Native Mobile Monthly Report - December 2012

A MONTHLY
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MOBILE NEWS,
VIEWS, EVENTS &
DEVELOPMENTS
LOCALLY AND
ABROAD
2 MOBILE REPORT/DECEMBER 2012

HOW TO USE THIS REPORT

» This report is intended as an easy-to-reference tool
» It is a resource that allows you to easily flip through in your own
time – and not to necessarily read it from front-to-back


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. Looking back to forge ahead, NATIVE’s Mobile Report Retrospective looks at some of the
highlights experienced over the past year, counting down the 12 trends of 2012, and how they
will affect changes for 2013
2. December was the 20th anniversary of the first SMS. According to Tomi Ahonen, SMS is still the
most used mobile service in the world, followed by voice. 1 in 6 people have a mobile phone are
are connected to a mobile network
3. December is the time for industry predictions and forecasts for the next year. We look at some
of the mobile marketing and consumer trends by analysts in the industry
4. World Wide Worx estimates that a million tablets may have been sold in SA by the end of 2012.
The research house also reveals new data showing that broadband access in South Africa has
doubled, with growth of 128%


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
6. Standard Bank makes a big move in the adoption of contactless payment technology. It will
begin to roll out NFC enabled credit and cheque cards allowing South African customers to use
the “tap-and-go” method of payment
7. South Africans can now not only access music on Apples iTunes store but account holders can
now also rent or buy movies, with many eagerly awaiting TV series and games to become
available
8. MTN appoints a new group officer, Pieter Verkade, who will be responsible for the innovation,
products and services strategy, and marketing across the group
9. 8ta, has been boosted by American telecoms giant AT&T, who has been given permission to
purchase spectrum in a key frequency band
10. Cell C joins the ranks of Vodacom, MTN and 8ta with its trial launch of its LTE service with a
select group of heavy data customers that fall within the company’s coverage areas


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
11. The first African designed smartphone launched by a Congolese inventor Verone Mankou,
who also designed what was billed as Africa's first tablet computer last year
12. LinkedIn confirms that the South African user base how now reached 2 million users
13. In an attempt to take on BBM’s instant messaging market, Facebook makes its messaging
application available without an account in a select number of countries including South Africa
14. According to Social Bakers, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa are the top 3 African countries on
Facebook
15. Mxit announced the retrenchment of 41 employees, a move the company says will refine it’s
business strategy and double its user base in 2013
16. Instagram updates it privacy policy, solidifying it’s information-sharing relationship with
Facebook. In response, its users, including many high profile celebrities threatened to leave
the photo-sharing service


CONTENTS

» Section 1: NATIVE’s Retrospective Look at 2012……... 8
» Section 2: Mobile Landscape ………………………………….. 21
» Section 3: Mobile Handsets & Operating Systems…… 38
» Section 4: Mobile Networks…………………………………..... 42
» Section 5: Social Networks……………………………………... 52
» Section 6: Summary & Contacts…………………………….... 62


SECTION 1

NATIVE'S RETROSPECTIVE
LOOK AT 2012


12. MXIT’S
ROLLERCOASTER
YEAR
Their numbers are still impressive and their
platform is opening up to developers, but there were
bigger things at play.
It’s transition from the Naspers stable to the World
of Avatar world was the first big news, then came the
‘we have one year to get it right’ speech from Alan
Knott-Craig Jnr and the great talent acquisition
when they bought Motribe.
The biggest surprise was the boardroom wrangling
that ended in AKC Jnr leaving when the
shareholders needed more clarity and structure in
the businesses future and its path to providing a
return.

11. FIRST GRAND PRIX &
LOERIE FOR A MOBILE-
LED CAMPAIGN
Carling Black Label’s Be the Coach campaign
developed by Ogilvy CT was the first predominately
mobile campaign to win a Grand Prix Award at the
Loeries. The idea was great and the execution
excellent. The results were even better.

South Africa needs more mobile campaigns like this
one.


10. PLUMMETING
DATA COSTS
Data costs have been steadily declining over the past
few years, particularly since the arrival of Seacom
and the other undersea fibre cables.

However, mobile data costs took a big step in the
right direction in early August with the move to
15c/MB for both in and out of bundle usage. At the
larger bundle sizes, 8ta costs as little as 13c/MB.
Good showing by the smaller networks.

MTN and Vodacom on the other hand, are still
significantly more expensive according to their own
websites.


9. BANKS AND
THEIR APPS
2012 was a great year for South Africa’s banking
customers with mobile banking applications being
launched and enhanced mobile transactional
capabilities being more broadly enjoyed.

