• For the first time, digital music sales are larger than physical sales; accounting for 50.3% of all music purchases in 2011.
• Digital track sales set a new record with 1.27 billion sales in 2011; an increase of 100 million sales (8.4%) over 2010.
• Digital album sales exceeded 100 million for the first time with a new all-time high of 103.1 million sales (up from 86.3 million in 2010); an increase of nearly 20%.
• Digital album sales accounted for nearly 1 out of every 3 album purchases (31%) in 2011; compared to 26% in 2010, 20% in 2009, 15% in 2008, 10% in 2007 and 5.5% in 2006.
• Nearly all digital album genres had a positive year in 2011; except for Soundtracks which were down just over 2% compared to 2010.
• For the last week of 2011 (week ending 1/1/2012), digital album sales set a new high with sales of 3.5 million

Clearly people were eager to download even more music during the festive season, or maybe a lot of people needed to fill up their new music player or phone with some songs. Adele’s 21 was the year’s top selling album, and is also the best selling digital album of all time.

This all goes to show that if a easy to use, affordable solution exists, people will buy music. In South Africa we have very options, and are pretty much forced to use physical stores, who still insist on charging R140+ for a Top 20 CD. If Apple ever manages to sell music legally in SA, the physical stores are in for a rude awakening. If I was Nokia, I would do a much better job of marketing the Ovi Music stores, which also offers DRM free online music sales in SA. Problem is that most people dont know it exists.

In SA, digital music sales only account for 6% of the market, but physical sales of music has dropped a lot in the last few years. It is for this reason that stores like Musica are rather branching out into other areas like gadgets, merchandise and books. If the music sales have dropped, yet people are listening to more music than ever using their phones and iPods, where do they get their music from?

Musica might argue that people still prefer getting their music in physical form, so that they can touch and feel it – great. But that group of buyers are quickly becoming a tiny minority. Digital music, if implemented correctly, can offer a much better value proposition compared to a physical CD. Here is an example: Coldplay announces their new album, Mylo Xyloto, will be launched on 24 October 2011. Pre-orders on iTunes start on 1 October, at a price of $10. I pre-order the album on iTunes, and $10 is taken from my iTunes credit.

A few weeks later I see a reminder that the album has been launched. I cannot wait to get home – but hey, it is already on my iPhone, because the album automatically downloaded as it became available. It is also on my PC at home, and it is also already on my wife’s phone. I enjoy the album right on the spot, and listen to it on my way home in the car. Also, I cannot go and lose this music either, and it cannot be stolen from me. I cannot ruin the music as well by scratching it. I am free to go download it from anywhere in the world. Also, I am free to use this track on any MP3 player I might have, because it does not have DRM on it.

Compare this to buying the album physically. You are anyway going to rip it onto our computers, so that we can listen to it on our phones or iPods. Is it really worth paying almost double for the CD? I think not.

It is pretty easy to open a US iTunes account right now, and just purchase vouchers online which give you store credit. But see, that is technically illegal as well – due to the record industry’s obsession with region controls in album sales. You can also use Nokia’s Ovi Music stores, which offers that same Coldplay album for R80, but you will lose some neat features that only iTunes offers right now. But you know what – Ovi’s music store is the only decent online music store in SA right now, so I will support them.

Lets hope things improve in SA – its not great to always play catchup.

If you want to see the full rundown of the year in digital music, go here.

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.

I decided against doing a full iPhone 4S review – the simple fact is that the iPhone 4S is not a massive jump from the iPhone 4, and you will be quite familiar with the 4S if you have ever used an iPhone 4. But the thing about Apple fans is that they always want the latest and greatest. Luckily I was up for an upgrade from Vodacom, so here we are.

I am doing this review from the viewpoint of a long time iPhone user – I am comparing it to previous iPhones, of which I have owned every version since launch. While I use different phones with different operating systems almost every week, my primary phone is still an iPhone. I am not comparing it to the latest Galaxy Optimus Black Nexus LTE Droid RAZR Defy Plus. I have great respect for some of the latest Android superphones, but right now I am simply going to address the iPhone 4S from the viewpoint of an iPhone user. So here goes.

