The program will launch in Johannesburg on 7 October 2011 at the Protea Fire and Ice Hotel in Melrose Arch from 6-9pm, and in Cape Town on 10 October 2011 at Vodacom’s main auditorium in Century City from 6-9pm. This is free for those wishing to attend.

Prins Mhlanga, Managing Executive of Digital Media at Vodacom commented: “We see the Apps store as the embryo of an ecosystem. We’re looking forward to building a network of successful local developers, so they can help develop apps that help South Africans.

“With our apps initiative, we hope to complement and enhance this already vibrant community.”

The program promises to be a valuable knowledge sharing and learning exercise for the industry as a whole. Those attending will be provided with the opportunity to:

-       engage with the most renowned industry specialists in the mobile apps marketplace;

-       discuss tools to monetize apps

-       identify training opportunities in the mobile apps environment; and

-       gain insight into Vodacom’s innovation incentives and available technical and commercial support.

The Vodacom Apps Store was launched on 1 September 2011, and features a catalogue of over 140 000 applications powered by Appia, one of the world’s largest open application marketplaces. All Vodacom customers who wish to access Vodacom apps can do so by visiting http://vodacom.mobi/apps on their cellphones or from the apps feature on Vodafone live.

“The opportunities for further development in the Vodacom Apps Store are significant considering it also supports all major platforms including Android, Blackberry, Java, Symbian and Windows Mobile,” Mhlanga concluded.

Developers and interested parties are invited to register for the Vodacom Developer Programme at www.vodacom.co.za/developer

BatteryFu (Free)
Probably one of the first applications to come out of South Africa, BatteryFu by local developer Toby Kurien helps you get more out of your device’s battery by periodically toggling mobile data (or Wi-Fi) – so your device is only connected and checking your accounts for a short period of time. A novel idea, and one that apparently works very well.

BatteryFu features:

• Lean and fast (see download size!)
• APNdroid support (use if data is not switching off)
• Widget: tap icon to toggle, tap text to config
• Data while screen is on, with screen off delay
• Data while charger is plugged in
• 3rd party app support (using intents)
• Travel mode (wifi off)

Computicket (Free)
Another application developed by Toby, the official Computicket application gives you access to South Africa’s biggest ticket provider in the palm of your hand. A pleasant interface enables you to browse, and search with a minimum of fuss, through all events on the Computicket system. You can also make bookings right from the application itself. Very handy.

Galactic Striker (Free / Ad-supported)
Skillpod Media is another South African dev outfit with quite a few (impressive) games in the Android Market. We picked Galactic Striker, because it looks good while being quite a lot of fun. It’s a lot like a modern, 3D, top-down R-Type with elements of Space Invaders and Asteroids thrown in – all backed by a pretty interesting comic book storyline.

News24 (Free)
News24 is one of South Africa’s biggest digital news sources, and their excellent Android application allows you to easily consume breaking news on the go. The application offers easy navigation via tabbed categories, a 7-day weather forecast, and a widget for your home screen. The application will also appeal to your inner photojournalist by allowing you to submit pictures from your phone directly to News24.

Garmap for Mobile (Subscription)
Yes, we now have Google Navigation in South Africa, but the maps aren’t always as up to date as they should be. Garmap is one of the most experienced players in the South African navigation space, and their (very accurate) maps have lived on Garmin devices for years. Garmap for Mobile brings their maps to Android smartphones via a very capable navigation application with some interesting features:

• 3D maps and turn by turn voice prompts
• Automatic updates of the latest map data
• Detailed restaurant and accommodation guides and booking
• Computicket event guide and booking
• Local business and Wikipedia search
• Share locations and routes via SMS, Twitter, Facebook and e-mail
• Follow me feature: friends can track your position as you travel
• Speed camera alerts
• Trip reports – no more paper logbooks!

