mobile monthly report - july 2012

MOBILE REPORT / JULY 2012

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SNAPSHOT OF NEWS,

VIEWS, EVENTS &

DEVELOPMENTS

LOCALLY AND

ABROAD

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CONTENTS

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» Section 1: Mobile Landscape

» Section 2: Mobile @ London 2012 Olympics

» Section 3: Mobile Statistics

» Section 4: Mobile Adoption in South Africa

» Section 5: Mobile Networks

» Section 6: Social Media

» Section 7: Summary & Credits

SECTION 1

4

MOBILE LANDSCAPE

MOBILE AFFECTING THE

GLOBAL ECONOMY

5

» According to a new report from World Bank “Maximising Mobile”, the number of mobile subscriptions will exceed the human population by 2015

» It revealed that mobile use in developing economies has surpassed that of developed countries

» Transferring money has also become a widespread mobile phenomenon, with 74 countries having access to at least one mobile payment system

» Farmers and traders in countries like India, Niger, and Uganda have reported business growth as a direct result of access to mobile payment and other mobile applications

eMarketer, 19 July 2012

SAMSUNG RELEASES Q2

EARNINGS

6

» Samsung is still the king of mobile, with an operating profit of $5.9 billion for the period, up 79% year on year

» The Galaxy S III and the Galaxy Note have plenty to do with that, considering Samsung predicted it would sell 10 million Galaxy S III units by July – and that’s just what they did

» The company reported $41.5 billion in revenues, which is up about $1.5 billion from last quarter, and up 21 percent year over year

TechCrunch, 26 July 2012

SAMSUNG GALAXY S III

HITS 10M SALES

7

» According to local site Yonhap News, the president of Samsung’s informaion technology and mobile communication division, Shin Jong-kyun, told reporters that Global sales had already surpassed 10 million, although he didn’t specify by how much

» But it still means that Samsung has sold an average of 190 000 devices a day since the launch

» The S III is the company’s flagship smartphone and is available in 145 countries

Memeburn, 23 July 2012

APPLE RELEASES Q2

EARNINGS

8

» Apple reported less than expected revenues of $35 billion and quarterly net profit of $8.8 billion

» The biggest money maker for the company continues to be the iPhone and its related products and services, however. More than $16 billion of the total revenue is directly attributable to the smaller member of the iOS family

» However, the company only reported 26 million iPhones sold out of the expected 29 million

» The iPad is quickly closing the gap, with over $9 billion in this quarter alone and 17 million iPads sold

Engadget, 24 July 2012 TechCrunch, 24 July 2012

APPLE AND THE

GREEN REGISTRY

» Earlier this month, Apple made the decision to stop participating the EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) certification system

» Since then, Apple has rejoined the environmental ratings system acknowledging that its decision to stop was a mistake

» Customers reached out to Apple directly, which played a “critical part” in getting Apple back on the registry, said EPEAT Chief Executive Robert Frisbee

MyBroadband, 14 July 2012

9

APPLE IPHONE 5 AND IPAD MINI

RUMOURS

» The blog iMore reported that Apple will announce the new iPhone — possibly called the iPhone 5 at an event scheduled for 12 September, but has not been confirmed

» There is also a possibility that Apple will announce the iPad Mini on the same day, or in October

» Apple reps could not be reached for comment. During a call with analysts, though, the company repeatedly referred to a mysterious “fall event.”

Mashable, 30 July 2012

10

MICROSOFT DECLARES WAR

ON APPLE

» As Microsoft enters a new phase of innovation with the impending release of Windows 8 and its new products, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has declared war on Apple

» At Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC), Ballmer was quoted as saying the company is entering a new phase of innovation and sending a message to its competitors. "We are trying to make absolutely clear we are not going to leave any space uncovered to Apple.”

ITWeb, 11 July 2012

11

WINDOWS 8 AND SURFACE TABLET

CONFIRMED FOR OCTOBER

12

» Speaking at Microsoft's annual Worldwide Partner Conference, Tami Reller confirmed that Windows 8 would be publicly released in October

» At the end of July, Microsoft officially confirmed that the Surface tablet would go on sale on the same date, around 26 October 2012

» Microsoft unveiled the Surface tablet in June, marking a major push by the company to integrate its own hardware and software in a product – a strategy that has been a key component of Apple's success

ITWeb, 10 July 2012 ITWeb, 31 July 2012

APPLE AND SAMSUNG HEAD-

TO-HEAD

» American electronics giant, Apple, and South Korea's Samsung Electronics each scored partial court victories in Germany recently in their global war over rival tablet computers

» The two technology giants are engaged in a legal battle involving dozens of cases worldwide as they struggle for leadership in the hugely lucrative smartphone and tablet computer market

Bizcommunity, 30 July 2012

13

MOZILLA TO LAUNCH ITS

OWN MOBILE PLATFORM

» Mozilla might be known for its Firefox desktop browser, but the software firm now aims to stake a bigger claim in the mobile market via its own mobile platform, dubbed Firefox OS

