Tencent makes move on Africa
China’s Tencent, in which JSE-listed Internet and media group Naspers holds a 35% stake, appears to have designs on the African market and is preparing to ramp up focus on South Africa and Africa more broadly with its WeChat platform. Tencent, well known in China for its QQ
TechCentral’s best-read stories of 2012
Another year is almost done and 2012 has certainly been a busy one for South Africa’s technology industry. We know what our favourite stories were in 2012, but which articles did TechCentral’s readers click on the most. This are the pieces, in ascending order from 10 to one, that generated the most reads during
South African Newsmakers of 2012
After considerable debate about this list between TechCentral’s editors, we have settled on our South African Newsmakers of 2012. These are the individuals, in ascending order from five to one, who we believe were the most newsworthy in the technology and telecommunications space this year. Also
Mxit firms up retrenchments
Mobile social network Mxit has confirmed that it has retrenched more than a quarter of its workforce. Forty-one people from of its 150-strong staff complement were let go as part of a refocusing of its strategy for 2013. The move comes only
Trouble in Mxit-land
Stellenbosch-based mobile social network Mxit is retrenching as much as 27% of its workforce, company insiders say. This comes just months after the exit of CEO Alan Knott-Craig, who also formerly headed up the investment vehicle World of Avatar of which Mxit is part. TechCentral has learnt
Mxit moola for FNB customers
Mobile social network Mxit has integrated First National Bank’s eWallet into its mobile commerce platform, Mxit Money. The new service, called FNB Moola+, allows Mxit users to purchase the virtual currency for 35% less than it would cost if purchased using premium-rated SMS. Until now, Mxit users have had
Mxit edges closer to banking
Mxit Money, a partnership between Standard Bank and mobile social network Mxit, has been launched and allows Mxit users to send money to one another for free, transact with that money, and even withdraw it. Users can also send money to other mobile phone users for a nominal fee. Mxit CEO
Ins and outs and buy-outs of Mxit
Former iBurst CEO Alan Knott-Craig, who led the buy-out of mobile social network Mxit last year, says the acquisition was as much an accident as the success of the social network itself. Knott-Craig says he first took an interest in Mxit in February 2011 when he got wind of a fall-out between Mxit founder Herman
Inside Knott-Craig’s world of avatars
Avatars, warriors, wizards, whizz-kids, mavericks and dreamers. They could all be characters in a fantasy game played with gunships and lasers on a mobile device. But they are actually the descriptions given to employees at Alan Knott-Craig’s World of Avatar, the Stellenbosch-based cellular, social media and
The worst places in SA to make a call
Pondering Panda, which forms part of Alan Knott-Craig Jr’s World of Avatar group, has found that 78% of cellphone users in SA experienced dropped calls last month. The survey has also found that although all of SA’s networks had similar levels of dropped calls, MTN performed marginally worse than its rivals
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