MOBILE REPORT June 2014

A MONTHLY SNAPSHOT OF

MOBILE NEWS, VIEWS, EVENTS

& DEVELOPMENTS LOCALLY

AND ABROAD

MOBILE REPORT UPDATE

This is the 2-year anniversary mobile report from NATIVE VML. We’re taking a break for a few months while we work

on bringing you an updated, more useful report. Look out for it on our social media accounts and our website.

Thanks for your ongoing support.

CONTENTS

Executive Summary

Section 1: Mobile Landscape

Section 2: Mobile Innovation and Campaigns

Section 3: Mobile Devices and Operating Systems

Section 4: Mobile Networks

Section 5: Technology

Section 6: Social Networks

Sources and Contacts

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. The 3 countries have the best quality broadband in Africa.

2. Congress plans to ban internet access tax.

3. Capitec and BlackBerry elaborate on mobile security.

4. Airtel Zambia’s US$ 178,000 system glitch.

5. MTN gives away free airtime.

6. The property industry targets emerging markets.

7. Apple influences Android and Windows “kill switch” roll out.

8. First there was a taxi now there is WiTaxi.

9. M-Pesa will be relaunched for new growth.

10. MTN’s market cap is almost the same size as Tanzania’s economy.

11. Lego Fusion brings virtual and real-life playgrounds together.

12. Facebook launches bigger thumbs (!) and in-app video recording.

MOBILE LANDSCAPE

Section 1

South Africa’s consumer broadband connection has been ranked 39th out of 50 countries included in Ookla’s Household Quality Index. In total there are 3 African countries making the top 50.

The Household Quality Index compares and ranks the quality of consumer broadband connections of countries worldwide over a 30 day period, measuring the quality of the connection in terms of R-Factor – an industry measure relating to steadiness of connection, important for use in Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and online gaming, for example.

South Africa had 83.02 points, dropping 2 places from last year’s corresponding period.

Tunisia and Algeria were the only other two African countries to make the top 50 countries listed, coming in 46th and 47th place respectively.

Source: Human IPO, 30 May 2014

SA, TUNISIA & ALGERIA HAVE BEST

QUALITY BROADBAND IN AFRICA

MobiKash Afrika has unveiled a merchant payment service to deliver mobile money transactions in real time, making cashless transactions at the beginners level a reality for thousands of Kenyans.

“Lipa Sasa Na MobiKash” will operate across all networks, banks and financial institutions as well as bill issuers, merchants and agents. This has been launched in partnership with Kenyan investment conglomerate the Foundation Enterprise Programme (FEP), which has bought a controlling stake in MobiKash Afrika.

CEO Duncan Odour Otieno said the developments signalled a revamped strategy that will see MobiKash strengthen its presence and portfolio while offering tangible and innovative e-commerce solutions.

“Mobile money services in Kenya have completely revolutionised the business arena and unveiled a whole new world of possibilities. At MobiKash we remain committed to delivering practical solutions, geared towards making the wider Kenyan population access safe, reliable and efficient mobile money solutions,” said Otieno.

Source: Human IPO, 30 May 2014

MOBIKASH LAUNCHES

IN KENYA

Gilat Satcom, a leading provider of satellite and fibre-based connectivity services in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, has announced a new satellite system which will provide high-quality voice connectivity to miners working in African underground mines.

Traditionally, communication with underground workers has been via temporary coax cables which are prone to damage and unsuitable for many locations.

“Communicating with workers in underground mines has always been problematical,” says Dan Zajicek, CEO of Gilat Satcom. “Our system is extremely reliable, cost-effective and market-proven. We are actively reaching out to mining companies in Africa where we know our system will be of great benefit.”

The system has been adapted to cope with the harsh conditions found at many mines, particularly in developing economies.

Source: Ventures Africa, 17 June 2014

SATELLITE SERVICE TO PROVIDE

CONNECTIVITY IN AFRICAN MINES

A U.S. ban on Internet taxes that has been in place since 1998 would be made permanent under legislation approved by a congressional committee.

In a 30-4 vote, the House Judiciary Committee passed the bill, which would permanently prevent state and local governments from enacting Internet connection taxes. It would also keep municipal governments from levying taxes on Internet purchases where there is no equivalent store or mail-order tax.

