Samsung confirmed that they intend to bring the Galaxy Note to South Africa in 2011

Korean electronics company Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Note note-taking smartphone at the Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin (IFA, or the International radio exhibition in Berlin) on 1 September 2011.

Samsung claimed to have created a new category of product with the device, filling the gap between tablet PC and smartphone.

Boasting a 5.3-inch Super AMOLED display running at 1280×800 resolution and sporting a pen that can work on a capacitive touch display, Samsung said that the Galaxy Note combines the artistic freedom of a paper notebook with the benefits of smartphone technology.

The device is set to support 21Mbps HSPA+, and run Android 2.3 Gingerbread on a 1.4GHz dual core processor.

A table of specifications provided by Samsung is reproduced below

Samsung said that the Galaxy Note is scheduled to become available in South Africa in early November 2011. No recommended retail price (RRP) was available at the time of publication, but Samsung said they would communicate pricing information closer to launch.

Big Concerts, the promoters of the Kings of Leon Tour (presented by Nokia, 5fm and SABC3) scheduled for Saturday 29th October at FNB Stadium, are anticipating capacity crowds and have therefore urged fans to use public transport to get to and from the concert.

The public transport plan for this specific event is based on the successful Soccer World Cup plan, in which extra event-related public transport supplements the usual public transport system. In particular, various rail and bus park-and-ride facilities will be available on the day of the event.

With all these options, and the fact that various roads around the stadium will be closed for the match, fans are urged to make use of the public transport options offered on the day.

The various security checks in place at the stadium often take time and it is best to try and get to the stadium early to avoid disappointment. Gates for the show will be open from 17:30, and the concert will kick-off from 19:00.

The following public transport options are in place for fans traveling to and from the concert:

Park and Ride:

Tickets are R90.00 per ticket (return) from any one of the four Park n Ride locations – Constitution Hill, The Coca-Cola Dome, WITS University (West Campus) and Gold Reef City. Tickets can be bought from Computicket. Visit www.computicket.com and search for ‘Kings of Leon Parking and Transport’.

Park and Rail:

Tickets are R80 per person (return).  Tickets can be bought from Computicket. Visit www.computicket.com and search for ‘Kings of Leon Parking and Transport’. For more information/timetables visit www.prasa.com

Concert Tickets in both cities are still available through Computicket (www.computicket.com or 083915800). In addition a few select hospitality packages are still available through Warwick Hospitality on 011.385.9879.

The Kings of Leon – Summer 2011 South African tour dates, presented by Nokia, 5fm and SABC3 are as follows:

• Wednesday 26th October 2011, Cape Town Stadium
• Saturday, 29th October 2011, FNB Stadium, Johannesburg

Kings of Leon Live in South Africa is another Big Concerts Experience.

www.facebook.com/bigconcerts or www.twitter.com/BigConcerts

Big Concerts, the promoters of the Coldplay stadium shows, scheduled for Saturday 8th October at FNB Stadium, are anticipating capacity crowds and have therefore urged fans to use public transport to get to and from the concert.

The public transport plan for this specific event is based on the successful Soccer World Cup plan, in which extra event-related public transport supplements the usual public transport system. In particular, various rail and bus park-and-ride facilities will be available on the day of the event.

With all these options, and the fact that various roads around the stadium will be closed for the match, fans are urged to make use of the public transport options offered on the day.

The various security checks in place at the stadium often take time and it is best to try and get to the stadium early to avoid disappointment. Gates for the show will be open from 16:00, and the concert will kick-off from 19:00.

The following public transport options are in place for fans traveling to and from the concert:

Park and Ride:

Tickets are R90.00 per ticket (return) from any one of the four Park n Ride locations – Constitution Hill, The Coca-Cola Dome, WITS University (West Campus) and Gold Reef City. Tickets can be bought from Computicket. Visit www.computicket.com and search for ‘Coldplay Parking and Transport’.

Park and Rail:

Tickets are R80 per person (return).  Tickets can be bought from Computicket. Visit www.computicket.com and search for ‘Coldplay Parking and Transport’. For more information/timetables visit www.prasa.com

Concert Tickets in both cities are still available through Computicket (www.computicket.com or 083915800). In addition a few select hospitality packages are still available through Warwick Hospitality on 011.385.9879.