FNB’s App added a smart feature that allowed geo-
fenced payments to be made to people in close
proximity.

Standard Bank and Nedbank both launched solid
apps to their customer bases – with both apps being
well received by the market.

2013 is going to be an interesting year in this space.
Absa has been slow to respond, with a 2013 launch
planned.


8. MOBILE-FIRST APPS
AND VISUAL SOCIAL
NETWORKS
Mobile technology and social networks collided
spectacularly in 2012 with a huge shift to visual content
from native mobile applications. This was particularly
evident with the huge growth in popularity of photo sharing
and filter-effect application Instagram, which is now
claiming more daily users than Twitter in the US. This
growth and dominance of a social niche led to the $1bn
acquisition of the 11-person strong company by Facebook.
Not bad for 24 months of hard work for the founders.

Decent bandwidth, amazing screens, touch devices and
much better browsers have all facilitated a move towards
more visual content. Nowhere is this more evident than in
the explosion of Pinterest in 2012 – to the point that it is the
4th largest driver of internet traffic. Eye-candy everywhere.


7. CONTRAST OF NOKIA AND
BLACKBERRY’S FORTUNES IN SA
VS. THE REST OF THE WORLD
Nokia fleeing from the Symbian platform at the
beginning of 2011 and their subsequent delay in
launching their Windows Phone devices has meant that
they have slid out of the top 6 smartphone
manufacturers, however, they still dominate the feature
phone market – especially in Africa and South Africa.
Nokia maintains a 50% market share in South Africa.

Similarly, Blackberry has taken a pounding
internationally with its operating system not being
comparable to Android and iOS, however, the much-
anticipated launch of Blackberry 10 in early 2013 may
change this. In contrast to this, Blackberry has had an
exceptional year in South Africa with its market share
growing from 4% to 18%.


6. FACEBOOK REACHES
1BN AND ITS REFOCUS
ON MOBILE
Facebook acquired J2ME developer Snaptu in 2011 in order
to fast-track and control the development of a better
Facebook experience on feature phones. This, along with the
complete redevelopment of the iOS and Android apps from
HTML5 versions to native code-bases, reinforced their
investment in their mobile user base, of which there are now
540 million mobile app users.

This has meant that there has been intense focus on
monetizing the mobile base by launching a number of
different ad types for mobile users. Zuck thinks a lot about
mobile, and I’m certain that they will get this one right.

2012 was also the year that Facebook broke the 1 billion
user mark, meaning it reaches 1/7th of the world’s entire
population and 40% of all internet users.


5. AFRICA’S MOBILE
EXPLOSION
It is no secret that increased mobile penetration has
made a major difference to African economies, small
businesses, and to the lives of nearly 500 million
Africans who now have mobile connectivity. There
has been a lot of focus on this change in 2012, which
is probably best reflected in this video by the
Praekelt Foundation.

Africa is now the next big market for smartphones,
with Google’s Ideos – an $80 Android-powered
Huawei-built phone, proving highly popular in East
Africa. Nokia has over 60% of the total handset
market share in Africa, but have been slow to
release their Asha range of low to mid-level
smartphones. It’s going to be an Android continent if
Asha doesn’t arrive in large numbers, soon.


4. APPLE VS SAMSUNG
IN THE MARKET AND IN
COURT
Samsung and Apple are leading the smartphone
market. By far. The release of the Galaxy S2 and
then particularly the S3 has put Samsung
smartphones onto the map in a real way. This surge
has meant that Samsung has powered way ahead of
Apple in smartphone sales, outselling them by 2-to-
1.
Then there was the legal battle that resulted in an
August court ruling that Samsung was ordered to
pay more than $1bn in damages to Apple, after Apple
accused Samsung of violating several of its patents.
There were also threats of Samsung sales being
stopped in the US.


3. RACE TO LTE WITH VC
GETTING THE JUMP
LTE, which stands for Long-Term Evolution, is the next
generation of mobile standards that will provide super-
speed broadband connectivity. Sometimes its called 4G,
which is also okay for general use.

Thankfully, the South African mobile network operators
have been quick to invest and roll out their LTE networks
in SA. Most had indicated that 2013 would be when these
services would be publically available, but Vodacom
changed all this by getting the jump on its competitors
with its October LTE launch announcement at the
MyBroadband Conference.

MTN, Cell C and 8ta have all either gone live with
commercial services or are running LTE trials with
selected customers.


2. DECLINE OF TELKOM
AND THE 8TA DRAIN
Management challenges, at Telkom, its poor financial
performance in 2012 the global trend of people moving
away from relying on fixed-line installations, down from
4,1 million to 3,9 million in the past year, the R471
million write-off from its pay-TV attempt, Telkom Media,
and for exiting a confusing/promising yet aborted deal
with South Korea’s KT Telecom (phew) have all made
2012 a difficult year for Telkom.