The Internet tax ban has been renewed three times. It is scheduled to expire on 1 November 2014. The ban does not cover state sales taxes that municipal lawmakers are trying to levy online.

Source: Reuters, 18 June 2014

CONGRESS SET TO PERMANENTLY

BAN INTERNET ACCESS TAX

MWEB, has launched a free Wi-Fi ‘zone’ in Florida Road, Durban, making its first Wi-Fi activated high street.

The group said that the Wi-Fi zone solution covers 90% of the area, featuring multiple access points, meshed together in a single indoor or outdoor environment with more resilient infrastructure.

The service is free for the first few months. However, MWEB said it will be implementing a pricing policy which will be time based, rather than data based. It said that the first 30 minutes will be free for users, once the new prices are in place.

“Florida Road is a great place to demonstrate the possibilities that high-speed Wi-Fi enables,” said Nathier Kasu, GM at MWEB Wi-Fi. “We’ve created a Wi-Fi zone, rather than a Wi-Fi hotspot, to deliver a superior experience to users, wherever they may be on the high street.”

Source: Business Tech, 18 June 2014

MWEB LAUNCHES FREE WIFI

IN DURBAN

Capitec had launched its own mobile app to remain competitive in the banking industry. However, their app strategy is distinctly different to the other banks as it’s more focused on secure mobile banking.

"The Capitec Bank app also uniquely offers security via the phone and not the SIM card in the phone, substantially increasing security and removing SIM swop fraud," said a Capitec spokesperson.

Once the application has been downloaded on either feature or smartphones, customers have to go into the branch to activate it.

"We realise that some clients might see the activation process as tedious and frustrating, but with the increasing amount of banking fraud, our approach was to rather create an application which is secure in order to protect our clients from becoming targets for fraudulent activity," said Charl Nel, Capitec head of strategic communication.

Source: Fin24, 18 June 2014

CAPITEC LAUNCHES BANKING

APP

Growth in smartphone penetration is driving the music industry's distribution processes away from the physical to the digital says Charles Stuart, social director for technology, information, communication and entertainment media at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

The Digital Music Report 2014 issued by the International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI) notes that despite its huge influence on music repertoire across the globe, most countries in Africa have not historically been significant markets for the international music industry.

According to IFPI, digital technology is enabling the recording industry to effectively reach mass numbers of consumers in Africa for the first time.

The report further states that SA, the largest formal music market on the continent, saw digital music grow by 107% in 2013, representing 14% of the total market. The overall formal market was valued at $63 million by IFPI.

Source: IT Web, 18 June 2014

SMARTPHONES BOOST MUSIC

DISTRIBUTION IN AFRICA

Statistics South Africa published its General household survey 2013, which showed that the Western Cape has the highest percentage of households which use the Internet.

The report showed that 40.9% of all South African households had at least one member who used the Internet either at home, the workplace, a place of study, or at Internet cafés.

54.4% of Western Cape households and 54% of Gauteng households had access to the Internet, while only 21.9% of households in Limpopo had access to the Internet.

While these households have members accessing the Internet, it does not mean that people had access to Internet at home. Only one‐tenth of South African households had access to the Internet at home.

Source: My Broadband, 19 June 2014

THE WESTERN CAPE IS SA’S TOP

INTERNET PROVINCE

MTN South Africa says it has connected the first customers to its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) offering.

The operator first announced its intentions to launch the service in earlier this year, following successful FTTH trials conducted with residents of Monaghan Farm in Johannesburg.

MTN pointed out that its FTTH roll-out is demand-driven, adding that advanced discussions were underway with several other residential sites.

“The rollout of FTTH in Monaghan Farm is progressing well, with 75% of the homes already connected and enjoying the benefits of this high-speed network, the remaining homesteads will be connected in the next two weeks,” said Eben Albertyn, CTO at MTN SA.

“Discussions are progressing positively with other areas that have shown interest,” Albertyn said, adding that interested parties and members of the public are encouraged to work with their home owners associations.