The maker of the iPad and iPhone has sued three of the largest manufacturers of Google’s Android-based devices – Samsung, Motorola and HTC – for multiple patent infringements across multiple countries, pointing out “slavish copying” of design and “look and feel”.

And the courts are beginning to listen: recent success in blocking sales of Samsung’s latest Galaxy tablet in most of Europe and Apple’s challenges to the Korean giant in Australia reflect an aggressive effort to defend its top position in the red-hot mobile market from the runaway success of Android.

While the lawsuits don’t take direct aim at the operating software – yet – many of the features under contention are connected to and enhanced by it. Apple CEO Steve Jobs referred to the software as being the soul of any device when he introduced the company’s iOS 5 system in June.

Brian Marshall, an analyst with Gleacher & Co, said Apple is starting to flex its patent muscle with some early success but its real battle is with the Android software. “Apple doesn’t really care too much about the actual OEMs.”

Apple’s lead is now under siege in smartphones from Google’s free Android software, already the world’s most-used mobile system with 550 000 devices activated every day.

Its momentum could be hampered by successful patent infringement lawsuits against adopters like Samsung.

“The way Google gets sucked into it is through the marketplace,” said Ron Laurie, managing director and patent consultant at Inflexion Point Strategy.

Any injunction won by Apple, if enforced, could mean that Android may be forced to take out the offending feature from its software design. “That would make it less attractive and people would go elsewhere,” Laurie said.

Google chairman Eric Schmidt has said rivals are responding to Android’s success with lawsuits “as they cannot respond through innovations”.

High stakes

At stake is a booming one-year-old market that analysts are already predicting will eclipse the decades-old PC market in a matter of years, a market that Apple fears Google’s software could eventually dominate the way it now leads the smartphone arena.

The tablet market is expected to grow from under 20 million tablets last year to over 230 million in 2015.

While Apple is still the leader by far in the tablet market, research firm Informa expects tablets running Android to catch up with Apple’s iPad and surpass it in 2016.

Samsung, experts say, has the best chance of attacking the iPad’s commanding hold on the market. Apple’s 75% share is expected to fall to 39% in 2015, when Android’s will grow to 38%, according to Informa.

A less visible benefit of Apple waging and winning patent battles against the likes of Samsung, HTC and Motorola would be that Android may effectively no longer be free because of potential licensing costs that need to be paid to Apple.

Android’s major vulnerability lies in the patent arena. Being a fairly new entrant in this market, Google hasn’t built up enough intellectual property in the way Apple or Microsoft has.

“All this will end up making Android less ‘free’, Jean-Louis Gassee, venture capitalist and a former Apple executive, said. “But by how much? Five dollars a handset, no problem. Fifteen dollars – then it is trouble.”

Apple knows the power of licensing – from the losing side as well. It recently forged a cross-licensing patent deal with Nokia, agreeing to make a one-time payment in hundreds of millions of dollars and pay continuing royalties.

But it is Google that had been caught off guard in the patent battle, being historically and philosophically opposed to gathering them as a defensive or offensive move. But that is changing with Google now in the hunt for key patents.

This has sparked an expensive arms race between technology giants as they try to outbid each other to stockpile on valuable patent portfolios up for grabs.

In the high-profile tussle for 6 000 wireless patents from bankrupt Nortel Networks, Google kicked off the tug-of-war with a stalking horse bid of $900 million – far greater than anyone expected. But Apple – allying with Microsoft, Sony and others – swooped in to snap them up eventually for $4.5 billion, a price tag that sent shockwaves through the industry.

Google’s chief lawyer, David Drummond, last week lashed out against Apple and others, accusing them of “a hostile, organised campaign against Android by Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and other companies, waged through bogus patents”.

In the wake of the injunction against the Galaxy in Europe, Apple is seeking a similar ruling against Motorola’s Xoom in German court. It won a preliminary ruling last month from a US trade panel that HTC infringed two of Apple’s patents.