Although the application is free, there is a subscription fee of R99 for 12 months (which is a special running at the moment). Also note that the maps aren’t stored on your device, as the application makes use of mobile data to download map tiles along your route, as well as other data, like points of interest.

Wedding Plandroid (Free)
Wedding Plandroid is Richard Marsh‘s first foray into Android development, and we think it’s gone quite well. The Market description sums up the goal of the application quite nicely:

Wedding Plandroid is a lightweight app specifically designed to help brides and grooms plan for their big day. It allows users to manage their wedding budget, track their progress on a timeline of wedding orientated tasks, keep track of their vendors, as well as manage their guest list.

We’re looking forward to see what Richard’s next application is going to be.

POCiT Mobile (Free)
POCiT is an online payment service that allows you to manage (and pay for) a plethora of bills and prepaid services. Their Android application allows you to access this service directly from your phone. With POCiT “All your bills are in one place; you know who to pay, how much and by when and you know the right payment will go to the right place”. It aint pretty, but it works.

Sharenet (Free)
The Sharenet application is a simple, quick way to keep your eye on Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) share prices, graphs and news. It also provides international indicies and forex quotes. Simple, straightforward, effective.

There are a few other applications that we’ve already covered over at ZADroid.com that deserve another mention: Supersport.com, Powertime and the FNB Mobile Banking app. It really is great to see South African developers getting on board with Android.

Albert is a developer, gadget geek, and all-round nice guy. He’s passionate about Android, and writes for ZADroid, a new blog that covers Android in South Africa. However, anything shiny and sufficiently technologically advanced puts a smile on his face. Above and beyond that, Albert loves the web and the technologies that drive it, good design, and original ideas.

News 24: Yeah, we are not starting off with the little guy. News24′s app has been out almost ever since the first iPhones appeared on our shores, and the app has had quite a few updates. While sometimes buggy, it is still one of the first apps to recommend to someone fresh to iPhone. It is versatile as well – you do not have to only read news – it can be customized to have your favorite sections of the 24.com empire right within one touch. For example – I like having Fin24 and Wheels24 links on the bottom of my News24 install.

Powertime: We have sung the praises of Powertime here before. Powertime is essentially a tool to buy prepaid electricity with, which is linked to your credit card. Simple enough, and similiar solutions exist, yes. But nothing comes close to the elegance in which Powertime does it. One particular feature we enjoy is that Powertime analyzes your electricity spending patterns, then gives you push notification warnings when it reckons your electricity might be running low.

DStv Drifta Mobile Decoder: Watching TV on your phone might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the usefulness of the DStv Drifta for travelers cannot be denied. If you already have a DStv subscription, its as easy as buying the Drifta mobile decoder, and signing up for the Drifta package (which is free for Premium subscribers and R36 a month for everyone else), and then using it within its quite broad reception area, which is in most major city areas in SA. While it is available for iPhone, it is of course even better on the iPad with its larger screen. The channel selection is somewhat limited right now – but the good ones are there. My tip – get one before the Rugby World Cup if you are not always close to a TV…

FNB Banking: Released only a short while ago, FNB has created quite a storm with its innovative app which is available on other platforms as well. Kobus did a very thorough review on it, and its pretty clear that FNB’s app might be a clear differentiator in the banking sector. It is actually quite amazing that FNB is the only bank in SA to have jumped at this opportunity. Once again FNB proves that they are the technically innovative bank in SA. You other banks have some catching up to do…

Private Property: We all know house hunting is a tedious task of searching through endless websites and dealing with many, many housing agents. But Private Property’s latest iPhone app seems to help quite a bit. Using some smart geo-location features it makes it easy to quickly  search for available houses close to where you might be right now, or wherever you might be interested in. It might not sound super exciting – but it works very well. You simply enter your price range, housing preferences and then it finds the private property listed areas in your interested area. Then you can browse the results and look at many photos of most houses. Found something good? Contact the seller right on the spot. Great.

 Update: SuperSport have released an update of their popular iPad application. The previous version was downloaded over 27000 times on iTunes.