» Mozilla revealed that industry support for this fully open mobile ecosystem, which is based on HTML5, is increasing

» It is going to power smartphones that utilise software built on open web standards, with all these mobile device’s capabilities being developed as HTML5 applications

TechSmart, 3 July 2012

14

GOOGLE RELEASES ANDROID

4.1 SOURCE CODE

» Also known as Jelly Bean, it is the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system, and has now been made available to the public

» The source code of Android 4.1 Jellybean was released as part of the Android Open Source Project, which aims to create a mutual development experience for the users and developers

» The latest version features a more responsive user interface; better voice transcription; overhauled search; and a new feature called Google Now, which anticipates what a person may need to know at any given moment

MyBroadband, 10 July 2012

15

SMARTPHONES OVERTAKING

FEATURE PHONES IN CHINA

» China has over 1 billion mobile phone users and for the first time they’re buying more smartphones than feature phones

» Smartphones now account for 59% of China’s mobile phone market share, with the vast majority of those being Android phones

» China has over 520-million internet users — and a third of them go online using their cellphones


16

AMAZON SET TO RELEASE

SMARTPHONE

» Bloomberg has reported that Amazon is developing their own phone in order to compete with both Android and the iPhone

» However, the company won’t officially comment on the matter

» Reportedly, Amazon has started to acquire several patents from different parts of the mobile world to ensure that the phone will not come under scrutiny from their competitors,

» With the huge success of the Kindle Fire tablet, it is no surprise that Amazon would take a stab at the smartphone

Bandwidth Blog, 9 July 2012

17

GOOGLE ANALYTICS

FOR MOBILE APPS

» Google announced a new set of reports in beta called Mobile App Analytics that help marketers and developers better measure their mobile apps, speaking the language that matters to them

» They are designed to measure the entire mobile customer journey - from discovery to download to engagement. This enables the creation of app experiences that are more useful and engaging through data-driven decisions at each stage of the app lifecycle

Google, 29 June 2012

18

HAND-WRITE GOOGLE SEARCH ON

YOUR TOUCH PHONE/TABLET

19

» Google added a new feature to its mobile search page that lets you hand-write search queries in cursive or block letters

» Once you have enabled this new feature, you can simply start writing on your screen and Google will translate your scribbles into a legible search query

» The new feature will work on iOS5+ devices, as well as Android 2.3+ phones and Android 4.0 tablets


GOOGLE’S EMAIL FROM SMS

SERVICE STARTS IN AFRICA

20

» Google announced that it’s rolling out Gmail SMS, a service that lets you send and receive emails as SMSes on your mobile phone – and you don’t have to connected to the Internet

» Given the large number of people still using phones with zero or limited Internet connectivity in emerging markets, Google chose Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya as the first countries to receive the service

» As is typically the case with SMS, receiving a Gmail SMS is free of charge, while standard rates will be charged when you send one


SEACOM GROWS SOUTH

AFRICAN PRESENCE

» SEACOM is boosting its international and national capacity in South Africa through a partnership with WACS and its own national bandwidth from its landing station in Mtunzini

» SEACOM said that it has concluded its purchase of WACS capacity, which would have been activated in July 2012 and will be routed from London to SEACOM’s new Cape Town PoP at Teraco, Rondebosch

MyBroadband BusinessTech, 20 July 2012

21

GROWING UPTAKE OF WIFI

IN SA

» WiFi is on the increase in SA – both in terms of demand and availability, according to recent research by global networking firm Cisco Systems

» SA has a mobile penetration rate of 105%, with 27% of rural users accessing the Internet on their mobile phones. Cellphone users see WiFi as a better option for surfing the Internet, on the whole, than their mobile network

Moneyweb, 5 July 2012

22

NO OPT-OUT REGISTRY

FOR 2012

» Infighting between the National Consumer Commission (NCC) and its parent body, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), over alleged financial mismanagement, means there will not be an opt-out database to protect consumers from unwanted email and SMS spam this year

» The CPA became law last April and provides for a national opt-out registry but because of the lack of funding, about half of the provisions in the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), that deal with direct marketing, cannot be enforced

ITWeb, 12 July 2012

23

MOBILE TV ON ITS

WAY

» A consortium is looking to bring TV to South African mobile phones, and will reportedly have a “combination of aggregated content as well as introducing new channel streams under the brand TVG4U” with the National Federated Chamber of Commerce and Industry buying a 20% stake in it

» “The new technology that Mobile TV brings, will deal with the issue of lack of access to information and entertainment in the rural and deep rural areas,” says Lawrence Mavundla, of NAFCOC


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SECTION 2

25

MOBILE @ LONDON 2012

OLYMPICS

SIR TIM BERNERS-LEE’S

TWEET

26

» To show that the Internet is truly a part of great world events, father of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee made an appearance at the opening ceremony of this year’s Olympic Games in London

