South Africa Leads In Mobile Marketing

South Africa Leads In Mobile Marketing A South African mobile marketing company recently took home three awards in an international competition. Multimedia Solutions ranked first in two categories and third in another in the first ilovemobileweb Awards, which were organised by a group of key mobile marketing players. The competition recognised leading mobile website (mobisites) and more than 50 submissions from six countries were received. Multimedia Solutions came first in the Commercial and Retail categories and third in the Corporate category. According to CEO Eddie Groenewald, their mobisite for Sasko Flour impressed the judges in the way it communicated recipes to consumers in a 'fun and interesting way'. The Vodacom Upgrade mobisite also did well and was recognised for the way it allowed customers to apply for new contracts and choose a new cell phone on their selected package from a mobisite. Read the rest of this article Here SA 'Can Jump Into WiMax' SA can make strides in developing its wireless broadband infrastructure by leapfrogging legacy technology and rolling out fibre-optic cables, says Motorola. Noel Kirkaldy, Motorola marketing solutions director for Middle East and Africa, says the 2010 Fifa World Cup soccer tournament is a great opportunity for SA to show the world what it can do with wireless technology. "The cost of laying down fibre is way cheaper than laying down copper," says Kirkaldy. He explains that countries, such as England, which have legacy copper cables, are less inclined to go the wireless route. A fibre-optic backbone is a better enabler for wireless technologies such as WiMax, he notes. Read the rest of this article Here



Neotel puts final touches to R5bn expansion loan Neotel is finalising a R5 billion funding deal from local financiers that will accelerate the completion of its infrastructure projects. The second national operator said yesterday that the same companies that had financed its R2 billion loan two years ago had agreed then to fund the deal. The financiers include Nedbank, Investec, the Industrial Development Corporation and the Development Bank of Southern Africa. Neotel has already spent the R2 billion on its expansion programme, which includes rolling out fixed and wireless networks to provide voice and data products to the residential and businesses areas. Read the rest of this article Here
BlackBerry Bold Comes To SA From its lustrous black exterior, satin chrome finished frame and stylish leatherette backplate, to its stunning display, sophisticated user interface and newly designed full-QWERTY keyboard, the BlackBerry Bold is a symbol of accomplishment and aspiration. It is the first BlackBerry smartphone to support tri-band HSDPA high-speed networks around the world and comes with integrated GPS and WiFi, as well as a rich set of multimedia capabilities. The BlackBerry Bold makes short work of downloading email attachments, streaming video or rendering web pages. It includes 128 MB Flash memory plus 1 GB on-board storage memory, as well as a microSD/SDHC memory card slot for up to 16GB of additional storage that is conveniently accessible from a side door. Read the rest of this article Here Product Bundling Here To Stay MTN's acquisition of Verizon Business saw the Competition Commission inundated with concerns around MTN's ability to now bundle mobile and land-based network products and services. According to Tembinkosi Bonakele, of mergers and acquisitions at the commission, competitors are concerned the merged entity will have an increased ability to converge products, giving the mobile giant a significant competitive advantage. However, the competition authority dismissed these concerns, saying the entire market is moving in the direction of converged products and an MTN-Verizon team cannot be disregarded because of it. Allied Technologies (Altech), reportedly the company actively contesting the deal, already offers products that are bundled. One of the more recent announcements from Altech is that it will offer Neotel consumer products and expects to bundle them with some mobile, or gift option. Admittedly, Altech's converged products are the offspring of channel partner deals. Read the rest of this article Here