We have had three or four complaints from people who say they have been subscribed to the Ringaling service but are now unable to unsubscribe. Three of these have come through since the start of December…

I’m looking for feedback from blog readers as to whether or not they are encountering this problem as well or feedback from the Ringaling operators as to how they can unsubscribe where necesssary?

In response to the dramatic increase in the number of smartphones in the South African market, Groupon South Africa today announced the launch of the official Groupon application for the i-Phone and Android Smartphones, as well as for the i-Pod touch, available for download in the Apple App Store and the Android Market.

The smartphone market in South Africa has more than doubled in number in the last year, with the number of devices in the market now around six and a half million, according to data from the various South African cellphone networks.

“South Africa really is a mobile-tech environment; we have limited access to internet compared to other countries, and so most people use internet through their phones. Groupon international now feature Blackberry, iPhone and Android apps, and as these options become available in South Africa it will start to have a real effect on the way consumers purchase,” said Wayne Gosling, joint CEO of Groupon SA.
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GigaOM, the technology news, research and events company, has named Mobiflock, the mobile safety and security company, as one of the 10 most promising mobile startups. Mobiflock’s parental control for smartphones application will be presented at Mobilize 2011, GigaOM’s mobile web conference, in San Francisco later this year on 26 September.

“Dozens of forward-thinking young mobile startups applied to Mobilize 2011 LaunchPad, but these 10 companies stood out for their innovative technologies, executable ideas, and strong business models,” said Kevin Tofel, Mobile Editor at GigaOM and chair of Mobilize 2011.

In addition, Mobiflock today announced the launch of its parental control service for Android phones. This means the child safety service is now available for almost 60%* of the global smartphone market. Mobiflock helps to make smartphones safer for children by giving parents visibility of how their children are using their phones, as well as providing blocking and alerting capabilities to protect their children from harm.
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“Everybody sells Tomato Sauce. What makes people buy their Tomato Sauce at your store?”

In a market where consumers are more informed, well-aware of quality and specials, companies are forced to constantly revamp their marketing efforts. “At sms2play, we offer our clients a service that differentiates them from their competitors, making people buy their proverbial Tomato sauce at our clients’ businesses” says Hugo de Wet, CEO of sms2play.

sms2play offers Clients an affordable, easy way to run their own SMS Campaign*, thereby building their brand and, if utilized correctly, increasing turnover.
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FNB today announced that, Pay Wallet, the only solution of its kind to be launched by a bank in South Africa, has been used to pay over R42 million to more than 19,000 people since its launch in July last year. The last 6 months have shown an average monthly growth rate of 35%.

Pay Wallet is an extension of FNB’s eWallet, which allows FNB customers to send money in real time to anyone with a cellphone. It enables FNB Corporate, Commercial and Public Sector clients to electronically pay their employees directly to their cellphones or into a debit card. The recipients are then able to access their money immediately at any full service FNB ATM, with or without a bank card.

Research done by Finscope in 2010 states that 12.4 million adults in South Africa still remain unbanked and out of these, 11.1 million adults have never been exposed to any type of formalised banking practices.
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Cell phone companies have warned consumers that any SIM card controlled devices, including burglar alarms and other security systems, could also be shut down if the SIM is not registered ahead of the Regulation of Interception of Communication Act (Rica) deadline of today Thursday 30 June 2011.

According to Delouise Marais, Regional General Manager for Gauteng of MUA Insurance Acceptances, it is essential for any consumers who do use cell phone SIM cards to communicate with security companies and electronic gates at complexes, to make sure they comply ahead of the deadline. “It is important for policyholders to realize that it is their responsibility to keep the alarm system in full working condition. If a theft takes place because the security system fails and it is found that the insured was negligent in either setting the alarm or keeping it in a working order then the claim is likely to be repudiated.”

By Dr Pieter Streicher, MD of BulkSMS.com

Over the last few years, South African legislation has slowly started catching up with electronic communications, and I had high hopes that the Protection of Personal Information Bill (POPI) would provide the final piece of the puzzle to both protect consumers and allow businesses to continue to market directly to people in an ethical way.

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Mobile money and mobile banking are increasingly proving to be the ideal channels to access cash in Africa, which is evidence of the growth that FNB is seeing in its African subsidiaries. Today the bank announced that it is seeing a rapid uptake of Cellphone Banking in Africa. The bank has recorded year on year growth of 376% in Zambia, 277% in Botswana; 204% in Namibia and 473% in Swaziland.

Danny Zandamela, CEO of FNB Africa says, “When we introduced our Cellphone Banking solution into other African countries, sceptics were not convinced by this channel as being a successful financial offering. However, the numbers we are seeing are confirmation that the African continent is actually an ideal market for mobile banking services.”

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There has been quite a lot of interest in the Samsung Gio phone which is now on sale in South Africa. Below is a review of the product from the PhoneArena team:

Ericsson today launched its vision of a Networked Society in which there would be 50 billion connections globally. These mobile connections would be between mobile handsets, machine to machine and other devices. In this Networked Society people, knowledge and information are connected for continuous transformation driven by collaboration and creativity.

The launch of the Networked Society is part of Ericsson’s campaign to show how the company is helping to improve lives and empower people, business and society by the introduction of mobile broadband and increased internet connectivity.

The launch of the Networked Society comes shortly after Ericsson updated the media on the progress of the City of Johannesburg Broadband Network Project. Under this project Ericsson won a ZAR 1.2 billion contract from the City of Johannesburg to build an ultra fast broadband network connecting all parts of the City. To date more than 300 kilometres of the fibre has already been laid. With one third of the cable laid more than 100 buildings are already connected across Johannesburg, three months ahead of schedule.
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