NATIVE VML: June Mobile Report 2014

A MONTHLY SNAPSHOT OF
MOBILE NEWS, VIEWS, EVENTS
& DEVELOPMENTS LOCALLY
AND ABROAD

MOBILE REPORT UPDATE
This is the 2-year anniversary mobile report from NATIVE
VML. We’re taking a break for a few months while we work
on bringing you an updated, more useful report. Look out for
it on our social media accounts and our website.
Thanks for your ongoing support.

CONTENTS
Executive Summary
Section 1: Mobile Landscape
Section 2: Mobile Innovation and Campaigns
Section 3: Mobile Devices and Operating Systems
Section 4: Mobile Networks
Section 5: Technology
Section 6: Social Networks
Sources and Contacts

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. The 3 countries have the best quality broadband inAfrica.
2. Congress plans to ban internet access tax.
3. Capitec and BlackBerry elaborate on mobile security.
4. Airtel Zambia’s US$ 178,000 system glitch.
5. MTN gives away free airtime.
6. The property industry targets emerging markets.
7. Apple influencesAndroid and Windows “kill switch” roll out.
8. First there was a taxi now there is WiTaxi.
9. M-Pesa will be relaunched for new growth.
10. MTN’s market cap is almost the same size as Tanzania’s economy.
11. Lego Fusion brings virtual and real-life playgrounds together.
12. Facebook launches bigger thumbs (!) and in-app video recording.

SouthAfrica’s consumer broadband connection has been ranked
39th out of 50 countries included in Ookla’s Household Quality
Index. In total there are 3African countries making the top 50.
The Household Quality Index compares and ranks the quality of
consumer broadband connections of countries worldwide over a
30 day period, measuring the quality of the connection in terms of
R-Factor – an industry measure relating to steadiness of
connection, important for use in Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
and online gaming, for example.
SouthAfrica had 83.02 points, dropping 2 places from last year’s
corresponding period.
Tunisia andAlgeria were the only other two African countries to
make the top 50 countries listed, coming in 46th and 47th place
respectively.
Source: Human IPO, 30 May 2014
SA, TUNISIA & ALGERIA HAVE BEST
QUALITY BROADBAND IN AFRICA

MobiKashAfrika has unveiled a merchant payment service to
deliver mobile money transactions in real time, making cashless
transactions at the beginners level a reality for thousands of
Kenyans.
“Lipa Sasa Na MobiKash” will operate across all networks, banks
and financial institutions as well as bill issuers, merchants and
agents. This has been launched in partnership with Kenyan
investment conglomerate the Foundation Enterprise Programme
(FEP), which has bought a controlling stake in MobiKashAfrika.
CEO Duncan Odour Otieno said the developments signalled a
revamped strategy that will see MobiKash strengthen its presence
and portfolio while offering tangible and innovative e-commerce
solutions.
“Mobile money services in Kenya have completely revolutionised
the business arena and unveiled a whole new world of possibilities.
At MobiKash we remain committed to delivering practical solutions,
geared towards making the wider Kenyan population access safe,
reliable and efficient mobile money solutions,” said Otieno.
Source: Human IPO, 30 May 2014
MOBIKASH LAUNCHES
IN KENYA

Gilat Satcom, a leading provider of satellite and fibre-based
connectivity services inAfrica,Asia and the Middle East, has
announced a new satellite system which will provide high-quality
voice connectivity to miners working inAfrican underground mines.
Traditionally, communication with underground workers has been
via temporary coax cables which are prone to damage and
unsuitable for many locations.
“Communicating with workers in underground mines has always
been problematical,” says Dan Zajicek, CEO of Gilat Satcom. “Our
system is extremely reliable, cost-effective and market-proven. We
are actively reaching out to mining companies inAfrica where we
know our system will be of great benefit.”
The system has been adapted to cope with the harsh conditions
found at many mines, particularly in developing economies.
Source: Ventures Africa, 17 June 2014
SATELLITE SERVICE TO PROVIDE
CONNECTIVITY IN AFRICAN MINES

AU.S. ban on Internet taxes that has been in place since 1998
would be made permanent under legislation approved by a
congressional committee.
In a 30-4 vote, the House Judiciary Committee passed the bill,
which would permanently prevent state and local governments
from enacting Internet connection taxes. It would also keep
municipal governments from levying taxes on Internet purchases
where there is no equivalent store or mail-order tax.
The Internet tax ban has been renewed three times. It is
scheduled to expire on 1 November 2014. The ban does not cover
state sales taxes that municipal lawmakers are trying to levy
online.
Source: Reuters, 18 June 2014
CONGRESS SET TO PERMANENTLY
BAN INTERNET ACCESS TAX

