Say what you will, but HP has had a dismal record in the Post-PC age. From losing their spot as the top PC manufacturer in the world (then regaining it again according to the latest results), to making a total mess of Palm division, HP is in urgent need of reinvention. According to the latest Canalys results, HP would be number two behind Apple if tablets are counted as PCs, and the tablet market is just growing more every day.

A few years back HP bought Palm for $1.2 billion, and subsequently made some pretty great phones with the WebOS operating system – which had massive potential. But even with that potential, it never translated into a sales success. With the arrival of the previous CEO, Apotheker, the whole WebOS division was killed in August 2011, only 16 months after buying out Palm. Clearly HP has lost out on the Post-PC race since then, and now HP is going to adopt Android for its upcoming devices.

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Mobile broadband is the biggest single revenue opportunity in Africa in the immediate and longer term, according to the results of a recent Industry Outlook survey commissioned by Informa Telecoms & Media. This resonates with Informa’s forecasts that suggest that annual mobile data revenues in Africa will reach US$18.5 billion by 2016 accounting for 22% of the region’s total mobile service revenues as compared with 12% in 2011.

Informa Telecoms & Media commissioned the survey for AfricaCom 2012 and will publish the results in its “Africa Telecoms Outlook 2013: Seizing new revenue opportunities” report at the event in Cape Town between 13 – 15 November.

Mobile data growth will power a number of revenue opportunities. The business case for 4G technology will emerge, according to 70% of the survey’s respondents, as the growth of mobile data services continues to accelerate. Giving mobility to broadband services will empower enterprises and especially SMEs to benefit from more mobile working thereby generating greater business agility.

Yet there remains a large constraint on the ideal of connecting Africa. Even the cheapest mobile phone is still not affordable for many there. There is a powerful message from Informa’s survey: seven out of 10 respondents agreed that operators must use their buying power and distribution networks to make more devices available and device manufacturers need to make more affordable devices.

A central message from the survey is the need for mobile network operators (MNOs) to take notice of the changing demands and characteristics of its customers. Nick Jotischky, principal analyst for emerging market analysis at Informa Telecoms & Media comments, “There is more depth to a mobile operator’s customer base in Africa than two or three years ago and, for this reason, MNOs need to gain a greater insight into their customers’ behavior and offer them services that match their individual needs and preferences. Using this insight to design new business models that combine an MNO’s traditional capabilities (mobility, location) with Internet-style services (search, mapping) will enable a more compelling and personalized set of services to a wider variety of customer segments”.

Jotischky will chair a session at AfricaCom on November 13 discussing Africa’s evolving telecoms market with a number of Informa analysts and copies of the report will be made available there.

Vodacom has tripled the number of LTE enabled base stations in its network from just under 70 at launch a month ago to over 200 in Johannesburg and testing has begun in Cape Town.

LTE, which stands for Long Term Evolution, is a new generation of mobile technology with the capability to operate at speeds up to 3 times faster than 3G.

Zunaid Dinath, Vodacom’s Chief Officer Sales and Distribution said that “LTE represents a step change in mobile capabilities. Thanks to faster speeds, we’re able to unlock the true potential of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. LTE has the ability to deliver stutter-free video and almost instantaneous music and picture downloads; and because it’s mobile, we can deliver this experience whether you’re at your office, on the move, or at home.”

In addition to the wider network coverage, Vodacom now has LTE devices on sale at Vodacom World in Midrand and selected Vodacom outlets across Gauteng. Customers can now buy the Samsung Galaxy S III LTE, Vodafone K5006 and Alcatel One Touch L100V LTE dongle modems on the following contracts:

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Lilian van Zyl from Moneysmart made this great infographic showing the current cost differences in SA when it comes to mobile broadband. South Africa’s current explosion of mobile phone use have led to massive increases in the amount of data we use. In fact, we are pretty sure that for some some users, the data bundle attached to a contract is of greater concern than the talk time.