The Shape

Unpacking the iPhone 4S is almost the exact same experience as the iPhone 4. In fact, you might want to double check that you have the 4S box. Open it up, and the 4S is also almost a carbon copy of the iPhone 4, except for some differences in the outer antenna edges. The rest is all the same. That might bother some people who wanted a bigger screen or a new design. But you know what – I just don’t care. The 4 and 4S are still stunning phones to look at and hold. They just look and feel better than any other phone out there. The steel and glass just feels higher end than every other plastic phone smartphone. If it aint broke, why fix it? Or wait, speaking about breaking – I might have liked a carbon fibre or Kevlar back like the Motorola RAZR. While that glass is nice looking, it is fragile… If you do go for it, get a decent case. Vodacom was nice enough to bundle a nice little bumper case though.

Out of the box you are faced with iOS5′s new startup screens. If you have used iCloud backup on your old iPhone, you dont even have to connect it to your computer. You still have that option though. Switching from my previous iPhone 4 to the 4S took about 30 minutes, and everything was right where I left it.

Fast

In terms of software, it is pretty standard iOS5 fare – but everything is a lot faster. I was not particularly bothered by the iPhone 4’s speed – it felt zippy enough. But then you use the iPhone 4S, and then suddenly the iPhone 4 just feels sluggish. Everything has tiny speed improvements. There is no delay when scrolling long image rich pages, web rendering is a lot faster, and there are no more dropped frames in graphics intensive games, and load times are all a bit faster.

But while everyone is going on about the A5 dual core processor, it is the graphics that has gotten the biggest boost. There are not a lot of games out there that can already harness all the new GPU power. The only example right now is Infinity Blade 2. IF2 looks good on the iPhone 4, but on the iPhone 4S it is amazing. I cannot wait to see what the game developers are going to come up with – with things like Airplay mirroring (which is built into the iPhone 4S by the way) finding its way into games, we are slowly starting to approach a time where full games consoles might be less and less relevant. (Airplay mirroring allows you to use your TV screen for iPhone games – just do a search for Real Racing 2 and airplay mirror to see what I mean).

The Camera

I am not someone who ever really takes note of a cellphone camera, but the iPhone 4S’s 8MP shooter is one of the best cameras I have ever used. During this holiday period I often found myself reaching for the 4S, even though I had a brand new Canon IXUS and a Nikon D90 SLR with me. The 4S’s low light performance, and awesome macro modes amazed me the most. There is almost no image noise, and the camera launch and shutter is nice and quick – not something I am used to with a phone. Sure, I miss some things like zoom – but the 4S is really starting to give decent point and click cameras a go.

Siri

The other major addition to the 4S is of course the new artificial intelligence personal assistant called Siri. The concept is amazing – simply talk to your phone in natural language, and it actually understands what you are saying. Instead of saying “Is it going to rain tomorrow?” you can also ask “Will I need an umbrella tomorrow?” and it will actually answer yes or no. I found it to be best with very scientific or mathematical questions – “How high is table mountain?”. 1087m apparently.  It of course works with a few silly questions as well – “who lives in a pineapple under the sea?”, to which it answers Spongebob Squarepants. “Who is the president of South Africa?” Oh, it is Jacob Zuma, and Wolfram Alpha gives some additional info about him as well, like his age, presidency term, etc. But it does not show how many kids he has already.

But I found using Siri for built in iPhone functions to be the best part – like saying “remind me to call my wife at 7” will correctly identify who your wife is (it checks you relations in your contacts, or simply asks the first time). Telling Siri to set an appointment with John at 12 on Wednesday will even tell you beforehand if there is schedule conflict. Social convention makes Siri somewhat awkward to use – I did not find myself babbling to my phone in public. I mostly used it when driving (it works great with Bluetooth), or when alone. For example – I simply set my alarm for the next morning with my voice now.

This all sounds great, but the honest truth is that Siri is currently severely stunted anywhere outside the US. Many of the questions that come naturally to us is somehow tied to location – like “How far is it to Green Point Stadium?” – which simply does not work. At a certain point you get so frustrated by the lack of services available to us (even though Google Maps has a lot of content in SA), that you just give up, and stick to only things that are specific to the phone. Dictation still works fine though – so you can use you voice every time instead of using the keyboard. Just click the voice button on the keyboard (yeah, just like how Android does it).