If you want to be able download Apps, Music, Movies, TV Series etc from the US iTunes store, even if you live in SA, here is how to do it.

Vodacom Apps will support major mobile platforms including Android, Blackberry, Java, Symbian and Windows Mobile, making it relevant for the vast majority of data capable cellphones and smartphones.  The store will feature a wide variety of apps in various categories such as games, travel and entertainment, business and professional, work and school, and phone tools.

Pieter Uys, Vodacom Chief Executive Officer said:

“The launch of this app store is just the beginning. We’re building an entire community that will supply home-grown apps relevant to the South African environment. With all the talent available in this country there’s no reason we can’t create our own application industry. The great part about this store is that it caters for so many users – in fact, more than 10 million cellphones on our network can run at least Java apps.”

Vodacom Apps users will be able to download free apps, for which standard data charges will apply. In the near future, Vodacom will introduce paid-for apps which customers can pay for using their airtime account.  This means that all Vodacom customers can use the store without the need for a credit or debit card.

All Vodacom customers who wish to access Vodacom Apps can do so from 1 September by simply visiting http://vodacom.mobi/apps on their cellphones or from the Apps feature on Vodafone live! – take note this will not replace existing app stores on devices.

“Vodacom’s commitment to supporting and further developing the South African apps market is being taken a step further today through an extensive Vodacom Developer Programme, launched in conjunction with the Vodacom Apps store,” Uys added.

The Vodacom Developer Programme will provide the developer community with technical and commercial support, including training, workshops and innovation incentives over the coming months. This will further stimulate the local development of apps by allowing developers to upload their own developed applications and generate revenue from this.

Many of you probably know and use Opera Mini, which allows the user to browse quickly, but also saves money by compressing data before it arrives on your phone. The result is that some images might look slightly more pixelated, but at the end of the day it is well worth the cost savings and improved speed.

Now what if you can have these kind of savings on almost all the apps you use on your iPhone? Charl Norman pointed me in the direction of Onavo (available on iPhone and iPad) – somewhat strangely named, and yes I was skeptical. But anyway, I installed the free app to try it out. Onavo acts as a proxy server that first compresses all data before it arrives on your phone.They are currently focussing the app on world travellers who have to giant data costs, but nothing prevents you from using it all the time. Take a look at the video below for a better idea…

The part that intrigued me was how Onavo would do such a thing on even a traditionally very locked down device like the iPhone. Well -its pretty straightforward it seems. Onavo installs an XML configuration profile on your device, similiar to what you might use in enterprise setups (if you ever used iPhone Configuration Utility, you will know it). The phone first asks you your passcode if necessary, and explains to you how the profile works. Inside the Onavo app a reporting dashboard exists to let you know how much compression is going on with the data before it reaches your phone. So how well does it work?

In a word – Great. I did not have a single issue with one of my apps. You can see the effect of Onavo everywhere you go on the iPhone. Regardless of the app, if the image is small, it is slightly pixelated. Facebook, News24, Twitter, Maps, Safari – everywhere you can see it being used. You can go look at the dashboard to see the savings, with apps like News24 and Twitter which utilizes small images being biggest beneficiaries of the compression.

Web browsing works well, with all sites rendering correctly. Images above a certain size is not compressed it seems, which makes sense. If you want to see a photo full screen in Facebook, you do not want to see pixelation, right? There might still be some compression going on, but pixelation is gone on those images. See below for an example of the image compression. While the effect is not very pretty, users of Opera Mini should be used to it by now, and I am fine with while I am using 3G.

Onavo is quite well thought out – it only functions on 3G data, and switches off the moment you go onto wifi. So once you are within your wifi network, images again appear crisp, without any interaction required from you. Streaming services seem to be the only thing that does not work with Onavo at the moment. By “does not work” I mean it does not compress this data, but it still works fine. Onavo even compresses Exchange data, but you luckily have the option to switch this off. Im pretty sure if you are using a Exchange account on your device, your workplace might not appreciate their data running through some proxy server somewhere in the US. I switched it off, but maybe you are fine with it.

