One Goal?

Back in June 2010 they launched a new project that aims to bridge the huge gap between hearing and non hearing people around the world by teaching users the Sign Language Alphabet with a mobile application.

Simon Botes Founder of AppCRAFT says: “It is our belief that even if you take the time to learn only the Sign Language alphabet, it will make communicating with the deaf in your area a lot easier. Our application helps you to learn the Sign Language Alphabet. Learning the alphabet is the best place to start when learning any new language and eSign makes this process fast, easy and mobile.”

”Our earlier research found that there was nothing for the deaf in the Nokia Store. It was with this in mind that we started by creating eSign for Nokia Devices.” Says Botes. 18 months later and the free Sign Language Early Learning Applications developed by AppCRAFT have already seen 44000 downloads or “students” as Botes likes to call them and this with zero government or corporate funding.

The Sign Language Alphabet Mobile app (eSign) aids in learning sign language SPELLING in 6 localized Sign Languages and is currently available freely for Nokia S605th, Symbian^3, S40 and Meego devices including the Nokia N9 (which I’m still waiting for).

Botes concludes: “If one small african startup with a non existing budget can help 44000 people to learn something in 18months with zero funding, just image how fast we could reach those EFA goals, if we had the support of governments and or large corporations around the world.”

SMS is not the enemy, bad businesses are. There are countless examples of how SMS technology is being used daily that enhance, simplify or improve our lives. Clickatell, Web AddiCT(s); sponsor since 2007, wants to highlight case studies of businesses big and small who use SMS messaging in the PPM Awards.

A quick Primer on PPM:

The days of bulk text messaging are long gone. Instead effective text messaging programs personalize messages to the needs and expectations of the receiver. Messages are valuable to the receiver because they are of interest and received at times when they are most relevant. Our PPM awards recognise how organizations have adopted PPM in their text messaging programs to make them more effective.

Does your business or web application fit the bill? Do you know of a start-up that could do with extra exposure? Why not nominate them for the PPM Awards before 31 August 2011. There are some interesting prizes up for grabs, the main one being international recognition as global leaders in the use of personalized text messaging and worldwide PR coverage.

Head over to the PPM Awards site here to cast your vote, find out about some of the entrants and of course the T’s & C’s. As a side note I’d like to mention the International SMS WordPress Plugin by iGeek is an entrant too so if you can’t decide on who to vote for then iGeek is your guy

Do you know of an SMS App or Service that you believe deserves to be in the inaugural PPM Awards? Let them know

Of course there are many other practical scenarios that qooh.me could be useful for other than Q&A. Currently, it integrates all the major social networks like facebook, twitter and recently, mxit which means that the potential for expansion is virtually almost unlimited.

From a user stand point, the application has a clean, very simple to understand user interface that any user is able to interact almost effortlessly. Users can ask questions and when the a member of the audience answers, you are able to get a notification when your question is answered. Each user profile also has vanity url of which all recent activities and previously asked questions are organized in a timeline. The user can also choose to intergrate with facebook, twitter or mxit.

In South Africa mobile messaging ads lead the way, followed by display and in-app formats. 35 million branded Please Call Me messages are sent out daily and currently we are seeing 1.6 billion impressions served annually in South Africa. The typical global mobile browsing session involve 5-8 mobile websites.

In countries like South Africa and BRIC countries Brazil, Russia, India and China, mobile is considered the primary screen, as opposed to in the US and Western Europe where it is viewed as merely an extension of the web. In China the growth rate for mobile ads is more than double that of the United States.

In emerging markets, mobile is the primary means to the internet. This, together with cheaper data rates and more affordable smart phones, is considered to be the main driving force of its phenomenal growth in South Africa. The country’s low internet connectivity penetration (10%) and high broadband costs will further drive consumers to mobile.

If you’d like an awesome infographic instead of reading this head over here.

Vodacom, MXit and Google, hosts of the Mobile Media Mindblast conference predict that mobile marketing and advertising spend in South Africa will grow to R1billion by 2012.

Mobile ad revenues in South Africa totaled approximately R500m in the last year. Year on year growth trends indicate that this figure will double by 2012. Estimates on mobile ad spend include display, search and message-based ads.

Jason Probert, Head of Vodacom Mobile Media says: “Previous estimates have dramatically underestimated the size of the mobile advertising industry as they focused on reports submitted to the DMMA by online publishers. When you take into account the entire mobile advertising ecosystem and include mobile ad networks like AdMob, operator services like Apple, mobile search and social networks like MXit, the picture is dramatically different”

Juan du Toit, head of international business development and marketing for MXit, believes that South Africa will see substantial growth in media performance on mobile platforms this year and in 2012.

“The way that consumers interact with brands is evolving rapidly. Media strategists know that mobile media campaigns deepen the engagement and relevance of brands within their target markets. One of MXit’s core strengths to an advertiser is our ability to create and grow communities of loyal brand consumers and activists, which, in turn, offers an intriguing and difficult-to-ignore value proposition for the South African marketing industry.”