» He also tweeted during his appearance which was displayed around the stadium

» The event also looked at how digital communications tools have become part of everyday life through the story of two young people who get together via social networking on their mobile phones


MORE PEOPLE VIEWING THE

OLYMPIC GAMES ON MOBILE

27

» With smartphones in more hands than ever before and

mobile video viewing growing, the Olympics will see an

increase of consumers viewing the games on their

phones, rather than on their TV’s

» According to the official site of the Olympic 2012 Olympic

and Paralympic Games, there are 3 free official mobile

apps: the Official London 2012 Join in app, the Official

London 2012 Results app and an official mobile game

» Apart from the official apps, there are a host of

independent apps, and news companies, including BBC

and Reuters, have also released Games-specific apps

eMarketer, 19 July 2012 ITWeb, 25 July 2012

A TECH FIRST FOR THE

OLYMPICS

28

» The London 2012 Olympic Games will see several technologies making an appearance for the first time in the event's history

» The London Games will be the first to make use of a mobile contactless payment application, being offered by official sponsors, Visa and Samsung

» Near-field communications technology has been built into Samsung's Galaxy S III phone – the “official phone of the Olympics” – which allows users to wave their phones in front of a contactless reader to make a purchase

ITWeb, 20 July 2012

TWITTER LIGHTS UP

THE LONDON EYE

29

» The project, called “Energy of the Nation”, launched in London before the Games and is the first Twitter based, positivity-powered light show

» It uses a sentiment algorithm, the geo-location tag, IP addresses and the places mentioned in tweets to gauge how Twitter users in the country really feel about the Games

» A 25% positivity score, and only a quarter of the Eye will illuminate. It it hits 100%, you’ll see a full circle of light


COCA COLA GOES FOR

MARKETING GOLD

30

» Coca-Cola has been preparing for the brand’s largest-ever Olympic Games activation, targeting teens at its core

» Coca-Cola has launched innovative desktop and mobile applications, that allow teens to create their personal ‘Beat’ and share it with others using social media platforms

» 3.3 million people have already created and shared their beats using the integrated applications for desktop, mobile, SMS and the “My Beat Maker” app for smartphones

Financial Post, 25 July 2012

OLYMPIC FANS TOLD TO

AVOID TWEETING

31

» Sports fans attending the London Olympics were told on Sunday to avoid non-urgent text messages and tweets during events because overloading of data networks was affecting television coverage

» The host broadcaster, the BBC, is enabling fans to see many events live on their smartphones

» An explosion in the use of mobile phones to access the Internet and take and send photos and video has made London 2012 the first true "social media Games", but also put pressure on the networks

ITWeb, 30 July 2012

SECTION 3

32

MOBILE STATISTICS

CURRENT GLOBAL

MOBILE STATISTICS

» There are currently 6 Billion mobile subscribers worldwide

» This equals 87% of the world’s population

» China and India account for 30% of this growth

» There are over 1.2 Billion people accessing the web from their mobiles

» Over 300,000 apps have been developed in the past 3 years

» Google earns $2.5 Billion in mobile ad revenue annually

Digital Buzz Blog, 9 July 2012

33

THE STATE OF MOBILE

ADVERTISING

34

» Advertisers are predicted to spend as much as $1.7 billion on mobile advertising this year, according to Mahi de Silva, Opera’s Software’s EVP/Consumer Mobile’

» De Silva gave Business Insider an advanced look at Opera’s Q2 2012 “State of Mobile Advertising” report

» Opera's network covers 9,000 global customers, with more than 35 billion ad impressions per month. It drove more than $250 million in revenue to mobile publishers in 2011 and is on course drive more than $400 million in 2012

Business Insider, 20 July 2012

OPERA HITS 200M MOBILE

USERS

35

» The Norwegian-made browser today revealed that its mobile browsers are installed on some 200-million phones across the world, up 47% from the same period last year

» The company also reports that it has experienced massive growth in its African user numbers

» The most stunning growth however came from Libya. A lift on internet restrictions after the ousting of dictator Muammar Gaddafi saw page views grow 1 886 839% and data usage 1 498 984% (crazy numbers – its very tough to imagine what 2million percent is!)


“MOBILE IS THE NEW

OBSESSION”

36

» During his Cannes in a Can presentation held recently in Johannesburg, Jason Xenopoulos, CEO of NATIVE, noted that mobile was one of the key themes of the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity

» Here are some interesting points that came out of his presentation:

– Shared values is not just about adding value to the customer but adding value to society

– The best advertising does not look like advertising

– Mobile will revolutionise the TV experience

– In a socially connected world, relevance will drive its own awareness

– Use data as a springboard for imagination

– Everything is up for reinvention

37

An excerpt out of the ‘Cannes in a Can’ presentation

SMARTPHONES TO GET

GESTURE RECOGNITION

38

» Vision-based gestures are physical movements that are picked up by a camera or other sensor and converted into commands. This technology adds another dimension to people’s interactions with devices

