There’s a wave coming. Its first eddies were felt almost a decade ago, and by now it has already engulfed some outlying regions. But the general public has been largely unaware of its approach. Until now. I’m talking about the arrival of fully
Browsing: Opinion
Have you ever considered how hard it is to actually do things? Build a bridge? How hard can that be? Write the Google algorithm? It’s just a string of words, piece of cake! Connect to the Internet? What could be easier? As an accountant, I tend to oversimplify and
More than 17 years after SA’s first democratic elections, politicians are still indecisive over how to extend connectivity into rural areas and bridge the so-called “digital divide”. Government continues to concoct ideologically confused plans. Instead, it should just get
Alan Knott-Craig Jr is looking for attention. He wants so much of it, in fact, that he’s just bought the attention of 40m people in 120 countries. Yes, I’m talking about the MXit acquisition. Last week, in a completely unexpected move, Knott-Craig swooped in and bought Africa’s biggest social
On Wednesday, US online retail giant Amazon will launch its first tablet computer, the Google Android-powered device that technology site TechCrunch reckons will be called the Kindle Fire. With dozens of tablets in the market already, the obvious question is
An entrepreneur is anyone who risks everything to follow their passion. Period. The key ingredient is “risk everything”: all in, no going back, no plan B, sell your house if it doesn’t work. This is not easy. This single element – everything – separates
The technology industry has never been as volatile as it is now. For two giants of the sector, Microsoft and Nokia, it’s do-or-die time. They’re either going to beat back the new behemoths of mobile computing, Apple and Google, or fail trying. Microsoft has a habit of coming from
Africa’s road to high-speed broadband is being achieved in leaps and bounds. Every week brings news of another piece of the jigsaw fitting into place. This week it’s the completion of the national fibre backbone in one of Africa’s larger markets. However, there’s still
There is no shortage of entrepreneurial energy in SA, with many talented people with great business ideas jostling for attention. Yet very few of the country’s technology start-ups manage to grow into sustainable businesses. Against that backdrop, it is worth taking a closer
The Economist recently commented on the US$12,5bn bid by Google to acquire Motorola Mobility, the search giant’s biggest-ever deal. The magazine noted that the attraction for Google is not principally Motorola’s 19 000 employees, or even its 11% share of the US