OK, so it works well, and I did not find any issues in any apps using it. But there is one problem, and it is the same problem people face when using Opera Mini. These services run as a proxy server between your device and the actual website or app service. This means that all data is sent through them, which can raise some alarm bells for the security conscious between us. And face it – in times like the these where attacks happen to even some of the biggest online businesses, can we really trust this type of solution? If you have used Opera Mini (apparently these users are everywhere, even in the smartphone era), you clearly have no qualms about this. But it might be something you want to take note of. I have to point out though – many sites that use SSL will keep on being encrypted, and Onavo does not touch this data. You of course the issue to instantly switch off Onavo by just clicking “Stop Savings” in the app if you feel you might be doing something confidential.

So how much did Onavo decrease my data usage? I only used it a few days now, and the overall savings has been around 50%, but you can also go and drill down to see which apps get the most compression. News24 is one of the apps I use a lot, and it got a 61% data saving. While not quite the savings that Onavo claim, but I think its good enough. As an added bonus I noticed that many US only apps on the iPhone just worked, because the Onavo proxy server is sitting in the US, similiar to some VPN solutions. But I am pretty sure this will fall away once services like Pandora catches on to this.

So is Onavo a must have app? It depends on your usage – if you do a lot of very secure browsing on your device, and you do not want to trust some proxy server, then of course no. But then again, not all users of iPhone are power users. We all know the type – many people just use it as a phone, and occasionally browse some news sites, and do quick searches on the Wikipedia.  For these lighter users of the iPhone and those who are particularly sensitive about their anemic iPhone data plans, it might make perfect sense to use Onavo…

So you just bought a new iPhone and you want to know – where is the GPS app??!! After all, most of the Blackberrys come standard with GPS right? Well-bad news. iPhone does not come with free navigation software, only the cut down Google Maps software which does not give you actual voice directions.

Luckily you do have choices – you do not have to buy the expensive versions of software that mimics the traditional big brand GPS’s. Recently I got the opportunity to review the recently released Navv GPS software which is a quite remarkable product at the price. At $25 it is at least half the price of equivalent GPS apps.

For the past week I have used Navv GPS in my normal driving routine, but also for actual navigation duties to areas I do not know. The software points of interest were bang up to date, and frankly included a few waypoints that my Garmin GPS did not have (which has the latest mapset). Route calculation is quick, and without problems. Things like turn offs with instant lane switching was without hiccups at all. Text and route info is easy to read with clear contrast – the icons and info can easily be switched between things like speed, ETA etc just by touching the relevant info.

So this app is considerably cheaper than other offerings – so what do you lose? Well, not much. First off you fire this up and notice the lack of Retina graphics – icons, text and graphics have a slight pixelation to them, which might bother some people. But the way I think about it – a GPS app is anyway placed a bit further away from your face, so you probably wont need Retina graphics. One other missing feature is multitasking support – clicking the home button while running the app actually closes it, which can be a bit disconcerting, especially if you are navigating some complicated turnoffs. But there is hope – on the iPhone 4 it starts up in about 2.5 seconds – so its pretty quick. Other part I do not really like is the lack of a iPhone keyboard – instead NAVV uses large alphabetic letters.

Small things to appreciate is the South African language support – it also supports Afrikaans (called “Annetjie”) and Zulu (called “Bongani”). Here is a rundown of the features you can expect from NAVV:

NAVIGATION Mode

• Turn-by-turn navigation for driving

• Voice instructions for accuracy

• Speeding alerts for safety

• 3D landmarks for making maps more realistic

POIs

• Cafes, gas stations, etc. – built-in

• Favorites with categories – customizable

• Google for more POIs – embedded

MAPS AND LANGUAGES

• You can NAVV in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, and Danish, Zulu and Afrikaans

• You can NAVV accurate and up-to-date maps of selected countries

• Compass

• Geo coordinates

• Multiple waypoints

All in all I reckon this is a pretty great app for $25. While it does not have the sophistication of the high priced apps, it is a great deal if you only want an app for the occasional navigation duties.