» A new report by ABI Research forecasts that, by 2017, over 600 million smartphones will have vision-based gesture recognition features

ITWeb, 16 July 2012

HOW SOUTH AFRICANS

USE MOBILE PHONES

39

» Research company World Wide Worx released its Mobility 2012 survey and is based on interviews with nationally representative sample

» A sample of some of the findings include:

– 61% of urban users browse the internet on their phones. 27% of respondents accessed the internet via their phones, five percent via laptop or PC and 27% using both

– Facebook and Twitter access has doubled

– Email access has increased

– Data is up, voice is down, and SMS is stable

– BBM usage has grown remarkably, while Mxit remains stable


MOBILE BANKING

TRENDS IN SA

40

» The Word Wide Worx Mobility 2012 survey also suggests that more than a third of South Africans now use their browsers for mobile banking

» Only 5% of cellphone bankers exclusively use phone browsers for the purpose, but a further 36% use their browsers as well as text-based services like USSD and SMS

» The single most popular transactional service in cellphone banking remains airtime purchases, with 74% of customers using it and only 15% paying accounts via their phones


POPULAR CELLPHONE

BRANDS IN SA

41

» According to the Mobility 2012 Survey, Nokia still takes the lion's share with 50% total market share, followed by Samsung and BlackBerry both at 18%

» Arthur Goldstuck said the total number of Android users in SA is still below the one million mark, with BlackBerry at 4.5 million and the iPhone far behind at below half a million users in SA

» The majority of cellphone users in SA are on prepaid (84%), followed by contract top-up (9%) and post-paid contracts (7%)

» People holding onto their handsets for longer than they did two years ago

ITWeb, 25 July 2012

INMOBI RELEASES

INSIGHTS FOR Q2

42

» The quarterly Mobile Insights Report by

independent ad network, InMobi shows that

smartphone penetration in SA increased by 3%

from the 1st to the 2nd quarters of the is year,

while the feature phone market declined by 4%

over the same period

» In terms of mobile advertising, 98% of ad

impressions in InMobi's ad network still come

from mobisites, while just 2% come from

applications

iTWeb, 19 July 2012

INMOBI HOSTS

#MOBILEBYTES

43

» InMobi held its inaugural Mobile Bytes event in Johannesburg and Cape Town

» At the event, it gave insight into the use of mobile devices by consumers engaging in the Retail and Telecommunications markets

» Some insights revealed:

– 80% of South Africans are downloading content on their phone

– 53% would pay for apps from app stores

– 53% of people in Africa see mobile as a payment method

– Users want photos, detailed product info and store locators in retail apps/mobisites

InMobi, 25 July 2012 DMMA,

CISCO’S TOP MOBILE AND

WIFI PREDICTIONS

» Cisco Systems recently released the Cisco 2012 Mobile User Survey

» Some of Cisco's predictions regarding key developments in mobile and WiFi:

– Within the next two years, mobile will become one of the primary ways people access entertainment

– In the next two years, more than half of all mobile device usage will take place in the home

– WiFi will become the predominant internet access technology for smartphones

ITWeb, 6 July 2012

44

TELECOMS CONSUMERS

BEHAVIOUR IN SA

45

» The Global Telecom IBM Consumer Survey's country data for SA was released, outlining salient points around the behaviour and perceptions of telecommunications consumers in SA

» Some of the results showed that:

– Under 25s in SA communicate more using social networking than all other forms of communication; they also use landlines less. 90% use social networks on a daily basis, while only 42% use fixed voice lines daily

– For cellphone users with Internet access, the mobile phone is the primary means to access media and content services, with 71% of under 25s and 67% of those above the age of 25 accessing the Internet via their phone

ITWeb, 24 July 2012

NEW REPORT ON SA’S

MOBILE ACTIVITIES

46

» Analytix Business Intelligence’s latest report, “SA Country Report- Cellphone/Mobile”, outlines market trends and user forecasts in the context of SA and its key players

» Amongst the findings, the most popular mobile Internet activities by South African adults were search (13%) while Social Networking (11%), Chat (11%) and Instant Messaging (11%) followed as the other popular cellphone/mobile Internet activities

ITWeb, 30 July 2012

BLACKBERRY APP WORLD

REACHES 3BN DOWNLOADS

» Research In Motion (RIM) has revealed that its BlackBerry App World has served up 3 billion app downloads since its launch in 2009

» According to RIM, there is an average of 2.5 million downloads per day from the BlackBerry App Store

» Despite RIM's woes, the number of daily downloads is continuing to increase, with one billion of total downloads coming from the last six months alone

ITWeb, 9 July 2012

47

IN COMPARISON….