The Mobile Media Mindblast conference takes place in Cape Town on the 3rd of June 2011. Renowned international speaker Joseph Jaffe will explore the aggressive mobile growth trends and focus on what this means for brands and marketers in the South African marketing context.

In addition, speakers will provide guidance on how brands and marketers can harness this growth and shed light on successful mobile marketing tactics to reach the target audience. Topics will include the latest on mobile social networking, the advantages of permission-based mobile messaging and the benefits of marketing through local search. A panel discussion will feature successful mobile case studies by leading South African brands and agencies.

Head of Google Mobile, Brett St.Claire says: “We’ve had a fantastic response since we announced the conference a few weeks back and we’re almost booked to capacity from both the brands and agency sides. The popularity of Mobile Media Mindblast is a testament that marketers feel that they can no longer ignore mobile’s aggressive growth and that they need to learn more about this space and.”

Looking forward to Mobile Media Mindblast. It’s going to be Mind Blasting! Whoever came up with the name for this conference must be a Russell Peters fan.

Official 2go on your PC beta

This time you dont need to download Java or continually download a copy of the Nokia generic version of 2go mobile and open it up in Mpowerplayer.

All it takes to run 2go on your PC today is 2 simple steps.

1. Click to pc.2go.im
2. Log in with your 2go username and password.

How easy is that?

2go v3.0

2go currently boasts 7 million users and unlike some other well funded local mobile start-ups who appear to have bought there way to 1 million users (not that there is anything wrong with buying users) 2go’s user base has grown organically and is increasing at about 30 000 users a day of late. That would equate to an additional 1 million new users in the next 34 days. Their success in the African market can be seen by topping Google’s Zeitgeist list for fastest rising searches in Nigeria and Kenya during 2010 shows that people have heard about the application and searched Google to download it.

The new features in 2go version 3.0:

1. Saving of chat history – private conversations are now saved on your phone
2. “Is Typing” – You are given an indication as your friend is typing to you
3. Improved compression – 2go is now cheaper to use and saves airtime
4. Look-n-feel: new splash screen, new icons, improved navigation
5. Privacy and security enhancements
6. Numerous bug fixes and performance improvements
7. 2go now gives you the option to talk to your Facebook and Google GTalk contacts through the application

We know that privacy is of great concern to many users and some parent of younger users. The full list of safety and privacy features in 2go version 3.0 is available at http://www.2go.co.za/safechatting , but the new features in this version 3.0 are:

• Profiles must now be previewed before accepting a user as a friend
• Users can be blocked when being removed from a contact list so that you cannot be contacted again
• Minors can file abuse reports through the application to report users for abusive conduct such as bullying, offensive files being sent or abusive behaviour.
• Most importantly, users cellphone numbers are not exposed to other users in the application. We make use of usernames which mean that chatting is completely anonymous.

It is great to see a company playing in the extremely competitive mobile IM space achieve such great growth without much fanfare.

Do kids still play board games now that the computer and mobile phone is used for everything from work to play and everything in between? Our mobile team at MIH SWAT put together the Naval Strike Free iPhone game which is based on the Battleships game to fine tune their iPhone app development skills. Some of the features include the ability to play against your friends via Bluetooth or challenge strangers via Apple’s Game Center.

If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch head on over to iTunes and give it a go. If you have a US or any other country specific iTunes account simply search for ‘Naval Strike’ in the App Store.

Playing the AI might get boring fast so the best option would be to get an iPhone toting friend or 2 to download and invite them via BlueTooth. If you want to challenge a player using Game Center try the following:

To ensure Game Center connectivity, please follow this peering sequence to play an opponent over Game Center;

1. Both players must be connected to the internet cloud.

2. Player B has Naval Strike closed. Naval Strike must NOT be open in the background. Press home button twice to find out if game is open in the background

3. Player A starts Naval Strike

4. Player A invites Player B as follows

a. Select “Multiplayer”

b. Select “Online”

c. Select “Invite Friend”

d. Select a Friend. Which in this example is Player B

e. Select “Next”

f. Select “Send”

5. Player B receives push invitation and selects “Accept”

6. Naval Strike will open on player B’s device, and announce that is it connecting.

7. When both players have their state set to “Ready”, Player A can select “Play Now”

8. Vessel positioning can now start and it is game on!

There will be a competition giving away a few iTunes vouchers starting soon so starting sinking those battle ships

There is a new IM, growing at a tremendous rate, called LiveProfile.

LiveProfile has added 1 million users in just 5 days now for a total of 2 million users. We are currently adding between 250,000 to 300,000 new users per day. This is record breaking growth and not many startups have experienced this, ever. It took Facebook about 10 months to reach one million users and to this day most likely adds around 600,000 new users per day.