8ta managed to get to only 1,4 million subscribers, in a
market of nearly 60 million subscribers. Their startup
costs have also ballooned to R2,2 billion – a lot when
their subscriber numbers are still so low. Cell C’s
successes in 2012 have given rise to rumours of a Cell
C-8ta hookup. An interesting thought for both.


1. ALAN KNOTT-CRAIG’S
MOVE TO CELL C & THEIR
RETURN TO RELEVANCE
There was a fair amount of surprise when in January, Cell C
announced that ex-Vodacom CEO Alan Knott-Craig would be
joining them as CEO to fill the gap left by Lars Reichelt. He didn’t
waste any time before making some significant decisions and
changes including the about-turn on ad agency appointments,
bringing the iPhone to Cell C, cutting the costs of least-cost
routing, bringing in former Vodacom execs (I wonder if Mr Uys
will be one for the future), significantly cutting in and out-of-
bundle data costs to an impressive 15c, launching the 99c per
minute call costs for prepaid and 99c/min international calls to
some destinations – and then 85c to 50 destinations
announcement, raising R1,5 billion from shareholders,
launching simplified, variable length contracts for post-paid
subscribers, the decision to consolidate the company’s physical
presence in a single campus in Buccleuch, its ongoing tiffs with
Vodacom over tariffs and special offers, their entry into the 4G
market and its general improvement in market share and
market sentiment.

SECTION 2

MOBILE LANDSCAPE


SMS TURNS 20 IN 2012
» The first SMS message – “Merry Christmas” was
sent 20 years ago on 3 December 1992 by British
software engineer Neil Papworth, via the Vodafone
UK’s GSM network and was received on an Orbitel
901 handset
» Mobile phones at that time did not have keyboards,
so he types out the message on a computer
keyboard
» Papworth said that no one realised then how it
would change the culture of communication
» “They thought it would be used as an executive
pager so that secretaries could get hold of their
bosses while they were out and about and they
could send them messages and tell them what to
do and where to go” Papworth told BBC radio

The Age, 4 December 2012


SMS MESSAGING STILL
GOING STRONG
» According to Tomi Ahonen, the 'mobile phone' or
'cellphone' - is no longer primarily a 'portable telephone' -
our mobile today, globally, is first and foremost a
messaging device, with voice calls a highly used optional
extra
» Globally, SMS is the most used mobile service and used by
83% of the mobile phone subscribers. Voice calls come in
second, at 5.4 Billion users and 81% of all mobile users
» Mobile phone subscriptions: 94% penetration rate for
planet per capita. With duplicates removed, it’s up to 4.3
billion unique humans. So 61% of the planet's population
does have a mobile phone in their pocket, connected to a
mobile network
» The average mobile phone user has 1.23 handsets

Tomi Ahonen Almanac 2013, 19 December 2012


MOBILE DATA TRAFFIC WILL DOUBLE
WITH SMARTPHONE UPTAKE
» The latest Ericsson Mobility Report, formerly known
as the Ericsson Traffic and Market Report, reveals that
approximately 40 percent of all phones sold in Q3
were smartphones
» Data traffic doubled between Q3 2011 and Q3 2012,
and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth
rate of around 50% between 2012 and 2018, driven
mainly by video
» LTE is the fastest-developing system in the history of
mobile communications in terms of buildout and
uptake. Within 5 years, more than half of the world
population is expected to benefit from LTE coverage
» The report and infographic is available for download
here

Ericsson, 21 November 2012


JWT’S 10 TRENDS THAT WILL
SHAPE OUR WORLD IN 2013
» JWT has released its 8th annual forecast of key
trends that will drive or significantly impact
consumer mind-set and behaviour in the year
ahead
» According to the forecast, we'll see everyday
objects become smarter as technology gets
embedded into everything from eyeglasses to
socks to bikes, helping us to measure, navigate
and augment the world
» At the same time, our smartphones will become
de facto fingerprints as they evolve into wallets,
keys, health consultants and more - our identity
all in one place
» The "10 Trends for 2013" report is available at
JWTIntelligence.com
Bizcommunity, 18 December 2012


