Despite increasing pressure on the BlackBerry brand and worldwide sales decreases, the BlackBerry brand is stronger than ever in Africa. BIS is still a very compelling deal in SA with its high data prices. But Blackberry’s App World still has very few apps, which was one of our primary criticisms against our recent review of the otherwise brilliant BlackBerry Bold 9900.

South African developers are also slow to adopt BlackBerry, as the choice of apps might suggest. But still we think it is necessary to focus on some the good Made in SA BlackBerry apps, scarce as they might be. Here is our favourite South African developed BlackBerry apps.

1) News24

There are only a few app developers in SA who cater for multiple mobile app platforms, and News24 is one of them. While the app is by no means as sexy as the iPhone and Android versions, it is functional and stable. Using a similiar structure to the other News24 apps, the app also focusses more on weather with a quick 3 days summary of upcoming weather. Users can also check Lotto results, but cannot seem to see comments, just like with the iPhone and Android. As many would agree, it is sometimes more interesting to see people’s comments on article than the article itself. Maybe we can see this in future.

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The iPhone is not exactly a niche product anymore, and especially not in SA. While not close to the popularity of Blackberry, SA developers are not ignoring iPhone. There is clearly a market to develop for South African iPhone users, and there has been a lot of apps released in recent times. We thought it might be time to list our favourite “Made in South Africa / for South Africans” apps. It should be pointed out that many of these apps are available on other smartphone platforms as well.

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. (more…)

Many South Africans have been in that sucky situation where your power goes out late at night, and you have to somehow find a way to buy prepaid electricity. This usually necessitates a trip to the nearest shop or garage which requires you to pay cash…. Blah, blah blah, you know the drill.

I have recently been using an app called Powertime which installs on your iPhone (Blackberry is also available) and enables you to buy electricity at any time of day, and for any electricity meter you have registered with them. When you go to the Powertime website, you register your electricity meter (you can register more than one as well), with some of your details. You also register your credit card, and then you fax them a copy of your credit card and your ID book. And that is the only “work” from your end (this is still less work than the numerous trips to the shop and back…).

While these types of solutions have existed on the web for quite some time in SA, this is the first mobile implementation that I have come across that is so polished and easy to use. Where every other site is exercise in frustration, Powertime is quick and easy to use. Proof that there are some great iPhone developers in South Africa…The developers have recently added a few cool new features – like a tool that predicts your usage, and then also pushes a notification to your phone to remind you that your electricity is about to run out (every time I buy electricity I also just enter my current readout, and over time it builds its predictions). For example, my Powertime lets me know once my meter reaches 50 units. And its surprisingly accurate. I also appreciate the statistics that it gives me regarding my electricity usage:

They also added the ability to buy airtime from Vodacom, MTN and Cell C, which is easier than using WIG menus from banks, or having to go to internet banking websites…

This is one of those tools that I appreciate – while I can purchase electricity online quite easily, I really appreciate the convenience of Powertime on my phone.

PS: Powertime App was acclaimed on September 29th at the international Mobile Web in Africa conference in Johannesburg, receiving the top award at the App Factor competition.