GOOGLE PLAY AND APPLE STORE

» Google's Play Store passed the 20 billion download mark in June, from its collection of 600 000 applications. This is after Android reached the 10 billion download mark in December last year, with an exponential growth rate at the time of over one billion downloads per month

» In March, Apple announced it had surpassed 25 billion app downloads – from its base of 650 000 apps in its App Store

ITWeb, 9 July 2012

48

SECTION 4

49

MOBILE ADOPTION IN

SOUTH AFRICA

SARS APP AND MOBI SITE

TO BE LAUNCHED

» This year you will be able to file your return using smartphones, tablets and even normal cellphones

» The eFiling App, the mobi site -sarsefiling.mobi, and a Help-You-eFile service where call-centre staff will be able to remotely access your filing session online to help you, are in the final testing phase and will be available in the future

Moneyweb, 2 July 2012

50

DISCOVERY LAUNCHES

HEALTHID APP

» Designed by Discovery, HealthID is an innovative tool to help doctors in SA seamlessly assist their patients who are Discovery Health members during consultations with Electronic Health Records, eScripting, eReferral, Online Pathology, an Online Chronic Illness Benefit Application

» HealthID is currently only available on iPad, but Discovery is developing one for Samsung and other manufacturers that use the Android operating system

51

IOL, 8 July 2012

NASHUA MOBILE GETS

AN APP

52

» Cellular provider Nashua Mobile has released a new, free-to-download application

» According to Nashua Mobile, the company is the first telecommunications service provider in SA to introduce an app of this nature

» The app, available on all major handset operating systems, allowing customers to view current spend, evaluate how much airtime, SMS’s and data they have used, check eligibility for upgrades, and an interactive store locator feature

ITWeb, 19 July 2012

VODACOM AND 94.7

LAUNCH GOTCHA!SA

» Vodacom and Primedia Broadcasting have launched a social media game app aimed at radio listeners in Johannesburg (94.7 Highveld Stereo) and Cape Town (94.5 KFM)

» The game is based on an Australian concept and involves players tracking down and taking possession of a virtual wallet, called Smart Money via the Gotcha!SA app

» The app is available for Android, BlackBerry, iPhones and via the Vodacom app store

Gadget Maven, 30 July 2012

53

NU METRO UPGRADES

MOBISITE

» Nu Metro Cinemas as upgraded its mobisite and added a Facebook app to enable browsers to book tickets, browse movies, explore cinema offerings and watch trailers

» The new mobile site features a responsive design that accommodates different aspect ratios, screen sizes and orientations and larger buttons and icons for touch-screen devices

» The site also serves the burgeoning social networking and location-based markets, with seamless sharing to the major platforms, as well as location detection that can guide users to their nearest Cineplex instantly


54

USERS IMPRESSED WITH

STANDARD BANK APP

55

» Reviews and feedback on social media platforms and the iTunes store show that users are impressed with the ease of use, speed and responsiveness of the banking app

» In its first week of launch, it managed to garner almost 15 000 downloads, with 9185 registrations (downloaded on multiple devices)

– 8148 downloads on iOS

– 3869 downloads on Android

– 2862 downloads on BlackBerry

IT News Africa, 3 July 2012

ABSA REVEALS

BANKING APP PLANS

» Absa will make available an online banking application for smartphones either late 2012 or early 2013, Christo Vrey, the bank’s managing executive for digital channels, revealed in an interview with TechCentral

» The first priority, he explained, was redesigning Absa Internet Banking under the new Absa Online product, which is now available as a beta to Absa clients

» Over time, Absa Online will become the new default banking portal and Internet Banking will be slowly phased out, he adds

TechCentral,16 July 2012

56

NEDBANK REVEALS

APP SUITE

» The Nedbank App Suite, which is currently being tested by employees, will be made available to customers from August 2012

» The Nedbank App Suite is a mobile app that works on feature phones and smartphones and allows Nedbank users to make transactions and surf the web with some of the most secure technology available. The app also has built-in functionality such as a calculator, ability to make calls and other financial aids

» The App Suite includes the banking app, the share trading app and the business banking app

» Fred Swanepoel, Nedbank’s Chief Information Officer, said: “Mobile is seen as a key access point, and it’s certainly a way of the future.”

IT News Africa, 23 July 2012 ITWeb, 27 July 2012

57

FNB PILOTS INSTANT

MESSAGING PLATFORM

58

» FNB has started trialing a push-based instant messaging (IM) service that will see its inContact service modified

» A pilot process with staff will serve to garner information and an understanding of inContact as an IM service, before launching it to the public

» Messages will come through as a push IM to the Banking App, enabling users to see a list version of their expenses in their messages icon on the app

ITWeb, 17 July 2012

MR PRICE LAUNCHES

ONLINE STORE

» Affordable fashion retailer Mr Price’s new online store, which is also accessible via mobile phones, offers the full apparel range of +- 18 000 fashion items

» The publicly traded retail company announced its plans for an online store earlier this year in an attempt to increase its market share in the growing competitiveness of SA’s fashion retail industry

» Mr Price Sport and Mr Price Home are expected to follow with online stores next year