MOBILE MARKETING IN 2013
PREDICTIONS FROM THE MMA
» The Mobile Marketing Association has put together a
collection of predictions from the MMA EMEA Board of
Directors for mobile marketing in 2013
» These predictions come from people at the forefront of the
mobile marketing industry today
» Some of the predictions include:
– “There’s going to be a lot of focus on location-based strategies
next year” - Kim Siler Mobile Brand Strategy, Global Interactive
Marketing The Coca-Cola Company
– The biggest change will be the volume of investment in mobile
by brands”- Steffen Krabbenhøft Mobile Director Mediacom
– “I expect 2013 to be the year of mobile for retail as opportunities
increase for the channel to help grow retailers’ bottom line. “ -
Benoît Corbin President MMA France
– “The presentation is available here

MMA, 20 December 2012


MOBILE MARKETING IN
2013 PREDICTIONS
» This infographic by Statista illustrates the
performance of selected tech companies in 2012. The
chart compares companies such as Apple, Google and
Facebook regarding their profit, revenue growth and
stock performance.
» While Apple and Samsung blow the competition away
in terms of net income, LinkedIn is the golden child in
terms of year-over-year growth
» The social network for professionals continued to post
impressive revenue growth while returning to
profitability, with a whopping 89% revenue increase

Mashable, 20 December 2012


HOW WE’LL USE TECH
IN 2013
» The Hot consumer trends for 2013 report has been
released by networking giant Ericsson’s
ConsumerLab group
» According to Michael Björn, Head of Research at
ConsumerLab , people are more likely to increasingly
buy devices based on how well they integrate with all
their other gadgets. Being able to access all your
business documents, no matter what device you’re on
is also important, although nowhere near as fun
» People are also increasingly use our smartphones for
shopping, merging the online and offline shopping
experiences. We trust our personal networks, and
would much rather use them for advice on shopping
and job-hunting than a traditional agency or review
guide

Memeburn, 13 December 2012


JOZIHUB: JO’BURG TO GET
OWN TECH HUB
» Despite Johannesburg’s position as South Africa’s
economic hub, Cape Town is often considered the
country’s technology start-up capital. A new technology
hub in the city of gold, called JoziHub, may help in
changing that
» JoziHub is intended as a shared work and collaboration
space for entrepreneurs and innovators who want to
share ideas and resources and get access to mentors
» Funded by the Praekelt Foundation and Google for
Entrepreneurs, the project is being managed by local
engineering consultancy Venture Solutions
» According to it’s website, JoziHub wants to be Africa’s
“leading technology and social business incubator” by
2015 and to be “recognised worldwide as a pioneer of and
advocate for collaboration and innovation”
TechCentral, 7 December 2012


BROADBAND IN SA
DOUBLES IN TWO YEARS
» Broadband access in South Africa has more than doubled in the past
two years, as mobile operators slashed the cost of data and network
roll-out accelerated
» This is revealed in new data contained in the final version of the
“Internet Access in South Africa 2012” study conducted by World Wide
Worx, with backing from online portal Howzit MSN
» The number of broadband subscriptions grew from 3,6m at the end of
2010 to an expected 8,2m by the end of 2012 — representing growth of
128%
» The study found that many users have multiple forms of broadband
access — such as a digital subscriber line (DSL) account as well as 3G
mobile — while many hop between operators to take advantage of
promotional offers. As a result, the number of individual broadband
users is substantially lower, but also more than doubling in the past
two years. The number has grown from 2,8m to 6,7m — 140% growth
in two years TechCentral, 6 December 2012


MOBILE MARKET-PLACES
IN SOUTH AFRICA
» Apple recently made its iTunes music store available to
South Africans, joining Nokia as the only other
smartphone maker to offer a digital music shop to its
users
» Nokia Music and iTunes aren’t the only digital music
services available in South Africa, but they are the only
well-stocked and widely available ones from within a
smartphone or tablet ecosystem
» Examples of other types of online music services include
the recently launched Simfy and Rara, which offer
streaming of any number of songs from their catalogues
for a fixed monthly fee
» Not all smartphone ecosystems let South African
developers charge for their apps either. In particular,
Google only lets South African app developers offer their
software for free
MyBroadband, 6 December 2012


ITUNES MOVIES
NOW IN SA
» Users of Apple’s iTunes service with South African
accounts can now rent or buy movies. This comes after
Apple recently enabled support for iTunes Music in
South Africa
» Enthusiasts browsing through the iTunes Store have
commented that the selection of films on the local
service is still limited compared to its US counterpart
» South Africans also don’t have access to TV series yet
and the “Games” category is still not available from
the App Store
» Rental prices as low as R30 and as high as R40 for new
HD releases have been spotted. SA iTunes users can
also buy movies from R90. A new HD release such as
Brave costs R150