It is worth keeping in mind that Siri is still a Beta product. It is not perfect, and you can see there is still a lot of work to be done. But using Siri makes you wish for the day Apple would open up Siri’s API to app developers. How cool would it be to say “Add note to Evernote” and then simply dictating the rest.

So is it worth upgrading to iPhone 4S?

Yes, the iPhone 4S is a somewhat underwhelming upgrade to the iPhone 4, which does make a person wonder whether it is worth it. To the iPhone 4 user I would most definitely not recommend an upgrade, unless you can already get the 4S for free. Siri and the little bit of additional speed is great, but not worth upgrading from the iPhone 4 for. Up until now every new iPhone had some pretty great reasons to upgrade, even the iPhone 3GS, which was mostly a speed increase. But the iPhone 4S is more about refining the overall experience – it is a tiny bit better in every respect, without changing the great design. Evolution, not revolution.

If you are still rocking an iPhone 3GS, the iPhone 4S is a must have upgrade though. The solid metal and glass build, the Retina display, and the brilliant camera is a huge upgrade over the 3GS. Unless you are tempted by Android, I really recommend an upgrade to the iPhone 4S. But that is also the thing about the iPhone – right now the iOS ecosystem is so well executed, it is very tough for an iPhone user to jump to Android.

But this time Apple is also selling the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 new with contracts. So you can buy an “older” iPhone new if you want to save some money. If you are up for an upgrade, I would not recommend the 3GS anymore. While it is a great phone, you don’t have the certainty that Apple would keep pushing out software updates for it much longer. You might be tempted by the iPhone 4 as well – again – great phone, but you might save a R1000 tops. The iPhone 4S contracts are luckily not too bad, especially the Vodacom deals. So if you are free to choose, the iPhone 4S is the one to go for.

Images: Getty, iFixit

Related: 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.

One of the major criticisms of Android phones of late is the apparent lack of official updates that land on the devices. Where some other operating systems keep on upgrading existing phones even a few years after production, Android users in many cases will not get any updates at all. There is a variety of reasons for that – one of the major reasons being customized interfaces or skins that need a lot of work from the manufacturers to be rewritten for new software versions. Luckily Google brings out one reference device, called the “Nexus” about once a year with the launch of major operating system upgrades, and these phone typically get new software updates before any manufacturer.

The latest phone to have the Nexus moniker is Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus – a phone that keeps a pure Android interface free of any skins, and more significantly, the first phone to officially ship with Android 4.0, called Ice Cream Sandwich. If the whole iPhone hype is not for you, the Galaxy Nexus makes a very compelling argument.

“Samsung and Google have closely collaborated to push the mobile experience forward. We are pleased to deliver the best and latest Android smartphone experience for customers with GALAXY Nexus. We will continue to move forward with the Android platform to provide the most compelling consumer experience in the mobile world,” says Paulo Ferreira, Head of Mobile Product and Business Solutions at Samsung.

“Ice Cream Sandwich demonstrates the Android platform’s continued innovation with this release which works on phones and tablets seamlessly (and everything in between). Features like Android Beam and Face Unlock show the innovative work our team is doing, and GALAXY Nexus showcases the power behind Ice Cream Sandwich,” said Andy Rubin, Senior Vice President of Mobile for Google.

The first smartphone to feature Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich

Ice Cream Sandwich brings an entirely new look and feel to Android. It has a redesigned user interface with improved multi-tasking, notifications, Wi-Fi hotspot, NFC support and a full web browsing experience. GALAXY Nexus features software navigation buttons, a first for Android smartphones. The lock screen, home screen, phone app, and everything in between has been rethought and redesigned to make Android simple, beautiful, and useful.

Ice Cream Sandwich also features a new People app, which lets you, browse friends, family, and co-workers, see their photos in high-resolution, and check their latest status updates from Google+ and other social networks. GALAXY Nexus features a redesigned camera which introduces panorama mode, 1080p video capture, zero-shutter lag, and effects like silly faces and background replacement.