But Apple is not the only one enforcing patent rights on Android mobile devices. Microsoft recently settled a suit with HTC over the Taiwanese company’s Android devices. Oracle is seeking billions of dollars from Google for infringing on Java patents through its Android system.

Analysts expect Apple to continue to be the aggressor.

“It’s clear that the tablet wars are going to be fought on many, many fronts,” said Michael Gartenberg, technology analyst with Gartner. “Clearly lots of companies are seeing opportunities here who don’t plan on ceding the market to Apple, and Apple is using everything in its arsenal to defend itself.”

Embattled RIM rolled out two new BlackBerry Bold models (which were announced in May, together with the BlackBerry 7 OS), as well as three new BlackBerry Torch models, in the company’s first overhaul of its handsets since August last year.

“This is the largest global launch of BlackBerry smartphones in our history,” says RIM president and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis, promising faster performance, enhanced browsing and richer multimedia on the new devices.

The BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 are RIM’s thinnest smartphones to date at 10.5mm, and offer the signature qwerty keyboard, as well as touch-screen display.

The new BlackBerry Torch 9810 builds on the original Torch 9800, combining touch display with a slide-out keyboard. The BlackBerry Torch 9850 and 9860, however, introduce an all-touch design and 3.7-inch display, the largest ever on a BlackBerry smartphone.

Each smartphone also features a 1.2GHz processor, HD video recording, 24-bit high-resolution graphics, and advanced sensors enabling new augmented reality applications such as Wikitude.

Tough year

This year has been difficult for RIM, as its tablet offering, the PlayBook, struggled to win over consumers, and the company reported bleak financial results for the first quarter. At the time, co-CEO Jim Balsillie said: “The slowdown we saw in the first quarter is continuing into Q2, and delays in new product introductions into the very late part of August is leading to a lower than expected outlook in the second quarter.”

According to reports, following the press conference at which the new devices were unveiled, RIM’s stock rose 5% in Nasdaq stock market trading yesterday.

The company has, however, lost 58% of its stock value this year, and last week announced it was cutting 10% of its global workforce to trim costs, while also reorganising its upper management.

Despite market gains in African and Middle Eastern regions, RIM has been rapidly losing customers in the mature markets to Apple’s iPhone and handsets running Google’s Android software.

In the face of such losses, RIM’s new devices have to make up for a lot of lost ground.

Problems ahead

Analyst and MD of World Wide Worx Arthur Goldstuck says RIM needs to understand that its loss of market share in Western markets is directly related to the extent to which its platform is app-friendly.

“They understand the technology of the phones, they understand the business needs, but they don’t seem to have grasped where the hearts and minds of the users have moved,” notes Goldstuck.

“However, there is huge misinformation being put out by the analyst community in the US, which confuses market share with sales. Because the smartphone market is exploding, and BlackBerry sales have not exploded in tandem with it, their overall market share has plummeted, although their sales as such have not.

“The result is that their market value has been punished, and that has placed a pall on the brand that a phone refresh won’t address in its own right.”

ASA rules that Vodacom’s customers can indeed surf the Internet for free in the middle of the night

Vodacom’s “We’ve been having it!” advertising campaign, which featured a military type character depicting a dictator of an African country, made many South Africans laugh.

One of the television commercials showed the dictator on a beach with his loyal servant, clad only in underpants, set to go surfing at night against his will. The dictator proudly informs viewers “Surfing for free in the middle of the night? – We’ve been having it!”

One consumer was however less than amused by the Vodacom’s free midnight surfing advertisement, arguing that the advertisement does not mention that there is a contract involved and also does not state data volume limits.

In an Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA) complaint Shaun Ratcliff said that the advertisement is misleading, although he could not recall whether “a contract is mentioned and [that] no data volume limits are stated in the ad”.

DraftFCB Johannesburg, on behalf of Vodacom, said that the “complaint is incorrect as the commercial clearly states that the offer is available for MYMEG 500 customers, who are customers who have a contract for the mentioned service”.

The following wording appears on the screen towards the end of the commercial, and is also read aloud by the voice-over: “New! Buy a MyMeg 500 data bundle or more on contract and surf the Internet for free at night.”

The ASA dismissed the complaint, saying that Vodacom does indeed mention that it is available to contract customers.