Moneysmart‘s infographic focusses on prepaid data rates, and show some very clear differences in price. The current smaller cellular operators are obviously heading for price war in the data sector, which we feel is a lot more relevant than the recent international call decreases. But enough with the chat, see the infographic below:

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Mobile apps, touch-screen interfaces, gesture controls and platform interoperability are just some of the areas that software developers need to be cognisant of when designing solutions today. Malcolm Rabson, MD at Dariel Solutions takes a closer look at some of the trends to watch in a field that has become imperative to the success of any organisation in the connected age.

In the 90s, the rapid rise of the internet led to a renaissance in software development with many aspiring programmers looking at ways to harness the power of browsers, come up with interesting Web page designs (remember Geocities, frames, and animated gifs?), and leverage the functionality of bulletin boards that evolved quickly into significant community forums.

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The ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) trend has taken root in South Africa, with workers increasingly relying on their personally-owned smartphones, tablets and computers in their day to day work rather than on  devices issued to them by their companies.

This trend – known as consumerisation of IT – has brought with it tremendous opportunities, but also massive risks for companies with mobile workforces, says Alexandra Zagury, Managing Director for South & Southern Africa at Research In Motion (RIM), the company behind the BlackBerry® solution.

She says that many employees in the average enterprise are now relying on personally owned smartphones and tablet computers to carry out work tasks that range from authorising payments to signing off purchase orders and editing sensitive documents.

“Compared to the top-down nature of technology deployment in enterprises in the past, we are today seeing employees are bringing their own productivity-boosting devices and services to work with them,” says Zagury. “This trend towards consumerisation is being driven by the advent of devices such as smartphones that allow people to seamlessly access personal and work services wherever they are.”

This brings gains in productivity, efficiency and worker satisfaction, but also creates obvious compliance risks over sensitive data. Some companies might try to react to the threats and risks by locking the devices down to prevent use of unauthorised applications, websites and social networking capabilities. (more…)

Cell C has launched a new promotion that offers customers five new contract packages that guarantee a brand new handset every 12 months for the duration of the contract selected (1, 2, 3 or 4 years) and significantly reduced Data, SMS and MMS rates in addition to the flat (in and out of bundle, peak and off-peak) 99c per minute on per second billing Voice rate.  The promotion will run from 17 August 2012 to 17 November 2012.

“The beauty of this 3 month promotion is not only in the guaranteed new handset that customers will receive at the beginning of every contractual 12-month period but also in the reduced rates. However, this is not a lock-in contract, if you choose a 4-year contract and want to opt out after 1 year, or 2 years, or 3 years, you can at no penalty. But then you will of course only get a new phone at the beginning of each year you are contracted for,” says Cell C CEO Alan Knott-Craig.

In addition to the guaranteed handset annually, customers who sign up for any of the new contracts on promotion will benefit from the company’s still unrivalled flat 99c per minute, on per second billing Voice rate, which includes calls to 50 international destinations, a reduced rate of 25c for Data (per MB), as well as 25c per SMS and MMS for the duration of their contract term.

“Each contract will include monthly airtime that can be used for Voice, SMS, MMS or Data – or any combination of these at rates, never-before-seen in the market.  The same reduced rates will also apply for out-of-bundle Voice, Data, SMS and MMS usage.” Says Knott-Craig.

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Google just launched a new feature for touch screen phones that allow users to do searches by simply tracing the letters on the screen. This will work on Android and iOS devices, and that includes tablets as well. The user has to manually activate it though:

1. Open up Google Search on your device.
2. Go to Settings (bottom of screen for phones, top right for tablets)
3. Enable Handwriting.
4. Click done.

You can switch handwriting mode on or off by clicking the little button on the bottom right.

The page should show a quick demo, and thereafter you simply start writing. It is remarkably accurate in our experience – and there is almost no delay while it figures out what you write. We must be honest though – it is not something we will use every day, because we still find typing faster.

Is it something you will use, or is it simply a nice to have feature?