GALAXY Nexus is also connected to the cloud, keeping your email, contacts, and all other data synced across your devices. You have access to more than 350,000 apps and games from Android Market.

Ice Cream Sandwich introduces innovations such as Face Unlock which uses facial recognition to unlock your phone. Additionally, using Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, Android Beam allows you to quickly share web pages, apps, and YouTube videos with your friends by simply tapping your phones together. Samsung and Google will work with local developers and solution providers to further enhance the application ecosystem locally to leverage the NFC functionality. You can even use fun effects while shooting video or video chatting with Google Talk.

Google Experience

GALAXY Nexus is designed to provide a “pure Google,” experience, and with it, you will be the first to receive software upgrades and new applications as they become available.

It also features a number of Google Mobile services, including: Android Market, Gmail, Google Maps 5.0 with 3D maps and turn-by-turn navigation, Google Earth, Movie Studio, YouTube, syncing with Google Calendar, and a redesigned Google+ app.

Best-in-class hardware meets the most advanced software

GALAXY Nexus is the first smartphone to feature a 4.65’’ display with a market-leading resolution of 1280×720, ensuring you can enjoy GALAXY Nexus’ immersive entertainment capabilities and fast web browsing.

Succeeding the original Contour Display of Nexus S, GALAXY Nexus comes with a rounded shape that fits perfectly within your palm or to your face for phone calling. Hyper-skin backing on the battery cover improves the ergonomic feel of the device and makes the phone slip-resistant. At just 8.94mm thick, with a minimal 4.29mm bezel, GALAXY Nexus provides superb portability alongside an expansive screen.

GALAXY Nexus also features an fast 1.2GHz dual core processor, ensuring you can take full advantage of GALAXY Nexus’ enhanced multitasking capabilities with ease, or enjoy the large, vivid display to its full capacity with high-definition gaming or video streaming. LTE or HSPA+ connectivity combined with a dual core processor delivers high-speed web browsing which ensures you always have the web at your fingertips, wherever you are.

GALAXY Nexus will be available in South Africa from early Q1 2012

RRP between R 6 999 – R7 299

Finally we have some idea when Apple’s iPhone 4S will be landing in SA. On Vodacom’s website their iPhone 4S registration page just went live. Luckily the wait is not too long – 16 December is only a couple of weeks away, and you can pre-register for it right now.

In the past these pre-registration forms are next to useless, so if you are desperate to get one, you might want to rather get your name on a few lists at stores close to you. There is also no news yet on what deals will be made available, but with MTN also getting the iPhone 4S, some competition might keep the prices reasonable.

The biggest new feature is the Siri personal assistant. It is perhaps the single biggest reason to get the iPhone 4S:

If you want to know what else to expect in iPhone 4s, see here.

Update: MTN is also getting iPhone 4S on 16 December, as reported by MyBroadBand

Research In Motion today announced that the BlackBerry Curve 9360 will be available from MTN, Vodacom and CellC.

“The BlackBerry Curve series is already incredibly popular in South Africa and we think customers will be very impressed with this new model and with the new BlackBerry 7 operating system. The BlackBerry Curve 9360 makes it easier than ever to stay socially connected and offers a significant performance boost with a much faster and smoother web browsing experience,” says Rui Brites, Director of Product Management for Africa at RIM.

The new BlackBerry Curve 9360 smartphone is ergonomically designed with a comfortable and iconic keyboard for fast, accurate typing and an optical trackpad for easy, one-handed navigation. GPS and Wi-Fi support are also included, as well as a 5MP camera with flash and video recording so that memories can be captured and instantly shared on social networks. The microSD/SDHC slot supports up to 32 GB memory cards for additional media storage.

In addition to supporting the new BlackBerry 7 OS, the BlackBerry Curve 9360 smartphone features a range of hardware enhancements including an upgraded processor and display, more memory and built-in support for NFC (Near Field Communications), a new technology that is enabling many exciting capabilities, including the ability to pair accessories or read SmartsPoster tags with a simple tap of the smartphone, using BlackBerry Tag.

