Browsing: Duncan McLeod

The days of watching YouTube videos buffer, even high-definition ones, may soon be over — for some consumers, anyway. Telkom this week launched the commercial trial of its new 20Mbit/s and 40Mbit/s digital subscriber line services. These speeds are far greater than anything offered by the fixed-line operator to date and

To understand the importance — and irony — of last week’s court victory by Apple, it’s necessary to go back to 1979. It was 33 years ago that a young Steve Jobs paid a visit to the Palo Alto Research Center (Parc), a research and development facility in Silicon Valley owned by Xerox. Xerox Parc is renowned for having

It’s not often I find myself cheering when reading through government documents, but I did just that last week as I took in the plan’s revised proposals for the information and communications technology sector. Here, in black and white, a government commission has laid out many

With hype building once again ahead of the launch of the next iPhone, it’s sometimes easy to forget that the world doesn’t revolve around the fruity company in California. The new iPhone — or whatever it’s eventually called — is guaranteed saturation coverage in the next few weeks leading up to a rumoured 12 September

Public enterprises director-general Tshediso Matona said last week that government has made no decision about what it plans to do about the vexing question of Telkom. Ruling-party politicians are debating whether the company will remain listed on the JSE or

It’s hard to think that just 15 years ago, Apple was staring bankruptcy in the face. What followed, under the leadership of Steve Jobs, has become one of the most celebrated turnaround stories in modern business. At more than US$550bn, Apple today is the biggest listed company on the planet by market value

“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

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

The resignation last week of Vodacom Group CEO Pieter Uys raises interesting questions about the future of SA’s most powerful mobile phone operator under the UK’s Vodafone, especially as it faces an increasingly fractious and competitive industry. When

Alan Knott-Craig’s move to simplify Cell C’s tariff structures is a smart strategic manoeuvre. He’s making it easy for customers to understand what they’re getting for their money. It’s long overdue in an industry where the bigger players bewilder their