Duncan McLeod is founder and managing editor of TechCentral. With more than 30 years of experience in technology journalism, he has worked for and contributed to a range of publications, including the Financial Mail, the Sunday Times and the Financial Times.
Criticism in the US media about the state of BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) is “one-sided” and “one-dimensional” as the company continues to do well in many emerging markets, including SA, Indonesia and Mexico. That’s the view of Alexandra Zagury, newly appointed Research in
“Steve” from “Beep Bank” has become something of a meme among SA consumers. The First National Bank advertisements, which poke fun at the company’s rivals, imploring consumers to switch banks, have become the subject of everyday conversation, with people regularly wondering aloud which bank “Steve” really works for
Hardly a week goes by without news of yet another international traveller returning from overseas only to discover they’ve run up a huge phone bill, in some cases in excess of R100 000, while roaming. It’s well documented that data use, in particular, can lead to phone bills so large that the money could
Nedbank, the financial services partner in Vodacom’s M-Pesa mobile payments initiative, says it is “disappointed” that the service hasn’t taken off as fast as it had hoped for but it remains committed to the venture and will introduce new products and streamlined services soon in an effort to
The Electronic Communications Amendment Bill, published late last week in the Government Gazette, has proposed the creation of a Spectrum Management Agency, separate to the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa), to manage scarce radio frequency spectrum
The 2012 update to Samsung’s flagship Ultrabook series, the 900X, is an ultraportable computer of absolute beauty. The ultrathin machine — the Korean firm claims it’s the world’s thinnest in its category — exudes the sort of style normally reserved for products from its chief rival, Apple
Vodacom now has more than 50m customers across all of the African territories in which it operates. The cellular operator’s customer base increased by 29,2% in the first quarter of its 2013 financial year, ended 30 June 2012. But the latest numbers show growing pressure on revenue in
The country’s move to digital TV has been plagued for years by delays and bad decisions. It’s tempting to call it a comedy of errors, except this isn’t funny. The delays could cost SA dearly, particularly as vast chunks of valuable spectrum being used by broadcasters needs to be freed up so
Statistics published on Wednesday show headline consumer price inflation slowed in June to 5,5%. But a detailed analysis of the data reveals that prices in some categories are soaring and in others, most notably telecommunications, they are falling. Although Stats SA doesn’t provide
Despite slowing growth as a result of a weakening economic environment, JSE-listed technology group Datatec says it is still on target to meet its full-year growth forecasts. The group on Wednesday published an interim management statement covering the four-month period between