If you ever needed convincing that the future of the internet is mobile, you HAVE to look at this excellent video by the guys at MobileFuture. We are shifting very quickly towards a ubiquitous internet society…

Some mindblowing statistics: (dont just read these, do yourself a favour and watch the video)

• FIVE BILLION apps downloaded — up from 300 million in 2009

Whopping expansion of location-based services

• FIVE MILLION Foursquare users — up from 200,000 users in 2009

Surge in mobile social media platforms

• 347 PERCENT growth in Twitter mobile usage
• 200 MILLION mobile Facebook Users
• 100 MILLION YouTube videos played on mobile devices everyday

Ongoing explosion in data traffic

• 3,000 PERCENT growth in one carrier’s data traffic since 2008
• 3,339: average number of texts sent per month by US teens.

Unprecedented competition and choice

• 96 PERCENT of mobile users can choose from 3 or more providers
• 92 PERCENT of mobile users are satisfied with their provider
• 4 CENTS: average voice rate per minute in the US
• 77 MILLION: number of smartphones shipped in the fall of 2010.

My favourite part: “The Digital Camera died in 2010: Your Mobile Phone is looking very guilty…”

Here’s a closer look at the new features:

1. Google Buzz integration: TweetDeck is one of the first desktop clients to offer this functionality, which allows you to post to Buzz with no character limits, to comment on and like friends’ posts, and to mute the conversations you don’t want to follow.

2. Foursquare integration: TweetDeck is now location-aware. You can check in using your Foursquare account, find your friends, and see tips and current visitors on venue profile pages. If you don’t have a Foursquare account, you’ll be able to find your location on a popup map and add location information to your normal tweets.

3. Scheduled updates: Twitter updates, wall posts and Foursquare check-ins can all be scheduled to be sent at a later date and time. A dedicated Scheduled Updates column allows you to view, edit, reschedule or cancel the updates you’ve already queued.

4. Simpler video uploading: You can now upload a video file in the same way as you’d upload an image file. Videos can also be recorded through your webcam, and posted directly to any of your accounts.

5. Global filters: TweetDeck v0.34 allows you to hide updates based on sender, source or keyword, using multiple global filters.

Watch this video to see the new features in action:

The Telfree app is the first app of its kind to allow users to receive calls through it even when it’s not running, thanks to Telfree’s Push Call technology. Other features include threaded SMS, instant messaging, and social network chat functionality.

Of interest to travellers is the fact that Telfree offers one global flat rate to fixed lines and mobile phones, and is free for calls between registered TelFree accounts – which means no more roaming costs.

To get connected, download the 30-day free trial of Telfree Mobile from the Telfree site, or send an SMS containing the word “telfree” to 39042.

Jay Marine, director of Amazon’s Kindle division says, “Kindle for iPad includes all the features customers love about Kindle for iPhone, including a massive selection of over 450,000 books, along with a beautiful new user interface tailored to the look and feel of iPad.”

One of the iPad-specific features is page turn animation, designed to replicate the experience of turning a page in a physical book. Customers will have the option of switching this feature off and opting for “Basic Reading Mode” instead. In addition, readers will be able to dim the iPad’s screen within the app and will have a choice of background colours, font sizes and font colours, to ease eye-strain and make reading easier.

As with the other Kindle apps currently available (for iPhone, iPod touch, Mac and PC), readers will be able to sync their books, last page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights across devices.

Marine says, “Kindle for iPad is the perfect companion for the millions of customers who already own a Kindle or Kindle DX, and a way for customers around the world to download and enjoy books even if they don’t yet have a Kindle.”

Let the ebook-reader wars begin.