LiveProfile

Some of the LiveProfile features include:

• 100% FREE Forever
• No Battery Usage
• Beautiful UI
• Message Receipts
• Blazing Fast
• Social Integration

If you’re a LiveProifle user please share the experience with us in a comment below

WhatsApp

As South Africans we’re all familiar with MXit and 2go… to a lesser extent Nimbuzz. Now I’d like you to know what’s up with WhatsApp.

WhatsApp Messenger is a cross-platform mobile messenger that replaces SMS and works through the existing internet data plan of your device. WhatsApp is available for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Nokia Symbian60 phones. Because WhatsApp Messenger uses the same internet data plan that you use for email and web browsing, there is no cost to message and stay in touch with your friends.

Yes, another mobile application that allows you to send messages to your friends who also use the WhatsApp application on their mobile phones.

How is WhatsApp Messenger different from SMS?

SMS is an older messaging system with a limited functionality and high cost. WhatsApp Messenger aims to provide more at a lower cost. We are sure you and your friends will figure out the difference between SMS and WhatsApp Messenger very quickly.

Your Web AddiCT found out about this app from a guy standing in a queue with me while I was playing with my Android device. Unlike some other apps out there WhatsApp is available on Nokia, BlackBerry, Android and iPhone. Have you or do you use WhatsApp?

WhatsApp will remain free

You’ve probably received this message below from a few of your WhatsApp contacts. Don’t wory, it’s a hoax and WhatsApp have confirmed that it’ll remain free on their blog

WhatsApp is going to cost us money soon. The only way that it will stay free is if you are a frequent user i.e. you have at least 10 people you are chatting with. To become a frequent user send this message to 10 people who receive it (2 ticks) and your WhatsApp logo should turn Red to indicate a frequent user.

Please understand that this is a hoax and there is no truth to it.

The best idea gets you a whopping R25 000! The second prize is R15 000, third is R10 000, fourth is R5 000, and fifth R2 500, so enter now!

Simply tell Samsung in no more than 500 words what your local application idea is. The more concise and realistic the description, the better your chances of winning and having your idea realised by Samsung.

The Competition:

Samsung recognises the need for more smartphone applications relevant to Africa and all its local flavours, which is why you are getting the chance to put forward your application ideas in a competition to win R25 000!

This competition is open to absolutely anybody. You don’t need to be a developer as Samsung will develop the best application ideas submitted. All you need is a wild imagination and the hunger for more localised apps. Make sure you give a concise and realistic description of an app you’d like to see. You can have a look at the Samsung Wave smartphone and Samsung Galaxy S smartphone’s features here to see which ones can enhance your app, like vibrating or phone tilting.

Idea-submission is phase one of the competition. In phase two, the public will be able to vote for the best application idea and the ones they would like Samsung to develop, so make sure your application idea is clever, original and useful. There will be five winners; the main prize of R25 000, the second prize of R15 000, third of R10 000, fourth of R5 000 and fifth of R2 500.

How to Enter:

Simply think what kind of application you’d like to download that is relevant to South Africa. This can be absolutely anything from where the best restaurants in Sandton are, to what the traffic looks like on the highway using GPS-tracking. Let your imagination go wild, but remember that Samsung will develop the ideas that are the most realistic and do-able.

All you have to do now is submit your details and then tell us your application idea in no more than 500 words. You can also upload supporting documentation if you want to illustrate your idea better with PDFs, Jpegs or Word documents. After you have submitted your idea, we will choose the top 50 application ideas and then have them on the site so the public can vote for their favourites.

What are apps?

Smartphones run complete operating system software that provides a platform for application developers to showcase application software. Application software is contrasted with system software, which manages and uses a computer’s capabilities, but does not directly apply these capabilities as tasks to be performed. A simple analogy in the world of hardware would be the relationship of an electric light bulb (an application) to an electric power generation plant (a system). The power plant merely generates electricity, not itself of any real use until harnessed to an application like the electric light that performs a service that benefits the user.

So an application is a computer program designed to help people perform an activity. It is not an operating system that runs a computer, a utility that performs maintenance or general things and it is not a programming language with which computer programmes are created. Applications are designed to fulfil activities like word processing, or GPS location or manipulating text, numbers or graphics.

Samsung’s smartphone applications or apps include games, news apps, reference, social networking and many more. These applications have been created to be useful for entertainment, information, organisation – you name it! Applications are meant to interest and entertain people on their mobile phones. The more entertaining or useful, the more popular the application.

Samsung Apps lets you browse applications easily and shop by category, popularity or recommended picks. You can even search for specific apps or browse through recently updated ones. Samsung Apps’ easy-to-use browser and sheer wealth of applications make it a fun place to hang out and explore your options.

Find the perfect app? Getting it on your mobile is easier than ever. Instantly download it to your mobile; the easy, one-step purchase lets you start using your apps right away. For paid apps, you can choose from a variety of convenient payment methods.

TO find out more about the Samsung Application idea competition visit www.samsungapplications.co.za