Business Day, 24 July 2012

59

Ventureburn, 30 July 2012

SECTION 5

60

MOBILE NETWORKS

VODACOM CEO QUITS

» Vodacom Group CEO Pieter Uys is stepping down after almost two decades with the mobile operator. He will be replaced by Vodafone Spain CEO Shameel Joosub, who is a former MD of Vodacom SA

» Uys joined Vodacom in 1993. He took over as CEO following the departure of Alan Knott-Craig, who now heads Cell C. He oversaw the group’s listing on the JSE

» The appointment will take effect on 1 September to ensure a smooth transition and handover

TechCentral, 5 July 2012

61

PLAY THE LOTTO ON YOUR

PHONE

» Vodacom customers can now play the National Lottery online, via their mobile phones and desktops

» This service aims to provide absolute convenience as customers can now play at any time and any place. Winners are notified via SMS and funds are automatically credited to their electronic wallet

» When registering to play the Lottery games, an electronic wallet is automatically created for each user

Bandwidth Blog, 4 July 2012

62

VODACOM PLANNING TO SELL

STAKE IN ZOOPY

» Zoopy, a South African mobile video platform that produces short videos of the latest news, sports and entertainment. Zoopy is current wholly-owned and funded by Vodacom

» Vodacom confirmed that it is “looking at options for Zoopy that include bringing in a partner to invest and help grow the business”

» The company has changed direction over the last few years, and is now a mobile platform producing original content using a team of content producers and news presenters


63

VODACOM TARGETS

SMARTPHONE USERS

» Vodacom has introduced all-in-one Smart Plans, which include the smartphone, data, talk and SMS

» The new plans, designed for smartphone users, became available from 7 July and will be supported by a range of smartphones

» The move follows the reduced tariffs and new contract bundles recently announced by Cell C, SA's third-largest network

ITWeb, 9 July 2012

64

VODACOM REACHES 50

MILLION CUSTOMERS

» Vodacom Group reported a 29.2% rise in customers, hitting the 50 million mark

» The Group’s South Africa operations customer base increased 29.1% year on year to 31 million, adding two million customers during the quarter

» Active data customers increased 28.6% year on year to 12.4 million. Data bundle users increased 48.5% to 4.5 million

» Smartphones remain a key growth driver with active smartphones increasing 40.9% year on year to 4.9 million devices and usage almost doubling to approximately 120 megabytes per smartphone customer per month compared to a year ago


65

FORMER VIRGIN CEO

QUITS GLO

66

» After just 2 months of taking up a position with Nigeria's second-largest mobile service provider, Steve Bailey, former Virgin Mobile SA (VMSA) CEO, has returned to SA due to late payment and a discrepancy in the terms agreed between himself and Glo Nigeria

» Bailey says he intends to stay in the telecommunications industry in SA. “I am looking at options at the moment.”

ITWeb, 18 July 2012

RIM APPOINTS NEW MD FOR

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

67

» BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) has appointed Alexandra Zagury as its new MD for Sub-Saharan Africa

» She will oversee all of the company's operations, sales and marketing efforts for the region, from Johannesburg

» “We are proud of the company's success in this region, particularly in SA where BlackBerry is the leading smartphone brand”

» According to GfK Retail and Technology, BlackBerry handsets accounted for seven out of the 10 best-selling smartphones in SA in May

ITWeb, 26 July 2012

SAMSUNG’S LIEBENBERG

MOVES TO TELKOM

» Samsung Electronics SA MD Deon Liebenberg has left the company after a year in the job to take on the position of head of Telkom Business Mobile

» Telkom Business Mobile is keen to leverage the ability to offer business customers “converged” fixed and mobile services

» The company said last month that it intends to launch 2 dozen fixed-line and mobile product bundles


68

VIRGIN MOBILE TO REDUCE STORE

FOOTPRINT

69

» Virgin Mobile South Africa says it will close 30 of its current 38 stores across the country, as part of a plan to revise its distribution footprint

» A spokesperson for the group told BusinessTech that the impact on staff “will be very low” as “the balance of stores will be handed over to franchisees, to be used for other purposes.”

» The company recently became part of the larger ‘Virgin Mobile Middle East & Africa’ group (VMMEA), following a merger agreement with Friendi Group in June


CELL C VS. MTN

70

» A “marketing war” has erupted between SA's second and third cellphone operators

» MTN has filed two urgent complaints against Cell C with the Advertising Standards Authority of SA (ASA) regarding what the company says is disparaging of its products. But, says Cell C, this was after MTN had already launched a comeback campaign

» The reaction on Twitter reveals the radio “audience” – consumers – are amused by what they see as MTN's attempt to parody Cell C's campaign

ITWeb, 18 July 2012

CELL C NOW STOCKS

APPLE

» Cell C will stock Apple products for the first time

» While the pre-order functionality for Apple's iPhone 4 and 4S went live on 29 June, Cell C CEO Alan Knott-Craig confirmed the smartphone would be available from all participating channels from 15 July

» While comprehensive pricing details are not yet available, Knott-Craig says the iPhone 4 will be available at the recommended retail price of R6 599