MWEB, has launched a free Wi-Fi ‘zone’in Florida Road, Durban,
making its first Wi-Fi activated high street.
The group said that the Wi-Fi zone solution covers 90% of the
area, featuring multiple access points, meshed together in a single
indoor or outdoor environment with more resilient infrastructure.
The service is free for the first few months. However, MWEB said it
will be implementing a pricing policy which will be time based,
rather than data based. It said that the first 30 minutes will be free
for users, once the new prices are in place.
“Florida Road is a great place to demonstrate the possibilities that
high-speed Wi-Fi enables,” said Nathier Kasu, GM at MWEB Wi-
Fi. “We’ve created a Wi-Fi zone, rather than a Wi-Fi hotspot, to
deliver a superior experience to users, wherever they may be on
the high street.”
Source: Business Tech, 18 June 2014
MWEB LAUNCHES FREE WIFI
IN DURBAN

Capitec had launched its own mobile app to remain competitive in
the banking industry. However, their app strategy is distinctly
different to the other banks as it’s more focused on secure mobile
banking.
"The Capitec Bank app also uniquely offers security via the phone
and not the SIM card in the phone, substantially increasing security
and removing SIM swop fraud," said a Capitec spokesperson.
Once the application has been downloaded on either feature or
smartphones, customers have to go into the branch to activate it.
"We realise that some clients might see the activation process as
tedious and frustrating, but with the increasing amount of banking
fraud, our approach was to rather create an application which is
secure in order to protect our clients from becoming targets for
fraudulent activity," said Charl Nel, Capitec head of strategic
communication.
Source: Fin24, 18 June 2014
CAPITEC LAUNCHES BANKING
APP

Growth in smartphone penetration is driving the music industry's
distribution processes away from the physical to the digital says
Charles Stuart, social director for technology, information,
communication and entertainment media at
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
The Digital Music Report 2014 issued by the International
Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI) notes that despite
its huge influence on music repertoire across the globe, most
countries inAfrica have not historically been significant markets
for the international music industry.
According to IFPI, digital technology is enabling the recording
industry to effectively reach mass numbers of consumers in
Africa for the first time.
The report further states that SA, the largest formal music
market on the continent, saw digital music grow by 107% in
2013, representing 14% of the total market. The overall formal
market was valued at $63 million by IFPI.
Source: IT Web, 18 June 2014
SMARTPHONES BOOST MUSIC
DISTRIBUTION IN AFRICA

Statistics SouthAfrica published its General household survey 2013,
which showed that the Western Cape has the highest percentage of
households which use the Internet.
The report showed that 40.9% of all SouthAfrican households had at
least one member who used the Internet either at home, the
workplace, a place of study, or at Internet cafés.
54.4% of Western Cape households and 54% of Gauteng
households had access to the Internet, while only 21.9% of
households in Limpopo had access to the Internet.
While these households have members accessing the Internet, it
does not mean that people had access to Internet at home. Only
one‐tenth of SouthAfrican households had access to the Internet at
home.
Source: My Broadband, 19 June 2014
THE WESTERN CAPE IS SA’S TOP
INTERNET PROVINCE

MTN SouthAfrica says it has connected the first customers to its
fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) offering.
The operator first announced its intentions to launch the service in
earlier this year, following successful FTTH trials conducted with
residents of Monaghan Farm in Johannesburg.
MTN pointed out that its FTTH roll-out is demand-driven, adding
that advanced discussions were underway with several other
residential sites.
“The rollout of FTTH in Monaghan Farm is progressing well, with
75% of the homes already connected and enjoying the benefits of
this high-speed network, the remaining homesteads will be
connected in the next two weeks,” said EbenAlbertyn, CTO at
MTN SA.
“Discussions are progressing positively with other areas that have
shown interest,”Albertyn said, adding that interested parties and
members of the public are encouraged to work with their home
owners associations.
Source: Business Tech, 20 June 2014
MTN FIBRE-TO-THE-HOME
HAS ARRIVED

