What a difference a year makes. In late 2013, Korea’s Samsung was still riding high on the success of its Galaxy S4 and Note 3 smartphones, while some analysts were questioning whether rival Apple had simply stopped innovating after the
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The right to privacy has been making big news globally. In the wake of US whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations, more people have been clamouring for stronger privacy protections. So why has there been so little debate about the state of this right in South Africa? Is it because there is nothing to
South Africa Connect, South Africa’s broadband policy, was published in December 2013, ushering in 2014 with great promise. The policy called for, among other things, the removal of policies that constrain competition and the roll-out of broadband. It singled out service-based competition
Neil Harbisson is an extraordinary person. Though he was born completely colour blind, he found a way to see colour using an electronic eye that is now permanently grafted to his skull. In 2004, he became the first person to be officially recognised by a government as a cyborg — a being that is part man
Makro announced last week that it had entered into a partnership with Sasol to build e-commerce “lockers” on the fuel retailer’s forecourts. The lockers are not a new idea, having been pioneered in the US, UK and elsewhere by retailers such as Amazon and the Walmart-owned Asda, but it is
For some time now, the ongoing debate between over-the-top providers on one side and network operators on the other returns like a comet in an elliptical orbit. Each time it returns, the stakes appear to be higher as this “comet” gets closer and threatens to crash into planet ICT. MTN South Africa
In the 1960s, computer programming was still viewed as a lucrative career choice for many young women. Cosmopolitan magazine at the time even ran an article entitled “The Computer Girls”, which depicted the field as a better opportunity for women than many other industries. The job was seen as
In the past 20 years, Telkom has lost almost every aspect of the absolute monopoly it once held over South African telecommunications. First, it lost its supremacy over voice communication as cellular rivals challenged it for dominance and won. Today, the cellular operators carry the vast majority of
The business logic is clear; only the timing remains to be settled. Everything in telecommunications, including voice, will soon be data. In a world where everything is data, there will be two types of companies. And they will not be mobile operators. There will be content companies and there will be data
South Africa’s mobile operators argue that so-called over-the-top (OTT) service providers, and especially WhatsApp, are skimming their voice revenues. They claim the business model used by these OTT providers – companies such as Google, Facebook and, yes, WhatsApp – is unfair. European