MOBILE MUSIC STREAMING
WITH DATA BUNDLE FOR SA
» A new content streaming player, Spice VAS Africa, has
revealed its plans to enter the South African market, and
CEO Arun Nagar explained that they want to offer
something different to users
» Soul Candi, a local record label, will be the first portal to go
live, Nagar said, with plans to add more portals from
January 2013
» To provide the data along with its subscription, Spice Africa
had to enter into reverse-billing agreements with South
Africa’s mobile network operators
» Users will be able to access content from a mobi site or an
app. Their Android and iPhone apps are being tested and
they are working on BlackBerry and Windows Phone
apps, Nagar added



STANDARD BANK IN MASS
NFC ROLL-OUT
» Standard Bank will begin including contactless
payment technology in new credit and cheque cards,
allowing customers to make payments using the “tap-
and-go” method, rather than them having to have their
cards swiped or inserted into a chip reader
» All new gold and titanium credit and cheque cards from
Standard Bank will be equipped with the technology,
with the bank telling TechCentral it’s using near-field
communication (NFC)-based technology provided by
MasterCard
» The cards are linked to clients’ bank accounts, allowing
for funds to be deducted directly from their accounts,
says Standard Bank’s head of personal markets,
Sugendhree Reddy, “Unlike many systems currently
available, customers don’t have to pre-load cards with
money to use this method of payment.”


FREE WI-FI ON
MANGO FLIGHTS
» Passengers using low-cost airline Mango to fly between
Johannesburg and Durban between now and 31 January
will be able to use the G-Connect in-flight Wi-Fi service
for free. And it’s all part of a plan to beat a world record
» Mango CEO Nico Bezuidenhout says that although around
8% of passengers on average have been using the service,
he hopes that this initiative will result in a fifth of flyers
connecting. Should Mango manage this, it will be the
highest Wi-Fi usage ratio ever achieved on any route
worldwide
» Mango and G-Connect plan to introduce on-demand
entertainment, live television and limited games across
its in-flight Wi-Fi network in 2013. Mango also plans to
offer an iPad application for bookings and payments to
complement its existing mobile site— (c) 2012
NewsCentral Media


FIRST AFRICAN-DESIGNED
SMARTPHONE LAUNCHED
» A Congolese inventor has unveiled what he says is
the first African-designed smartphone
» Verone Mankou, 27, told AFP that the so-called
Elikia, which means “hope” in the local language,
went on sale the day before in the Republic of
Congo
» Though the phone is Congolese by design, it is
manufactured in China. It costs about 130 euros
($170) — a considerable sum in this central African
nation
» The phone has a 3.5-inch touchscreen, 512
megabytes of RAM and a 650-Mhz processor. Its
camera is five megapixels, and it also comes with
GPS and Bluetooth

BusinessTech by MyBroadband, 30 December 2012


COCA-COLA FOCUSES ON
MOBILE GAMING
» Coca-Cola is going after mobile gamers with an application
that lets users challenge their friends and family through
levels of branded activities
» “Mobile gaming will continue to grow significantly as
consumers are spending more time playing games on mobile
than any other app activity,” said Matt Shea, executive vice
president of product development at WildTangent, Redmond,
WA
» Most recently, Coca-Cola rolled out an app as part of its
partnership with the nonprofit (RED) to drive donations and
awareness
» Last year, Fanta rolled out a similar app that combined mobile
and social for its European market

Mobile Marketer, 24 December 2012


SECTION 3

MOBILE HANDSETS &
OPERATING SYSTEMS


TABLET MARKET IN
SOUTH AFRICA
» By the end of this year, a million tablets may have been sold
in South Africa
» Total sales up to the end of September, well before the
arrival of either Windows 8 or the iPad mini and iPad with
Retina Display, had reached 788 000
» This number includes around 20 000 “grey market” iPads
sold during 2010, but the rest represents sales since January
2011
» Apple is by far the largest player in the tablet market, with
50% market share. Samsung comes in a distant second with
33%, and Huawei an even more distant 7.5%. The rest of the
market barely makes up 10% tablet share
» The estimated number of tablets sold in South Africa is
based on interviews with retailers, distributors, and
marketing representatives of major brands
Gadget, 21 December 2012


GOOGLE MAPS RETURNS
TO APPLE’S IPHONE
» Google Maps is in Apple’s App Store, available for both
the iPhone and iPad, bringing hope to those who have
been having trouble getting around since the Apple
mapocalypse
» Unlike Apple’s maps app, Google’s navigation feature
isn’t integrated with Siri. But it’s also much less likely
to direct you into the Pacific ocean
» Other differences include: Google Maps uses Zagat
listings, and Google’s own local search, for charting
and rating restaurants and retailers, while Apple uses
Yelp. And if you have a Google account you can sign in
to sync searches, directions, and favorite places
between your iPhone, iPad and other computers