The top telecommunications and cellphone brands in South Africa named in latest Sunday Times Top Brands Awards

The 13th annual Sunday Times Top Brands Awards ceremony took place on Thursday, 4 August 2011, where Avusa Media and their research partner TNS Research Surveys announced the winners in their latest survey.

The Top Brands survey assessed the strength of brands in South Africa using various criteria, including familiarity, brand rating and experience, and public perception.

According to the Sunday Times Top Brands survey, KOO is South Africa’s overall favourite brand, an accolade which the company also claimed last year. Coca-Cola finished second as the country’s overall favourite brand, with KFC completing the top 3.

When it came to consumer cellphones Nokia reigned supreme, followed by BlackBerry and Samsung. In the Business market, BlackBerry was the top brand, followed by Apple iPhone and Nokia.

The top ‘Telecommunications Provider’ brand in the business market was Vodacom, followed by MTN and then Nashua Mobile.

In the consumer telecoms market MTN was rated the top brand, followed by Vodacom and Cell C.

“We are delighted to be recognized by the Sunday Times Top Brand Award. This accolade is especially important to us, as it is a reaffirmation from our customers of the great effort that our team has made to ensure that MTN is a preferred choice,” said Serame Taukobong, MTN South Africa Chief Marketing Officer.

First National Bank (FNB) yesterday announced the launch of South Africa’s first mobile banking app or, as it is formally termed, the FNB Banking Application (App), for smartphones and tablet computer device”.

The Banking App is described as FNB’s latest mobile digital channel, which combines the benefits of banking with the power of a smartphone or tablet computer device to deliver a unique user experience that only an application can off.

According to Michael Jordaan, CEO of FNB, the App represents a strategic drive to be the leader in innovative banking through the use of technology.

“At FNB we are constantly looking at ways to improve on our innovations, staying one step ahead of our competitors and consistently adding value and choice for our customers,” he said at the launch

“We are glad to say that this application is a home grown creation and has been developed in house by FNB Connect, the bank’s internal Internet Service Provider. Our app will provide our customers with better performance than traditional web based means of banking. The market can expect to see a lot more of our existing innovations incorporated into it and a number of new mobile innovations dovetail from the App roadmap.”

Clearly, apps are hot, with more than 500 000 in Apple’s App Store and more than 300 000 in the Android Market. App shops from Nokia, BlackBerry and Windows have also entered the fray.

Smartphone penetration is also growing rapidly, with World Wide Worx predicting that by 2015 half the phones shipped in South Africa will be smartphones. Suddenly, the app on smartphones and tablets makes sense – the only surprise is how long it took to arrive in highly mobile South Africa.

The FNB banking app, launched yesterday for three major app stores for phones and tablets, needs a transactional bank account with FNB to use its full functionality. However, even if you don’t bank with FNB, the app is fully location-aware and will tell you where the closest FNB branch or ATM can be found.

I downloaded the app on three devices, namely the iPhone 4, Google Android Nexus S from Samsung and the Blackberry Torch, and was guided easily through the set-up process on each device. Once installed on your phone, you enter your user name into the app, then you log into FNB online banking on your computer, and a pop-up screen identifies the device, complete with details and pictures.

You are then asked to link your phone to your profile. Two one-time pins need to be entered. After you exit the app on your device and restart, the app will show you are connected. It is as easy as that. Now all you need to do is launch the app and log in with your online banking password. No further user names or one-time pins are needed, as the app is now linked directly to your mobile device.

Once logged in a news screen pops up, which is a bit distracting. You need to Escape or use the Back key to get rid of it, and then all your accounts show up with full details.

The app gives a fully functional view of all your accounts, with almost all the functionality of the online banking web site. The only exception is that you can’t change or add a beneficiary using the app, but this functionality is promised for the future. Business accounts linked to a personal banking profile will work, but full Business Banking profiles are not available as yet.

Clever use of the various interfaces is made, with graphics of your actual credit cards being used for selecting accounts from which or to which to pay. The app is very consistent across all platforms, with identical functionality and almost exactly the same user experience, obviously taking the platforms’ specific user interfaces into account.