This new model is designed to address a large and important segment of the global mobile phone market where customers are looking to upgrade their existing feature phone or existing BlackBerry Curve with an affordable, easy-to-use, full-featured and socially-connected smartphone. “These new models will build on the incredible success of the BlackBerry Curve line and further expand the largest global launch of BlackBerry smartphones in our history,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion. “The new BlackBerry Curve smartphones are absolutely stunning and offer a significant performance upgrade with an unmatched mobile social experience for the millions of feature phone users in the market as well as our existing Curve customers.”

BlackBerry 7 also introduces a next generation BlackBerry browser which combines the dramatically improved performance of the advanced WebKit browser engine with the hardware enhancements in the new BlackBerry Curve 9360 smartphone to deliver a significantly faster, more fluid web browsing experience. Additional enhancements to this next generation BlackBerry browser have also enabled smoother navigation and optimised HTML5 performance for incredible gaming and video experiences.

We have been waiting to see what would be the first phone to come from Google’s Motorola acquisition, but now we know. Say hello to the new Motorola RAZR. Boasting a sculpted glass face, diamond-cut aluminum accents and a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Advanced display, the Motorola RAZR also sports KEVLAR fiber and Gorilla Glass to help the screen stand up to scratches and scrapes. In fact, every part of Motorola RAZR is protected by a splash-guard coating – even the electrical boards inside.

Inside it is pretty great as well – 1GB of RAM hooks up with a dual-core 1.2GHz processor and Android 2.3 to get you a fast user interface and the  plenty of power for multitasking. You can also find 802.11n wifi, and 16 GB of memory and a large 1780 mAh battery.

Motorola RAZR comes preloaded with the Motorola MotoCast app, giving you the power to stream or download content from your home or work computer straight to your device so your personal content is always within reach. Watch movies on a screen that sports a wider range of colors than most LCD HDTVs.The cameras are impressive as well – use the cinematic-quality front-facing 720p HD video camera and 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with even sharper 1080p HD video capture to create your own movies – all with image-stabilization technology.

The Kevlar rear on the Motorola Razr

“With the new Motorola RAZR we have re-imagined an icon. The most captivating Android-powered smartphone on the scene, it’s thinner than your friends’ smartphone and better looking too!” says Megan Nicholas, mobile devices lead, Motorola Mobility South Africa. “We partnered with Vodacom to launch Motorola RAZR, and we know Vodacom customers will be lining up to be the first to have the next generation Motorola RAZR.”

Accessories that bring a whole new universe to life

With the Motorola RAZR Work and Play kit, plug the device into the HD Multimedia Station to connect to your HDTV, speakers and other peripherals for large-screen entertainment. Sit back and use the included keyboard and mouse with Bluetooth technology to make the most of Motorola’s revolutionary webtop application, giving you the power to edit documents and browse the Web with a full Firefox browser.  The new Smart Controller lets you take control of your content on the big screen, all while keeping your calls within reach when your phone is docked.

In a similiar fashion to the Motorola Atrix, a a choice of 2 laptop docks will be available. The new sleek and lightweight Motorola Lapdock 500 Pro with a built-in keyboard and 14” HD resolution screen, looks like a slim laptop, but only comes to life when you dock your Motorola RAZR. Watch movies, edit documents, video chat with the built-in webcam and browse the web with the full Firefox browser. Need something smaller? The Motorola Lapdock 100 gives you all the same cloud computing capability but in a smaller and more compact size with its 10.1″ screen.

Availability

The Motorola RAZR will be available with Vodacom in November. The recommended retail price is approximately R6999, and it will also be available on contract at R269 per month x24 on Business Call.

We cannot wait to get our hands on this beauty. Maybe Blackberry should take notes on how to make a good looking phone. You do not need Porsche Design…

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.

WordCamp Cape Town 2011 will be a great networking and learning event – every gets to participate, share ideas and get to know each other. WordCamp CT 2011 is the second WordCamp to be hosted in SA, with the first WordCamp SA hosted in 2008. This time round expect some top notch speakers from around the globe.