WIred, 13 December 2012


IPAD MINI, PRICED
TO GO
» Apple’s smaller, 7,9-inch iPad has landed on South
African shores, along with the new full-sized, fourth-
generation iPad
» The iPad mini, as the smaller variant is called, starts at
just R3 399, which is particularly well priced given the
product costs $329 in the US and the rand has weakened
substantially against the dollar in recent months
» The product is competitively priced next to Google’s new
Nexus 7 tablet, which retails for R2 999, and Samsung’s 7-
inch Galaxy Tab 2, which starts at about R4 000
» The fourth-generation 10-inch iPad is available from this
weekend. Wi-Fi-only 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions cost
R5 199, R6 399 and R7 399 respectively. The same models,
with mobile broadband, cost R6 499, R7 499 and
R8 599. — (c) 2012 NewsCentral Media


SECTION 4

MOBILE NETWORKS


CELLULAR NETWORK ANALYSIS IN
SOUTH AFRICA – PREPAID TARIFFS
» The Independent Communications Authority of South
Africa (ICASA) recently argued in parliament that the
cost to communicate has come down in South Africa,
even though the prepaid pricing advertised by operators
doesn’t seem to indicate this
» ICASA’s presentation showed the least and most
expensive prepaid tariff trends over the last 3 years and
indicate roughly whether operators compete closely or
not
» For the cheapest prepaid tariff plans, ICASA’s analysis
puts Cell C firmly ahead, no doubt due to the operator’s
new 99c per minute on per second billing offering
» 8ta noses ahead of Cell C when comparing their most
expensive prepaid tariffs, though the two remain close
together with Vodacom and MTN trailing far behind


VODACOM APP
LAUNCHED
» The “My Vodacom” app for BlackBerry, iOS,
Android, and Windows Phone has, over the last
few weeks, been quietly rolled out to the
relevant app stores for the various platforms
» According to Vodacom, the app lets users view
their account summary and balances, as well
as purchase and transfer data bundles, transfer
airtime, and view their PUK
» Users will have to register an online account to
use My Vodacom services, which the network
said will be possible to do from the app itself
» The app is a free download, but Vodacom warns
that downloading and using the app will
consume data which will be charged at
standard data rates


MTN INTRODUCES
FREE MOBILE APP
» MTN has introduced MTNza KeyPad for tablets, an
application that allows users to check their airtime
balance, buy Internet bundles and recharge with airtime
» The app, says MTN, also allows users to purchase other
MTN Internet services
» Mapula Bodibe, GM of consumer segments at MTN SA,
says up to now, tablets have been unable to use USSD
codes. “This made it a tedious and lengthy process for
our customers to check their balances, recharge with
airtime and purchase Internet bundles because it
required them to insert their tablet SIM cards into a
mobile phone to do this.”

ITWeb, 12 December 2012


MTN NAMES NEW GROUP
CHIEF OFFICER
» MTN has named Pieter Verkade, currently CEO of MTN
Cyprus, as the group’s new chief commercial officer,
effective from February 2013. Verkade will replace
Christian de Faria, who retires in January after six years
with the mobile telecommunications group
» In his new role, Verkade will be responsible for the
strategic direction of the innovation, products and
services strategy, as well as marketing across the group.
“His appointment comes at a critical point for MTN, as
our operating environment is changing quite rapidly,”
says group CEO Sifiso Dabengwa in a statement
» “We have entered a phase where network operators have
to compete on more than just products and services”



MTN LAUNCHES CLOUD
PILOT PROJECT FOR SMES
» MTN Business has launched a pilot project for
its MTN Cloud bouquet of services, claiming to
be the first mobile network operator in Africa to
adopt the Cloud Service Brokerage model
» Executive for enterprise business at MTN
Group, Farhad Khan, says the pilot project will
be carried out in six of MTN’s key markets in
Africa, including Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire,
Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda and South Africa
» MTN said it will target small and medium
enterprises (SMEs) and has identified a number
of these enterprises in these markets to trial its
cloud services and product



AT&T BOOST FOR 8TA
» In a move that will be seen as a boost for Telkom’s
mobile operator, 8ta, the US Federal
Communications Commission has given AT&T
permission to purchase spectrum in a key frequency
band in which the telecommunications giant wants to
deploy next-generation wireless broadband
» AT&T has been granted access to a number of bands,
one of which involves spectrum around 2,3GHz. This
is the same spectrum band 8ta intends using to roll
out a national broadband network using fourth-
generation long-term evolution (4G/LTE) technology
» 8ta, which is currently running a pilot 4G/LTE
network, plans to launch commercial services in
2013. — (c) 2012 NewsCentral Media



