS will have a lot cleaner design.

Some other interesting observations from the online chat: (more…)