Source: Business Tech, 20 June 2014

MTN FIBRE-TO-THE-HOME

HAS ARRIVED

A technical error has resulted in 28,000 Airtel customers losing airtime balances worth more than US$ 178,000.

This is according to the Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA), which claims Airtel’s systems erroneously marked prepaid subscriber numbers as roaming.

The regulator has warned the operator to immediately resolve the problem and normalise its services.

However, Airtel says it has refunded all the affected customers and given them additional 30 minutes of free-talk time as compensation for the inconvenience.

“ZICTA is still monitoring the situation and is encouraging any subscriber who had been affected by this erroneous deduction and may not have been refunded their airtime to get in touch with Airtel customer service,” ZICTA public relations manager Ngabo Nankonde said.

Source: IT Web Africa, 20 June 2014

SYSTEM ERROR COSTS AIRTEL

ZAMBIA USERS US$ 178,000

MTN prepaid and TopUp customers who use a minimum of R6 per day on either voice, internet surfing, will be rewarded with an additional R60 on-net airtime from Saturday, 21 June 2014 until Monday, 30 June 2014.

“MTN understands that customers want to keep in touch with family and friends, therefore we felt the need to maintain these connections by maintaining affordable telecommunications through this promotion” said Larry Annetts, Chief Marketing Officer at MTN South Africa.

The free airtime can be used on local MTN-to-MTN calls, across all networks, as well as for internet browsing.

“The depletion rate is dependent on the customer’s price plan. The R60 reward is based on a minimum of R6.00 usage, and will be given once a day. This means that if a customer’s usage is more than R6.00 a day, then that customer will not qualify for additional FREE airtime value,” says Annetts.

Source: IT News Africa, 23 June 2014

FREE AIRTIME FOR MTN

CUSTOMERS

MOBILE INNOVATION & CAMPAIGNS

Section 2

PROPERTY SEARCH GOES MOBILE IN EMERGING MARKETS

Global property portal Lamudi has launched a world-first online real estate platform to 28 countries worldwide.

The app, Lamudi: Property for Sale/Rent, hosts more than 400,000 property listings from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, giving international house hunters a free mobile platform to buy, rent or sell real estate in any of these regions.

Sacha Poignonnec, co-CEO of Africa Internet Holdings and, Lamudi's founder, said "The Lamudi app is the first app of its kind in the world, due to the vast outreach of the app to 28 different emerging markets around the world, 17 of which are in Africa.

The Lamudi apps are designed to meet the growing demand for mobile internet services in the emerging markets.

Lamudi is revolutionising the way that users are searching for their ideal home, and will continue to underline its dominance as the market leader in Africa and the world."

Source: BizCommunity, 23 June 2014

Source: BizCommunity, 12 June 2014

MXIT PUSHES EDUCATION

LOANS Eduloan selected Mxit as its mobile media partner of choice during registration period, to target multitudes of students and parents with its educational finance offerings.

The campaign was successful in driving interest, with over 50,000 people signing up for the app - proving mobile social network advertising's ability to reach thousands of youth on the go, in an environment that provides relevant information they trust.

Nicolette Gehlig, Mxit's media & marketing strategic manager explains, "The objective of the campaign was to create awareness of the Eduloan offering and at the same time ensure that the public understood how easy and simple it was to do business with the company.“

By reaching thousands of students through its app and Splash Screen campaign, it raised awareness of its offerings, while educating students and their parents that it also provides assistance with tuition fees, outstanding fees, registering for new courses and finance for laptops, tablets, textbooks and accommodation.

INSTAGRAM FOR DOCTORS TO BRIDGE GAP IN GLOBAL HEALTHCARE

Doctors have devised a useful way of using Instagram by creating an app known as Figure 1.

The app was launched to bring professional doctors around the world together under a social media platform in other to exchange ideas, issues and pictures without breaching patient doctor confidentiality.

Co-founder of Figure 1, Dr Joshua Landy said “One of the things I do as an ICU doctor is I connect with my colleagues keeping people up to date around the patients we care for together by taking and sending pictures.

A new version of the app was launched recently to give users the ability to follow cases and interact with other professionals around the world. With the recent update, users can create a comprehensive profile with information such as area of interest, specialities, institution they’re associated with and their location.

