by Arthur Goldstuck. Gadgetry is synonymous with bells and whistles, but sometimes it’s the personal approach that stands out.
Tag archives: by arthur goldstuck
Media Future: Smartphones of the year
by Arthur Goldstuck. There’s no confusion about my high-end phone of the year.
Media Future: Three categories dominate SA apps market
by Arthur Goldstuck (@art2gee) There is no better indication of what consumers are doing on their smartphones than the apps they most commonly download — and social media, games and fitness dominate the app stores of three of the major smartphone platforms in South Africa.
Media Future: Massive smartphone shift under way in SA
by Arthur Goldstuck (@art2gee) The numbers from South Africa’s largest mobile phone retailer show, along with other fascinating insights, a massive shift happening in the smartphone market right now.
Media Future: The gadgets that will light up 2014
by Arthur Goldstuck (@art2gee) The buzz around wearable device at this year’s CES in Las Vegas almost overshadowed a flood of groundbreaking new gadgets, but not quite. Let’s look at the newly launched devices that are likely to make an impact in 2014.
Media Future: cellphones still at very early stage of their evolution
Measure cellphone evolution in automobile years, and you realise we still have a long way to go, writes Arthur Goldstuck (@art2gee).
We all know about dog years (7 for every human year) and Internet years (the time it takes for online technology to evolve as much as other technology evolves in a year – typically a few months).
Cellphones and their rapid evolution supposedly obey the calendar of Internet time.
But what if we all have it wrong? What if cellphones are in fact still at a very early stage of their evolution? That sounds counter-intuitive, because they inspire such fear and bafflement.
That, however, is exactly how we can see we are still at an early stage in cellular history. See what happens when we look at the cellphone according to automobile years.
Media Future: DStv Explora
The new DStv Explora decoder is about to deliver on the unmet promise of previous versions, but leaves the have-nots even further behind, writes Arthur Goldstuck (@art2gee).
The dithering of successive administrations at the Department of Communications has deferred the digital dreams of South Africa’s TV viewing public. The migration to digital terrestrial TV (DTTV), originally set for 2011, still has no due date. The Department has yet to issue tenders for set-top boxes needed by 5-million households to convert digital signals into an analogue feed for their old TV sets.
It was something of an irony, then, that a major announcement was made last week of a new set-top box. Sadly for the 5-million, the box had nothing to do with DTTV. For them, the dream remains deferred.
Media Future: How to fix SA’s fast tanking Internet connection speeds
South Africa has slumped to a dismal ranking in global connectivity speeds. But we know what is needed to fix our broken Internet, writes Arthur Goldstuck (@art2gee).
The news this week that South Africa was ranked 80th in the world in average Internet connection speeds didn’t come as a surprise, but it did shock many. The same report, from global network services company Akamai, showed this country was ranked an even more dismal 126thin average peak connection speed.
While that does not measure the number of people or devices using the Internet, it is worth noting that, in 1996, South Africa ranked 14th in the world in number of computers connected to the Internet. From ranked to tanked, one could say.
The key question now being asked is, what can be done about it?
Quite coincidentally, this month also saw the appointment of a new Minister of Communications, Yunus Carrim, who has declared himself open to listening to the needs of telecommunications users.
In this context, as was noted in the Internet Matters report produced by World Wide Worx and Google in mid-2012, Government does indeed have a central role to play in ensuring universal access to Internet services. Moreover, it must create an enabling environment for infrastructure development and competition, and a policy framework that allows for the lowering of costs, the promotion of digital literacy and innovation.
Practically, what does this mean? The excuse often given is that the problems are obvious, but the solutions complex.
Media Future: Life left in Microsoft – and Nokia
Microsoft finds itself in the uncustomary role of underdog, but that only tells part of the story, says SA managing director Mteto Nyati in discussion with Arthur Goldstuck (@art2gee).
The one-time all-conquering giant of software, Microsoft, is suddenly finding itself performing an uncustomary role: that of underdog. Aside from a share price that had reached a record low earlier this year, it has also been taking a public relations beating.
The launch of the new Windows 8 operating system (OS) late last year did not set the market alight with new respect, and its recent unveiling of the specifications for the Xbox One entertainment device was vilified for the restrictions it placed on users.
For many companies, that would spell doom. In the past, that kind of response to previous products did indeed cast gloom into the hearts of all at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond near Seattle.
Media Future: The fastest growing categories of online sales in South Africa
New research reveals that one of the fastest growing categories of online sales in South Africa is practically invisible, writes Arthur Goldstuck (@art2gee).
Online shopping is usually associated with electronics, books, clothes and groceries, to take some examples of physical goods being bought on the Web and delivered in the real world. But the biggest growth trends are in an invisible market that comprises both purchase and delivery in the virtual world.
When MasterCard released the findings of its annual Online Shopping Survey this week, it focused on the highlight of the research: that 91% of South Africans who shop online are highly satisfied with their overall experience. This means that, once people are persuaded to shop online – and that takes some doing – they are generally happy with the experience. There are many exceptions, as suggested by the 9% or 1 out of 10 who are dissatisfied with their experience.
The real test of satisfaction is, of course, the returning customer. And here the picture is enoraging but not as massively positive: 76% of respondents return to an online shopping site that they have used before.
The highest spend by online shoppers is, not surprisingly, on travel products: air tickets, travel and accommodation. Behind these come concert and event tickets, and coupons from group buying sites. Arguably, all of these are virtual products that do not, up front, involve a physical purchase. But all do result in a physical outcome: a plane trip, a hotel stay, or a group purchase of a physical product.