CELL C TAKES WRAPS OFF
LTE TRIAL
» Mobile operator Cell C has finally launched its trial of
its next-generation mobile broadband network based
on long-term evolution (LTE) technology
» The company says that a “select group of heavy data
customers that fall in coverage areas have been
identified to form part of Cell C’s free trial LTE
service”
» “Once we have feedback on the service from these
customers, we will expand the service to other
customers,” says CEO Alan Knott-Craig
» In addition to the free trial, Cell C plans to offer “up
to” 800 customers with the “opportunity to purchase
an LTE dongle with an LTE-enabled Sim”. This Sim
will be loaded with 100GB of data, which will be valid
for 365 days, for a once-off fee of R2 999


VODAFONE’S FIRST APP
STAR CHALLENGE
» The winners of the inaugural Vodafone App Star Challenge
were unveiled at Vodacom World in Midrand today. The
international challenge included top winners from six
countries across the Middle East and Africa, bringing out
the best from the developers in each country
» 1st prize: Gerald Kibugi from Kenya designed the Tough
Jungle app, an action adventure game that introduces
Kenya’s culture, history and the destination in an engaging
and interactive manner
» 2nd prize: Gilbert Rono also from Kenya won for designing
the Eureka app, which is an educational app that solves
mathematics problems such as Calculus and Algebra
» 3rd prize: Rudolph Joubert from South Africa who designed
the Ster-Kinekor app which helps movie fans to book
movies and choose seats from their mobile device
Engineering News, 13 December 2012


MOBILE SERVICE
COMING TO GAUTRAIN
» All four South African mobile network operators have
agreed to ensure full network coverage for voice and
data services on the Gautrain rapid rail system by July
2014
» Gauteng MEC for roads and transport Ismail Vadi met
recently with representatives of the networks and
officials from the Gautrain Management Agency and the
Bombela Concession Company to discuss the urgent
need to provide services on the train network
» The first phase will ensure voice services are provided at
all underground stations by June 2013. The second will
increase coverage to include the 15km tunnel section of
the Gautrain system by December 2013
» — (c) 2012 NewsCentral Media



SECTION 5

SOCIAL NETWORKS


NIELSEN STATE OF THE MEDIA:
THE SOCIAL MEDIA REPORT 2012
» Since the emergence of the first social media
networks some two decades ago, social media has
continued to evolve and offer consumers around the
world new and meaningful ways to engage with the
people, events and brands that matter to them
» Now, years later, social media is still growing rapidly,
becoming an integral part of our daily lives. Social
networking is now truly a global phenomenon
» This report reveals insights such as:
– What's driving the continued growth of social media?
– How is consumer usage of social media evolving?
– How is social media impacting marketing?
– Who is using Pinterest?

Nielsen, 3 December 2012


LINKEDIN SIGNS
UP 2M SA USERS
» LinkedIn, the online network for business professionals,
says it signed up its two millionth South African user out of a
total of 187m members in more 200 countries
» It says the three biggest industries represented on LinkedIn
in South Africa are IT, financial services and accounting. The
three South African companies with the most employees on
LinkedIn are Absa, Eskom and Standard Bank
» Not surprisingly, Johannesburg has the most South African
LinkedIn users, followed by Cape Town and Durban
» The top three universities represented are the universities of
Johannesburg, Pretoria and South Africa. The top three
groups by membership are the South African Business
Network, the Johannesburg Business Club and South African
Engineers and Expats



FACEBOOK TO
CHALLENGE BBM IN SA
» In a move sure to worry BlackBerry maker Research in Motion,
Facebook has removed the need to have an account when using
its messaging application, Messenger, for Android, BlackBerry
and iPhone
» The app, which resembles Apple’s iMessage, ties in with users’
Facebook inboxes, allowing them to send instant messages to
one another using their phones
» The application has been rolled out to Android users in
Australia, India, Indonesia, Venezuela and South Africa first,
with other regions set to follow
» There is no doubt the move is intended to extend the appeal of
the service. The app is free and doesn’t display any advertising
» Facebook is also planning to launch the service on more basic
feature phones, a move that could see it enjoying enormous
uptake in emerging markets


FACEBOOK’S POKE
DISPLACES GOOGLE MAPS
» Facebook released a Snapchat-like app called Poke,
which allows users to send private messages that
expire after 1, 3, 5 or 10 seconds. In less than 24 ours,
it was the number one most downloaded app on
Apple’s marketplace
» While we don’t necessarily expect Poke to remain as
number one, it’s clear that the Facebook effect is still
going strong
» While it was not expected to remain as number one,
it’s clear that the Facebook effect is still going strong

