The risks of innovations such as artificial intelligence and 3D printing wielded by nimble competitors from Silicon Valley or China are shaking up Germany’s engineering-led economy.

Tencent’s strategy for expanding WeChat Pay globally is pretty straightforward: follow the (tourism) money. It’s a smart strategy. But it’s also decidedly unambitious.

In this episode of TalkCentral, Duncan McLeod and Regardt van der Berg unpack the European Union’s record €4.3-billion fine against Google over Android – is it justified, or is the EU simply interfering in a market that doesn’t need regulating?

European Union competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager coolly hit Google with a €4.3-billion fine last week, the biggest penalty in the history of antitrust enforcement. It didn’t have to be that way.

Bob van Dijk is rolling in the riches. The CEO of Naspers received almost R1.5-billion in salary, bonuses and vested share options and appreciation rights, during the 2018 financial year, which ended on 31 March.

Microsoft’s earnings report and forecast cheered investors, providing further evidence the company can increase cloud sales and squeeze more profit from the area while cutting into Amazon.com’s massive industry lead.

The European Commission had solid antitrust reasons for fining Google €4.3-billion for violations including the bundling of certain apps with the Android operating system – and for not going after Apple for similar behaviour. Yet, from a consumer’s point of view, Apple should get the same kind of attention.

The idea of a wireless open-access network is the central plank of government’s ICT policy. But this requires the release of significant amounts of high-demand spectrum, which regulatory and policy failure prevent from happening.

Microsoft’s cloud-fuelled turnaround persisted in the fiscal fourth quarter, when sales and profit got a boost from customers signing up for more Internet-based storage, processing and Office productivity software.

Internet Solutions has begun a retrenchment programme and may lay off as many as 200 staffers, TechCentral has learnt from two separate sources with knowledge of the developments.