ITWeb, 11 July 2012

71

CELL C SLASHES

DATA RATES

72

» Cell C today (1 August 2012) announced that as part of its pricing revamp, the company has reduced its standard data rate to R0.15c per MB for in and out-of-bundle usage across its entire data product portfolio

» The new flat rate applies to all prepaid and contract data bundles and packages from 1 August 2012

» “We are committed to offering customers deals that are affordable, transparent and simple. What you see is what you get. No more nasty surprises when you go out of bundle. You will pay one low rate for in-bundle and out-of-bundle usage,” says Cell C CEO Alan Knott-Craig

Moneyweb, 1 August 2012

Bundle and Contract Data Pricing (prices include VAT):

SECTION 6

73

SOCIAL MEDIA

TWITTER FOR MOBILE WEB

AVAILABLE ON ALL CELLPHONES

74

» Twitter completed the overhaul of its mobile site this month, which aims to make Twitter available to anyone who owns a cellphone - smartphone or feature phone

» Now people in far-away or rural locations, and even those on low-bandwidth networks, can use the newest version of Twitter for mobile web on their cellphone

CNET, 11 July 2012

TWITTER TWEAKS

MOBILE APPS

» Twitter has released new versions of its mobile apps for Android and the iPhone

» New features include autocomplete search, support for expanded tweets and ambient notifications

» With expanded tweets, users can view multimedia content within the tweet stream and read article summaries. This functionality is, however, dependent on Twitter's agreements with other Web sites and publishers

ITWeb, 11 July 2012

75

TWITTER IPO NOT ON THE

CARDS

76

» Twitter CEO Dick Costolo has said the micro-blogging site is in no rush to go public and will remain private for as long as it wants

» Twitter is currently said to have 140 million active users – half of which log in to the service on a daily basis

» Costolo also said Twitter's mobile user stats are soaring, with more than half of users accessing the service primarily via their mobile phones

» Costolo says its mobile advertising business is continuously growing with thousands of advertisers already using the platform

ITWeb, 24 July 2012

TWITTER POPULAR AMONGST

GLOBAL COMPANIES

77

» The third annual Burson-Marsteller Global Social Media Check-Up analysed the social media activity of Fortune Global 100 firms

» The survey discovered that 87% of these companies are active on at least one social media channel, with Twitter leading the way, with each company mentioned an average of 55,970 times

» Since 2011, the average number of followers for a corporate Twitter account has almost tripled, from 5,076 to 14,709

Media Bistro, 18 July 2012

FACEBOOK’S MOBILE USER

NUMBERS

78

» Facebook announced that it has 543 million monthly active users on mobile devices, which is more than half the total monthly active users total

» In its Q2 earnings report, Facebook noted that it has 955 million monthly active users, and more than half of those users access to social network on mobile devices

» The number of mobile monthly users increased 67% from the same time last year, which is tremendous growth

GottaBeMobile, 26 July 2012

FACEBOOK MOBILE ADS 4X

MORE ENGAGING

79

» A new study by TBG Digital indicates Facebook’s mobile and click-through rate is about 1.1%, more than 4x higher than Twitter’s 0.266% mobile CTR

» See the comparable CTR between the Facebook’s desktop, desktop newsfeed, and mobile newsfeed products:

VentureBeat, 19 July 2012

SPONSORED STORIES SHOW

POSITIVE RESULTS ON MOBILE

80

» In the last quarter Facebook rolled out Sponsored Stories for mobile users, making it the first chance for the company to monetise mobile

» The product, which has slowly rolled out over the last half- year or so, are on a $1 million a day annual run-rate (so $365 million a year), around half of which is mobile

» “Sponsored stories and newsfeed are the cornerstone of our mobile monetisation strategy,” Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg added


BETTER FACEBOOK MOBILE

EXPERIENCE TO COME

81

» Facebook’s Zuckerberg said at his Q2 earnings call: “Facebook is the most used app on basically every mobile platform…we want to increase the depth of experience in addition to just growing users”

» But the strategy now is to have Facebook work closely with existing operating systems such as Apple’s iOS, he said, “as opposed to building out a whole [Facebook] phone which wouldn’t really make sense for us here.”

» That should quash the ever-recurring rumor of an upcoming Facebook phone


FACEBOOK BUYS MOBILE

GADGET FOCUSED SPOOL

82

» Facebook added more mobile technology to its arsenal with the acquisition of Spool, a start-up specialising in bookmarking and sharing content on smartphones or tablets

» Spool let people organise online content using bookmarks so they can access digital stories, videos or other material at their leisure or on different Internet-linked gadgets


INSTAGRAM UP TO 80

MILLION USERS

83

» Instagram now has a pretty impressive 80 million users worldwide, due in no small part to the expansion of the platform to Android

» The total number of photos shared via the service has also reached a milestone, topping 4 billion now

» According to Facebook’s Zuckerberg, the acquisition of Instagram hasn't yet closed, which is why we have not seen integration of the two

