MarcForrest.com

Category: Tech News

  • MMA Mobile Mega Trends in Durban

    Next week Wednesday (12th October) the MMA (Mobile Marketing association) will be hosting it’s first event in Durban as the Docklands Hotel. And….

    I will be doing a talk, for Private Property, on “Mobile Lessons Learned and Growth Comparisons”. This is the first time I am doing something like this, and I am, well let’s say, rather…NERVOUS. But, I’m sure it will all be ok :) I can do it….

    So, if you have any inkling in anything Mobile, or even want to know about where Mobile is going in South Africa, (and of course based in Durbs) I highly recommend registering for the event – http://marketingmix.co.za/pebble.asp?relid=24298

    Looking forward to seeing you there…

     

  • iPhone 4s launched & available in South Africa in December

    iPhone 4s launched & available in South Africa in December

    So tonight we heard all about the new iPhone4S that Apple launched at a small press briefing, with only 350 people attending. I followed the event live on the Engadget live blog, which was super awesome and kept up to date.

    While many people expected a iPhone5, we got to see the new iPhone 4s, which includes a couple of cool new additions to the current iPhone. Some of these cool new features include:

    • Well firstly we got to hear about how well Lion is doing (Love Lion) and then music & iPods. Interesting, the iOS operating system is now installed on over 250 million devices ! That’s quite a bit. Also 16 billion songs have been downloaded from iTunes
    • iOS5 & iCloud will be available on the 12th October. Free update
    • iPhone4S stays the same form factor, but now includes
      • A5 chip, which is the same as the iPad2. So effectivley a much faster phone
      • A new antenna system, which should hopefully help with all the crap dropped calls we have at the moment
      • An 8MP camera, which should iPhoneography a lot more interesting
      • 1080p Full HD video recording, which is also quite cool. Also has video stabilizing
      • Wireless Airplay. I have used this on the iPad2 with the Apple TV which is actually pretty cool and has loads of potential
      • iCloud. Coming 12 October. Let’s see how this one works
      • iOS5, which is also pretty cool. Lots of new cool features
      • Siri, which is a voice activated assitant. Hmm, not really sold on this one, and I don’t know so much about the limitations in South Africa. Let’s see
    • The iPhone4s will be available in the US on the 14th, and looks like we might see it here in around December
    Overall, not the most exciting Apple keynote we have ever had, but I guess we will just have to wait and see how this one works out. The APPL stock also took a bit of a dive and didn’t seem to recover. The pricing does not change for the US, so hopefully our pricing should stay the same. Added to that, the iPhone 4 will only now be available in a 8GB model.
    I’ll also be updating here with more news if I missed anything out. What do you think of the iPhone4S ? Lemme know in the comments below.

  • Apple’s ‘Let’s Talk iPhone’ keynote tonight – 7pm

     

    If you even midly interested in anything Apple you will know that the iPhone 5/4s announcment is taking place tonight at 7pm South African time. While there is NO official live video streaming, there always seems to be someone in the audience who has a cellphone and is live video streaming.

    I am going to be following the Engadget Live Blog, which always seems to be quick with their updates and also post some really good quality pics. The Gizmodo live blog is also pretty good.

    Also, you can listen to TWiT.tv, who offer some really good audio comments of the announcement. If you follow me on Twitter, I will be tweeting some thoughts & highlights as the event progresses.

    To get an idea of what we are in for, check out the Bandwidth Blog team’s take on what to expect with the iPhone 5.

    I can’t wait to see what is announced, and am really looking forward to it. Blog post up here as soon as we have all the info ;)

     

  • Get your tickets for Tech4Africa NOW !

     

    You may recall last year, I was fortunate to attend the innugral Tech4Africa conference in Jozi. I walked away on the Friday feeling inspired and motvitated to help grow the tech space in South Africa.
    It’s been over a year now since I walked out those doors, and I can honestly say that I have achieved some of my motivations. My inspiration to blog more, and start more side projects has has definitely worked, with a few new thing already done, like the iPhoneography Exhibition, as well as some other things that I have done & am still working on in the pipeline.

    The conference takes place this year on the 27th & 28th of October, at the Forum in Bryanston (awesome venue)

    I am really going to try and make a plan to attend this year, and hopefully if all goes according to plan I should be there. There are some great speakers lined up including Josh Spear, who will be talking at the main keynote, talking about Social Media in Africa, which is a very relevant topic at the moment with the growth we seeing. The other keynote speaker is Herman Chinery-Hesse who will be talking about innovation & technology in Africa. Herman is a software engineer by profession & 19 years ago he co-founded the SOFTtribe limited, one of the leading software houses in West Africa. I am also very keen to check out all the Mobile Talks as these are going to be NB in the next couple of years. There are some fantastic Mobile talks lined up as well.

    All in all, I reckon the Tech4Africa conference is gonna be well worth it, so I highly suggest getting your ticket now, before they all run out ;) Check out the Tech4Africa website for all the info & to register

     

     

  • Alan Knott-Craig buys MXit

    Alan Knott-Craig buys MXit

    This is pretty big news in the South African tech world. Ex iBurst CEO and now head of a VC company called World of Avatar, Alan Knott-Craig Jnr, today announced that they would be buying what could arguarly be one of South Africa’s sucess stories, MXit. There has been no value associated with the purchase price, but there are estimates in the 500 million mark.

    MXit was founded in 1997 by Herman Heunis , who has taken it to almost 43 million subscribers. It is going to be really interesting to see what happens here, and how World Of Avatar continues to grow MXit amongst the social network platforms like Twitter & FB

    For more info & reading check out the Memeburn Article & the TechCentral article. Interesting indeed !