Overall, the app is slick and polished with few rough edges. The only exception I could find is that on Android you have to push the menu key manually and select exit, in order to close and exit the app, at which point it does not actually go away – it simply greys out, and remains in your notification bar. On the iPhone and the Blackberry the app closes down gracefully.

The FNB banking app is the first and only banking app available in South Africa, although there is no doubt that other banks will shortly follow.

It also has the distinction of being almost fully cross-platform, unlike a few South African news apps that have recently launched for the iPad. The main exceptions in terms of cross-platform are that it is not available for Windows Phone 7 or Nokia’s Symbian OS. FNB has promised that the app will be available in Nokia’s Ovi store before the end of August 2011.

It is also available on other devices, including primarily music players like the iPod touch.

There is one other critical limitation in this app: it will only work on a Touchscreen phone, so no BlackBerry with keypads only, such as the Blackberry Bold or, once Symbian is supported, keypad-only phones like the Nokia E72, need apply. FNB have not yet confirmed if they will make this functionality available in the future. This is a big oversight and will limit their overall adoption in the short term.

Nevertheless, the launch of the FNB banking app is a big, bold step for FNB as well as for the apps market in South Africa. As the smartphone market grows, apps of all varieties will become more and more relevant, and their growth and pervasiveness will help contribute to the broad growth in the use of the internet in South Africa.

Says Jordaan, “In an increasingly digital world in which Smartphones, Tablet devices and Apps are changing the way we communicate and live, the introduction of the FNB Banking App will enable us to widen our offering allowing us to provide our customers with convenient banking solutions and great user experience.”

The app itself is a good attempt at bringing the full functionality of Internet banking to the mobile phone and other mobile tablet style devices. It is secure, efficient, and very usable, in some cases far more so than the online site, which can get a bit confusing at times. If you bank with FNB and have a touch screen smartphone, I highly recommend you install their banking app.

* To use the service customers who have Apple devices can download the App from the Apple App store, Android customers from the Android Market and Blackberry customers can get the App from the Blackberry App world. Another alternative is to follow the links to the App stores from FNB Online. Transactional banking is restricted to FNB customers post login, but anyone can download the App from their device’s App stores to access pre login services.

http://www.gadget.co.za/pebble.asp?relid=3364

The comedy, It’s For Life, stars the president’s daughters Gugulethu Zuma and Nokuthula Zuma

Some thought his account had been hacked, while others were unimpressed by the tweet.

@AlexForsy said: “embarrassing that you use your twitter account to advertise your daughters sitcom. Is it tax sponsored as well?”

@Setjadphoko agreed, tweeting: “Self interest neh? The President should shy away from that! Its wrong”

@bohoparadox found it inappropriate, saying: “He should rather have a JZ personal account and tweet as he pleases – like the rest of us.”

One of the common reactions was that the president should be tweeting about matters of national interest.

@Lrn238 wrote: “Why are you tweeting about a new sitcom, surely you have more pressing issues to attend to?”, while @MpangaMpanga concurred: “Mr President, aren’t there far more pressing issues than a lousy sitcom?”

Not all reactions were overtly negative, with other users poking fun at the situation.

@FerretGee tweeted: “Instruction from @SAPresident: we all have to watch his daughters new TV show on @DStv tonight! Failure to do so will be seen as treason!”

@sellhope tweeted: “Death by @SAPresident punting his daughter’s sitcom on his ‘official’ account on twitter. Is there no state and comedy line anymore?”

@Ndinike said: “Lol! The man has to be entertained too”. @MusaMMXI asked: “R u gonna install Dstvs for poor ppl?”, while @The_Usual tweeted: what’s the soundtrack? Mshini wami?”

@Duranv tweeted a conspiracy theory: “the President engineered the fuel crisis so that we have no option but to stay at home and watch his daughters on”.

His daughter, Thuthukile Zuma, tweeted in response: “we will definitely be watching and supporting this proudly South African production! Thanks!”

A fake Julius Malema account, @Julius_S_Malema, which has over 51 000 followers responded: ‘Why? Bcz it has 2 of your daughters?”

Gugulethu Zuma was most recently seen in soapie Isidingo as Lesedi.