Source: Ventures Africa, 22 June 2014

MOBILE DEVICES & OPERATING SYSTEMS

Section 3

Apple has unveiled its latest mobile operating system, iOS 8 for the iPhone and iPad.

Senior executive Craig Federighi said that iOS 8 builds on the successes of its predecessor, but has new features.

The new features include: Enterprise features such as Device Enrollment Program, which sets up your device automatically, per-message S/MIME, VIP message threads that display on the lock screen, increased security, and third-party document providers; HealthKit an app that integrates with leading institutions so it can link with doctors and hospitals; and iMessage improvements.

Source: ZDNet, 2 June 2014

APPLE UNVEILS IOS

8

BlackBerry has unveiled BBM Protected, the first solution in the eBBM Suite for secure enterprise-class messaging.

The Canadian-based smartphone maker says the eBBM Suite is a new family of BBM products and services built for business that bring together the convenience and usability of BBM with the additional security and compliance required by enterprise customers.

The eBBM Suite will include new services designed to enable mobile workers to be more productive on the go, while meeting enterprises' needs for security, manageability and control, BlackBerry says.

As part of the suite, BBM Protected provides an enhanced security model for BBM messages sent between BlackBerry smartphones, the company explains, adding that BBM Protected brings regulated industries the most secure and reliable real-time mobile messaging experience in the industry.

Source: IT Web, 17 June 2014

BLACKBERRY RELEASES BBM

PROTECTED

The Fire Phone is Amazon’s first venture into smartphones.

Aside from the normal functions of smartphone, it has the ability to track a user’s head as it has four corner-mounted, front-facing infrared cameras and produces wild 3D effects. However, their version of 3D is different as images pop out of the screen. The head-tracking tech adds depth to the phone.

Amazon built what it’s calling Dynamic Perspective, which redraws 3D images at 60 frames per second. You can see elements underneath other on-screen elements. Owners can look under icons on the screen. The four IR cameras have a super-wide field of view and depth perception. Since they’re infrared, they work in the dark.

The Fire Phone rocks a 4.7-inch IPS screen and is equipped with a 13MP rear-facing camera with image stabilization and a 2.0 lens. Inside is a quad-core 2.2GHz chip, Adreno 330 graphics and 2GB of RAM.

Source: Tech Crunch, 18 June 2014

AMAZON ANNOUNCES THE

US$ 199 FIRE PHONE

The experimental Android Runtime (ART) compiler trial has been successfully concluded and will be included in the next version of Android by default.

The latest changes to AOSP's source code indicate that the upcoming version of Android (be it 4.5 or 5.0) will indeed run ART instead of Dalvik by default. The latter uses a Just-In-Time (JIT) code compiling, which processes code only when an app needs it. ART, in the meantime, comes with an Ahead-Of-Time (AOT) compiling, which runs the code before it is needed.

ART offers slightly better performance and improved battery life, there are still some apps that are still not optimized to run under the new runtime. Those that have not been rewritten to work with ART might not work probably and cause a lot of issues.

Source: Phone Arena, 19 June 2014

THE NEXT VERSION OF ANDROID

WILL HAVE ART RUNTIME

New statistics show iPhone thefts have declined since Apple introduced a stronger anti-theft feature in late 2013. They said criminals are responding by targeting people who carry other smartphones that don't have a similar feature to disable them if stolen.

In New York City, robberies involving Apple products fell 19% during the first 5 months of 2014 compared with the same period the year before, officials said. Meanwhile, violent robberies targeting people with Samsung smartphones, many of which do not have a “kill switch”, increased more than 40% in the city during that same period.

In San Francisco, iPhone robberies fell 38% during the 6 months after Apple released its new anti-theft feature, compared to the 6 months before its release. Whereas robberies of Samsung devices increased 12% during that time, they said. In the corresponding period of time in London, iPhone robberies declined by 24% while Samsung thefts increased by 3%.

The new statistics were released by the Secure Our Smartphones Initiative, a coalition of mayors, attorneys general, district attorneys and high-level police officials.