» However the Twitter API crackdown is already underway. In the updated version of Instagram, you can still share your photos directly to Twitter on upload, but finding friends is out of the equation

Android Central, 26 July 2012

FACEBOOK TESTS ‘SAVE FOR

LATER’ FEATURE

84

» Facebook is in the process of testing the feature for desktop and mobile

» Saving stories will provide a similar experience to adding a tweet to your Favorites on Twitter, the difference is your friends won’t receive a notification when you save their stories

» “We are testing the ability to save news feed stories with a small percentage of users,” the company told Mashable

Mashable, 31 July 2012

SA SHOWS IT’S

SOCIALLY DEVOTED

» Social media statistics company, Socialbakers, has recently released a report on the most Socially Devoted countries on Facebook with an 83% response rate, while South Africa comes in at the global position of 6th

» Kenya and South Africa are the only African countries represented on the top 10 countries in Facebook Customer Service

ITWeb, 6 July 2012

85

http://www.socialbakers.com/blog/682-top-20-best-countries-in-facebook-customer-service-update/

FNB TAKES BANKING

TO FACEBOOK

86

» FNB customers who are registered for the bank’s cellphone banking service can now check their balances and purchase airtime along with SMS, data and BlackBerry bundles using Facebook

» The service does not allow for payments to beneficiaries, inter-account transfers or other banking services

» “It is without a doubt that social media banking is the next frontier,” says the CEO of FNB Cellphone Banking, Ravesh Ramlakan


A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON

MXIT

87

» Alan Knott-Craig Jnr addressed a forum at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) in Johannesburg revealing insights about Mxit

» Mxit is in the process of building applications specifically for smart devices to improve the social network’s experience, with BBM being its biggest threat

» However, Mxit has the ability and opportunity to offer more than just chat. Knott-Craig says if Mxit is to keep users engaged it needs to offer more “utility” than chat. “The biggest utility will be payments, not moola, but real-world payments. It ties into an overall strategy to open the platform to third parties.”


MXIT USERS GO

MAD FOR MXPIX

» A little over a month ago, Motribe released

MxPix, which makes Instagram-style photo

sharing and filtering possible for people with

feature phones

» To date,a million or so MxPix users have

uploaded some 215 000 photos, with the Nokia

5130 Express Music and Samsung SGH and GT

range of devices the most commonly used

» The majority of those users are from South

Africa


88

SECTION 7

89

SUMMARY & CREDITS

THE KEY TRENDS IN MOBILE FOR JULY

2012

90

» The Olympics has been a convergence point for mobile usage with mobile TV, apps, and advertising campaigns all providing better viewing and participation opportunities. Aligning mobile strategy with sports sponsorship continues to be one of the best ways to leverage the sponsorship investment

» With Facebook adding mobile advertising to their offering, combined with the results that they have achieved, they have gone from a non-participant to a significant player that is delivering great results

» The increase in the usage of WiFi, bringing more Internet access to more people. This reinforces how retail and hospitality organisations can provide additional value to clients and patrons

» The banking industry is in the fast lane, with a number of exciting developments being launched, and innovation not showing any signs of slowing down

» Mobile is an integral part of our lives, with people not wanting to know as much about how many mobile phones there are, but rather what people are doing on their phones

» In South Africa, we have only scratched the surface of the power of mobile, but there is strong evidence to suggest that brands and marketers are starting to take real advantage of this medium

CREDITS

91

» Android Central

» Bandwidth Blog

» Bizcommunity

» Business Insider

» CNET

» Digital Buzz Blog

» DMMA

» eMarketer

» Engadget

» Financial Post

» Gadget Maven

» Google

» GottaBeMobile

» IOL

» InMobi

» IT News Africa

» ITWeb

» TechCentral

» TechCrunch

» TechSmart

» Mashable

» Memeburn

» Moneyweb

» MyBroadband

» MyBroadband BusinessTech

» Ventureburn

» Analytix Business Intelligence “SA Country Report-Cellphone/Mobile”

» Cisco “2012 Mobile User Survey”

» GIBS Forum

» IBM Consumer Survey

» InMobi “Mobile Insights Report”

» Opera “State of Mobile Advertising report”

» World Bank “Maximising Mobile”

» World Wide Worx “Mobility 2012”

INSERT VIDEO HERE

92

CONTACT US

Vuyisile Sisulu | Mobile Technologist [tel] +27 (11) 555-3800 [cell] +27 (82) 679 5415 [fax] 0867210884 [email] [email protected]

Tracy Aberman | Mobile Strategist [tel] +27 (11) 555-3800 [cell] +27 (82) 754 6111 [fax] 0867210884 [email] [email protected]

Angus Robinson | Director: Mobile, Content, Community & Media [tel] +27 (11) 555-3800 [cell] +27 (83) 635 4400 [fax] 0867210884 [email] [email protected]

Should you have any mobile insight, strategy, campaign or solutions requirements please contact any one of us.

mailto:[email protected]