WordCamp Cape Town 2011 will offer 2 tracks of talks and workshops, each offering sessions hosted by some of the most interesting WordPress professionals from South Africa and the International community.
The tracks are:
● Publisher Track – This track will focus on the role of content in WordPress Web development, including blogging, content creation, content management and content strategy.
● Tech/Development – The development track will be focused on the more technical aspects of developing with WordPress, including Plugins, User Interface design and scalability.

The full list and Bio’s of our speaker are available online at http://2011.capetown.wordcamp.org/speakers/

The day will begin at 8:30 am and end at 6:00pm on Thursday the 15th of September.

Date: 15 September 2011
Venue: The Atlantic Imbizo, V&A Waterfront
Location: Cape Town

For more info goto: http://2011.capetown.wordcamp.org/about/

In the tablet market it is pretty tough going for anybody except Apple. What if you want a tablet that is not the same as everyone else’s? Sure you can go for Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, but I can guarantee you in a year from now you will see Android tabs everywhere. Or what if you are a Blackberry fan – and there are a lot of you out there… SA customers now have another choice.

Good news – Vodacom today announced that the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet is now available in South Africa from their stores.

The BlackBerry PlayBook does have some great features and is quite a bit smaller than the iPad – and it is made to work hand in hand with your Blackberry. Simply fire up Bluetooth, and all your mail and BIS related data services can be used on the Playbook.

The BlackBerry PlayBook will come in three Wi-Fi® models, featuring 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB of memory storage.

“We’re very excited to make the BlackBerry PlayBook available to customers.  It is available today at Vodacom World in Johannesburg and will be available from participating stores nationwide from 29 August 2011,” says Vodacom’s Managing Executive – Sales, Zunaid Dinath. “With its set of features, portability and power, the BlackBerry PlayBook is an ideal companion for busy people on the move.”

Says Craige Fleischer, Regional Director for Southern Africa at RIM: “We’re pleased to bring South African customers an innovative and truly portable tablet which delivers uncompromised performance and a fantastic mobile experience for both consumers and business users. With its exceptional multimedia and Web functionality, as well as its support for true multitasking, this is the tablet that discerning users have been waiting for.”

As a bonus Vodacom is bundling all Playbook’s with G-Connect vouchers so you can use them at Mugg and Bean’s countrywide. My advice – use the Bluetooth connection with your Blackberry instead.

Recently Bandwidth Blog spent some time with Windows Phone 7 (with the Samsung Omnia 7), and despite a great operating system and user experience, we were critical of the lack South African support – both for customers and developers.

Microsoft has announced a series of brand-new enhancements to its App Hub developer portal as part of the highly anticipated ‘Mango’ release. Windows Phone 7 developers can now publish their apps to consumers in 19 new countries, including South Africa. In addition to the 16 countries where Marketplace is already supported, developers can now broaden their opportunity for global distribution and competitive app prices.

Clifford de Wit, developer platform lead at Microsoft South Africa, is calling on all Windows Phone developers to submit Mango apps in August, ahead of the Mango release to market. The new App Hub developer portal allows developers to manage their account, change settings, submit applications and stay up-to-date on Windows Phone.

“The updated App Hub features enhancements such as greater geographic markets for developers, consumers and advertising coverage; new private distribution options; and enhanced application and account management capabilities. We’re making great strides in expanding overall demand for Windows Phone applications.”

Microsoft is offering developers two new private distribution options: beta and targeted distribution. Apps distributed through these private distribution methods can only be downloaded by users using a deep-link and the apps cannot be discovered via browsing or searching in Windows Phone Marketplace. Beta distribution enables developers to distribute pre-certified apps to a group of up to 100 access-controlled beta testers for up to 90 days. The targeted distribution enables developers to distribute applications through Marketplace in a hidden state, where they are not discoverable via browsing or searching Marketplace.

De Wit says he has no doubt that local developers are in a position to create compelling mobile content for the Windows Phone platform. “We want to attract a new wave of Windows Phone developers ahead of the ‘Mango’ release.”

Other enhancements to the Mango App Hub include better application management, an enhanced developer dashboard, more detailed reporting, a new “Crash Count” report, a streamlined application submission process and new application categories – education, kids & family, and government and politics.

For more information, visit the official Windows Phone Blog and the App Hub.