Source: Huffington Post, 19 June 2014

APPLE'S PLAN TO STOP IPHONE

THEFT IS WORKING

Microsoft and Google have signed an agreement with the New York Attorney General to add "kill switches" to the next versions of Windows Phone and Android.

Eric Schneiderman, the attorney general said “kill switches” are important and have a significant role in mobile security and the his office's “Secure Our Smartphones" initiative.

The kill switch has become a hot topic in the last several months. Many states around the US have argued over whether kill switches should be brought to smartphones.

The Secure Our Smartphones report cited Apple as proof that the feature works such that you can erase phone’s data remotely and that it deters theft.

Source: CNET, 19 June 2014

ANDROID & WINDOWS PHONE TO ADD

KILL SWITCH TO THWART THEFT

MOBILE NETWORKS

Section 4

Vodacom’s latest smartphone and tablet statistics show that Android is the rapidly gaining market share, while BlackBerry is losing it.

According to Vodacom’s statistics there were 2,190,850 Android tablets and smartphones on its network in March 2014. This is up from 1,450,000 in September 2013.

BlackBerry remains the most popular smartphone with 3.03 million devices on the Vodacom network. However, this is down from 3.1 million six months earlier.

Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices showed modest gains such that it’s up from 650,000 in September 2013 to 785,000 in March 2014.

A big surprise is the strong growth in Windows devices, up from 270,000 to 377,000 in six months.

Source: My Broadband, 27 May 2014

VODACOM SALES

STATS

Vodacom and Vodafone, have indicated that they will focus in growing M-Pesa in the year ahead.

Vodacom CEO, Shameel Joosub said that he expects the relaunch of the M-Pesa service in South Africa to take place by the end of the 3rd quarter of 2014.

In reporting financial results for the year ended March 2014, Vodacom said mobile financial services continued to grow well with M-Pesa customers increasing 21.6% to 6 million. Tanzanian M-Pesa contributed 18.8% from 14.1% in 2013 to service revenue.

“M-Pesa has been launched in all our international markets and our priority has been to increase the number of registered users and to drive activity levels by widening distribution and expanding the ecosystem in each market,” Vodacom said.

Joosub said that the improved service would be better integrated into banks’ retail infrastructure, due to an improved IT platform. He added that M-Pesa would also have far more merchants on board.

Source: My Broadband, 1 June 2014

VODAFONE & VODACOM

RELAUNCHES M-PESA

South Africa’s MTN has acquired a controlling 51% share stake in internet service provider Afrihost.

MTN said the deal would “add scale” to its existing online ICT services offering, which is focused on the consumer and SME market.

“MTN South Africa expects to leverage off Afrihost’s strong customer service, value proposition and agility, thereby boosting MTN South Africa’s presence in the SME, Corporate/Consumer and Connected Home segments. MTN South Africa will in addition be able to supply Afrihost with products for its existing customer base and vice versa,” MTN said.

Source: Human IPO, 2 June 2014

MTN AQUIRES A CONTROLLING

STAKE IN AFRIHOST

Airtel plans to partner with virtual SIM provider, Movirtu to provide telecom services to Africa’s “unphoned” users.

Using a virtual SIM card, these users can temporarily activate Airtel services on a “friend’s handset or shared village phone to make voice calls, send text messages or access value added and informative services such as mobile banking and mFarmer,” says Movirtu.

First deployments of the virtual SIMs are planned for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) after Airtel’s “successful launch of the Movirtu Share service in Madagascar.”

Source: IT Web Africa, 9 June 2014

AIRTEL TARGETS AFRICA’S

‘UNPHONED’ MARKET

MTN's market cap is almost twice the size of East African nation Tanzania’s gross domestic product (GDP), an economist has said.

According to Dr Martyn Davies, CEO of Frontier Advisory, a strategy and investment advisory firm, the South African headquartered telecoms giant is one of Africa's multilingual ‘winning companies’ with their their strategies in Africa and other emerging markets.

According to the World Bank East Africa's Tanzania had a GDP of $28.24 billion in 2012.

Source: IT Web Africa, 10 June 2014

MTN TWICE THE SIZE OF

TANZANIA’S ECONOMY

Minibus taxi commuters will get 50MB of free Wi-Fi data a month as part of a plan to roll-out broadband Internet access to commuter taxis countrywide.