The Next Web, 22 December 2012


TOP 50 AFRICAN COUNTRIES
ON FACEBOOK
» Socialbakers.com is a leading social media analytics
platform which offers solution that allows brands to
measure, compare and contrast the success of their
social media campaigns with competitive
intelligence. The website provides daily updated
Facebook statistics for over 200 countries.
The statistics as at 29th December 2012 shows that
Egypt still has the most users with 12,359,440
showing 15.36% penetration rate, this is followed by
Nigeria at 6,637,580 users which is almost half of Egypt
with a very low penetration rate of 4.3%, closely
followed by South Africa at about 6.5 million and
Morroco at 5.1 million

Tech Talk Africa, 29 December 2012


SOCIAL MEDIA
OVERVIEW IN 2012
» Facebook managed to maintain its top spot in the social
media world, according to a report from Nielsen
» This study in 2012 shows the top 10 social networks,
with Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, WordPress, and
Linkedin topping the list, although Facebook held
nearly three times the amount of unique PC visits over
its first competitor, Blogger
» On the mobile front, Facebook remains in the lead,
while Twitter takes over Blogger and Pinterest lands in
the fourth spot
» For users using apps to access social media, Facebook
still dominates, while Twitter, Foursquare and Google+
follow. Pinterest sits in fifth place, but has made an
impressive 1,698 percent change from 2011



MXIT
RETRENCHMENTS
» Mxit has announced that it will be retrenching 41
employees as the social network moves to refine its
business strategy and aims to double its user base in
2013
» Francois Swart who has taken over control of the
company, has been tasked with pegging a new
strategy for the social network
» Looking ahead, the R100-million investment Mxit
secured in October, as well as the savings from
company-wide costing cutting, is to be channeled into
key growth areas, the company said
» This includes self-service community creation tools,
developer support, technology innovation, advertising
partnerships and collaboration with key companies
and brands


INSTAGRAM WILL SHARE USER
DATA WITH FACEBOOK
» It’s been clear from the beginning that Facebook’s
Instagram buy was more than just about acquiring a
photo-sharing service: Instead, Facebook
was acquiring another data point
» Instagram is making that even more obvious today
with its latest privacy policy update, which will solidify
the information-sharing relationship between the two
social networks when the sharing goes into effect on
January 16
» “As part of our new collaboration, we’ve learned that
by being able to share insights and information with
each other, we can build better experiences for our
users,” the company said

VentureBeat, 17 December 2012


SOUTH AFRICA’S TOP TEN MOST POPULAR
YOUTUBE VIDEO ADS IN 2012
» YouTube has released a list of South Africa’s top ten
most popular YouTube video ads of the year. These
are the South African ads which achieved the largest
number of views from people in South Africa. Ranked
in order they are:
1. OLX Motorbike Advertisement
2. Nando’s Diversity Campaign
3. Gumtree Property Advertisement
4. Nando’s: Last dictator standing
5. OLX Treadmill advertisement
6. Tropica: You’re a sip away from Jamaica – Flash Mob
7. Walka Handheld TV
8. Santam “Back at ya” Advertisement
9. Gumtree Kitchen Advertisement
10. Liquid Capital TV Advertisement
Marklives.com, 13 December 2012


SECTION 6

CREDITS AND CONTACTS


CREDITS

» Bizcommunity » Mobile Marketing Association » The Next Web
» Engineering News » Mobile Marketer » Tomi Ahonen Almanac
» Ericsson » Mobile Marketing Watch » VentureBeat
» Gadget » MyBroadband » Wired
» ITWeb » MyBroadband BusinessTech » World Wide Worx
» JWT » NewsCentral Media
» TechCentral » Nielsen
» Tech Talk Africa » Social Bakers
» Marklives.com » Statista
» Mashable » The Age

63» Memeburn
MOBILE REPORT/DECEMBER 2012 » The Media Online

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

Angus Robinson | Director: Mobile, Content, Community & Media
[tel] +27 (11) 555-3800

INSERT VIDEO HERE
[cell] +27 (83) 635 4400
[fax] 0867210884
[email] angus@native.co.za
[twitter] @angusrobinson

Tracy Aberman | Mobile Strategist Vuyisile Sisulu | Mobile Technologist
[tel] +27 (11) 555-3800 [tel] +27 (11) 555-3800
[cell] +27 (82) 754 6111 [cell] +27 (82) 679 5415
[fax] 0867210884 [fax] 0867210884
[email] tracya@native.co.za [email] vuyilisle@native.co.za
[twitter] @TracyInSA [twitter] @Vuyisile_Sisulu


Native Mobile Monthly Report - December 2012

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