Author: Duncan McLeod

Is the PC market set for a comeback or is it a case of a dead cat bouncing? New research from International Data Corp (IDC) suggests that PC sales in the Middle East and Africa (including Turkey) will end a “dismal run” of seven consecutive quarters of year-on-year declines in the second quarter of 2014. According to IDC, PC sales

Consumer electronics companies holding out for a “killer application” to drive the sale of smart watches are likely to be disappointed. That’s the view of Jonas Olsson, who heads the experience and design team for mobile accessories at Sony, where he focuses on wearable computing

Savannah Fund, a seed capital fund specialising in US$25 000 to $500 000 investments in sub-Saharan Africa, has made its first move into South Africa, buying into two Cape Town-based start-ups. The fund, which already has investments in East Africa and West Africa, has invested in e-commerce site

In the mid-1990s, there were fewer telephone connections in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa than there were in Manhattan. What a difference two decades has made: by the end of this year, there will be more than 635m active telephone subscriptions on the sub-continent. That number is twice the population of

Welcome to the 100th episode of TalkCentral. Join Duncan McLeod and Regardt van der Berg for this landmark edition of TechCentral’s long-running podcast. In the show this week, Duncan and Regardt chat about the startling revelations from Vodafone this week about the ability of governments in many

Newly appointed Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane has appointed Marian Shinn as the party’s spokesman on telecommunications and postal services. Shinn had been shadow communications minister before President Jacob Zuma split the

French carrier Wi-Fi specialist Nomosphere, part of the Nomotech Group, has announced plans to expand in South Africa. It will open a subsidiary in Johannesburg, its first office outside France, as it looks to take advantage of an expected boom in Wi-Fi demand in Africa. Wireless Access

Regulators and policy makers across Africa need to work with the telecommunications industry to harmonise radio frequency spectrum for broadband. Doing so will help drive down costs, especially of handsets, says Magnus Mchunguzi, who is MD of Ericsson in South Africa. Working together on

MTN and Simfy Africa have signed a deal to offer the streaming music service’s product to the mobile operator’s customers at a discount. MTN will offer the streaming service to its customers for R49/month. “All customers will have the opportunity to try the full service, and enjoy all of

JSE-listed technology firm Morvest is getting into … bedding. The company told shareholders on Tuesday that its subsidiary Morvest Retail, through its business Whoohaa, will buy “certain business assets and business liabilities” of well-known mattress maker Simmons for R75m