The South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO), has taken the wraps off the service, called WiTaxi.

The taxi body is rolling out WiTaxi through its commercial subsidiary TaxiChoice and Telkom is providing the 3G and 4G bandwidth that will be used in the taxis to provide commuters with Internet access.

“This initiative is part of SANTACO’s long-term vision is aimed at modernising, revitalising, transforming and developing the taxi industry into a world-class taxi service,” said association president Philip Taaibosch.

Phase one of the project will see Wi-Fi access points rolled out to 1 500 taxis and about 50 taxi ranks. This phase will take about six months. The second phase will see the installation of between 4 000 and 5 000 Wi-Fi access points per month.

Source: Tech Central, 12 June 2014

TELKOM MOBILE ROLLS OUT FREE

WIFI ON TAXIS

MTN has been rated among the top 500 global companies on corporate sustainability and environmental impact in the 2014 Newsweek Green Rankings.

Newsweek partnered with Corporate Knights Capital and individuals from non-governmental organisations and the academic and accounting communities, to complete the rankings, using eight performance indicators.

“The ranking is particularly significant for MTN because we are in a small select group of global companies whose revenue is generated off a relatively low environmental impact basis,” said Paul Norman, MTN Group chief human resources and corporate affairs officer.

Norman said “the recognition ahead of some of the major global brands is humbling, particularly as we operate in markets where it’s not regulation driving responsible environmental behaviour. MTN is on this journey not only because it makes commercial sense; we operate in some of the most environmentally vulnerable parts of the world”.

Source: Human IPO, 19 June 2014

MTN RATED IN TOP 500 GREEN

FIRMS GLOBALLY

MTN & PRICECHECK APP LAUNCHING IN NIGERIA

PriceCheck CEO André de Wet and MTN Group Chief Commercial Officer, Pieter Verkade jointly announced it’s partnership, to introduce PriceCheck in Nigeria.

De Wet stated that, “PriceCheck’s experience over the past 7 years has taught us that search is where everything starts. Price checking is the first step in the purchase decision making process for the end user, the point where influence is the strongest”.

The partnership with MTN both in South Africa and in Nigeria gives us access to the largest mobile phone market in Africa. Together we own product search. Shopping is no longer somewhere you go, it’s something you do – that’s the power of mobile.”

The PriceCheck MTN Nigeria app will be available in all leading app stores from August 2014. The app will also be pre-loaded on popular mobile phones across Nigeria.

Source: IT News Africa, 19 June 2014

Source: IT News Africa, 20 June 2014

TELECEL INTRODUCES WHATSAPP

BUNDLES IN ZIMBABWE Telecel WhatsApp bundles are available for both pre-paid and post-paid subscribers. There are three WhatsApp bundles that can be purchased. The daily bundle, which costs 29 cents, gives subscribers access to WhatsApp for 24 hours.

The weekly bundle, which is valid for seven days, costs 89 cents. In addition to access to WhatsApp for a week, it gives the subscriber 5MB of bonus data for the first 1 000 subscribers who sign up for this bundle. The monthly bundle, which costs $2,85 and is valid for 30 days, comes with 20 MB of bonus data for the first 500 subscribers who sign up.

“The WhatsApp bundles allow unlimited messaging. Subscribers can chat, send videos and share voice notes without having to worry about running out of data. Even if the ordinary data has been used up, it will still be possible to use WhatsApp.

“The $2,85 per month bundle is a real winner. One subscription will guarantee the subscriber unlimited access to WhatsApp for a whole month. Moreover the subscriber receives bonus data to browse the internet,” commented Telecel marketing Director Octivius Kahiya.

TECHNOLOGY

Section 5

Developed by Lego's Future Lab, Fusion was invented as a way to integrated digital and analogue play.

Ditte Bruun Pedersen, a senior design manager said that the Lego team discovered that children don't really differentiate physical play from digital. "To them, it's not two separate worlds. It's one world that blends together. It's all just play." However, games on tablets and phones remain popular with kids because of how immersive they are, so the trick is to put the two worlds together.

Each Lego Fusion set consists of 200 bricks along with a special "capture" brick building plate that's meant to be paired with a corresponding app. But firstly you would need to build a two-dimensional facade then launch the app's camera function to focus on the printed pattern, which is used as an identification tag.

This will let the app figure out exactly the size and colours of the Lego bricks you've built on the plate, enabling it to import and translate that physical creation into the digital realm.

Source: Engadget, 19 June 2014

LEGO FUSION FUSES VIRTUAL

PLAYGROUNDS WITH REAL ONES

Researchers at Ford and Heinz are collaborating to develop a bioplastic using tomatoes.

They’re investigating the use of tomato fibres in developing sustainable, composite materials for use in vehicle manufacturing.

Specifically, dried tomato skins could become the wiring brackets in a Ford vehicle or the storage bin a Ford customer uses to hold coins and other small objects, the vehicle manufacturer said.

“We are exploring whether this food processing by-product makes sense for an automotive application,” said Ford plastics research technical specialist Ellen Lee. “Our goal is to develop a strong, lightweight material that meets our vehicle requirements, while at the same time reducing our overall environmental impact.”

Heinz researchers were looking for ways to recycle and repurpose peels, stems and seeds from the 2 million tonnes of tomatoes it uses annually to make tomato sauce.

Source: Tech Central, 10 June 2014

YOU SAY TOMATO, THEY

SAY TOM-AUTO

SOCIAL NETWORKS

Section 6

Source: Times Live, 10 June 2014

FACEBOOK & TWITTER BRACE FOR

WORLD CUP FEVER Nearly 40% of Facebook's 1.28 billion users are football fans. The world's biggest online social network is adding new features to help fans follow the World Cup - the world's most widely viewed sporting event - which takes place in Brazil from June 12 to July 13.

Facebook users will be able to keep track of their favourite teams and players throughout the tournament in a special World Cup section, called "Trending World Cup." Available on the Web as well as mobile devices, the hub will include the latest scores, game highlights, as well as a feed with tournament-related posts from friends, players and teams.

In addition, an interactive map will show where the fans of top players are located around the world. The company is also launching a page called FacebookRef, where fans can see commentary about the matches from "The Ref," Facebook's official tournament commentator.

Twitter said that the "the only real-time #WorldCup global viewing party will be on Twitter, where you can track all 64 matches, experience every goal and love every second, both on and off the pitch.

Source: Digital Trends, 13 June 2014

FACEBOOK MESSENGER ADDS VIDEO

RECORDING & BIGGER THUMBS Facebook Messenger is playing catch-up in the great messaging app race, but the near-constant flow of enhancements to remain the preferred social app.

Now, you can either “Like” something or you can “Big Like” something. To get the giant blue thumb, all you have to do is press down on the like button a little longer than usual. Then, the biggest blue thumbs-up you’ve probably ever seen will pop up on the screen for you and your friend to see.

A similar action is required to send a short, 15-second video message. When you hold down the picture button, the app automatically knows that you want to send your friend a short video and opens up the camera app to let you begin filming. Previously, Facebook only let you send pre-recorded videos, but with this update, you can now shoot and send impromptu videos from inside the app.

SOURCES AND CONTACTS

http://www.humanipo.com/

http://www.ventures-africa.com/

http://www.reuters.com/

http://www.businesstech.co.za/

http://www.fin24.com/

http://www.itweb.co.za/

http://mybroadband.co.za/

http://www.itwebafrica.com/

http://www.itnewsafrica.com/

http://www.bizcommunity.com/

http://www.zdnet.com/

http://techcrunch.com/

http://www.phonearena.com/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

SOURCES http://www.cnet.com/

http://www.techcentral.co.za/

http://www.engadget.com/

http://www.digitaltrends.com/

http://www.timeslive.co.za/

CONTACT US

Have a look at all previous Mobile Reports and other mobile work on our site - http://www.nativevml.co.za/home?keyword=mobile

Should you have any mobile insight, strategy, campaign or solution requirements please contact us.

Angus Robinson | Director: Mobility

[tel] +27 (11) 555-3800

[cell] +27 (83) 635 4400

[fax] 0867210884

[email] angus@native.co.za

[twitter] @angusrobinson

THANK YOU