Atechnical error has resulted in 28,000Airtel customers losing
airtime balances worth more than US$ 178,000.
This is according to the Zambia Information and Communication
TechnologyAuthority (ZICTA), which claimsAirtel’s systems
erroneously marked prepaid subscriber numbers as roaming.
The regulator has warned the operator to immediately resolve the
problem and normalise its services.
However,Airtel says it has refunded all the affected customers and
given them additional 30 minutes of free-talk time as compensation
for the inconvenience.
“ZICTAis still monitoring the situation and is encouraging any
subscriber who had been affected by this erroneous deduction and
may not have been refunded their airtime to get in touch withAirtel
customer service,” ZICTApublic relations manager Ngabo
Nankonde said.
Source: IT Web Africa, 20 June 2014
SYSTEM ERROR COSTS AIRTEL
ZAMBIA USERS US$ 178,000

MTN prepaid and TopUp customers who use a minimum of R6 per
day on either voice, internet surfing, will be rewarded with an additional
R60 on-net airtime from Saturday, 21 June 2014 until Monday, 30 June
2014.
“MTN understands that customers want to keep in touch with family
and friends, therefore we felt the need to maintain these connections
by maintaining affordable telecommunications through this
promotion” said LarryAnnetts, Chief Marketing Officer at MTN South
Africa.
The free airtime can be used on local MTN-to-MTN calls, across all
networks, as well as for internet browsing.
“The depletion rate is dependent on the customer’s price
plan. The R60 reward is based on a minimum of R6.00 usage, and will
be given once a day. This means that if a customer’s usage is more
than R6.00 a day, then that customer will not qualify for additional
FREE airtime value,” saysAnnetts.
Source: IT News Africa, 23 June 2014
FREE AIRTIME FOR MTN
CUSTOMERS

MOBILE INNOVATION &
CAMPAIGNS
Section 2

PROPERTY SEARCH GOES MOBILE
IN EMERGING MARKETS
Global property portal Lamudi has launched a world-first
online real estate platform to 28 countries worldwide.
The app, Lamudi: Property for Sale/Rent, hosts more than
400,000 property listings fromAfrica,Asia, the Middle East
and LatinAmerica, giving international house hunters a free
mobile platform to buy, rent or sell real estate in any of these
regions.
Sacha Poignonnec, co-CEO ofAfrica Internet Holdings and,
Lamudi's founder, said "The Lamudi app is the first app of its
kind in the world, due to the vast outreach of the app to 28
different emerging markets around the world, 17 of which are
inAfrica.
The Lamudi apps are designed to meet the growing demand
for mobile internet services in the emerging markets.
Lamudi is revolutionising the way that users are searching for
their ideal home, and will continue to underline its dominance
as the market leader inAfrica and the world."
Source: BizCommunity, 23 June 2014

Source: BizCommunity, 12 June 2014
MXIT PUSHES EDUCATION
LOANS
Eduloan selected Mxit as its mobile media partner of choice
during registration period, to target multitudes of students and
parents with its educational finance offerings.
The campaign was successful in driving interest, with over
50,000 people signing up for the app - proving mobile social
network advertising's ability to reach thousands of youth on the
go, in an environment that provides relevant information they
trust.
Nicolette Gehlig, Mxit's media & marketing strategic manager
explains, "The objective of the campaign was to create
awareness of the Eduloan offering and at the same time ensure
that the public understood how easy and simple it was to do
business with the company.“
By reaching thousands of students through its app and Splash
Screen campaign, it raised awareness of its offerings, while
educating students and their parents that it also provides
assistance with tuition fees, outstanding fees, registering for new
courses and finance for laptops, tablets, textbooks and
accommodation.

INSTAGRAM FOR DOCTORS TO BRIDGE
GAP IN GLOBAL HEALTHCARE
Doctors have devised a useful way of using Instagram by
creating an app known as Figure 1.
The app was launched to bring professional doctors around the
world together under a social media platform in other to
exchange ideas, issues and pictures without breaching patient
doctor confidentiality.
Co-founder of Figure 1, Dr Joshua Landy said “One of the
things I do as an ICU doctor is I connect with my colleagues
keeping people up to date around the patients we care for
together by taking and sending pictures.
Anew version of the app was launched recently to give users
the ability to follow cases and interact with other professionals
around the world. With the recent update, users can create a
comprehensive profile with information such as area of interest,
specialities, institution they’re associated with and their location.
Source: Ventures Africa, 22 June 2014

MOBILE DEVICES &
OPERATING SYSTEMS
Section 3

Apple has unveiled its latest mobile operating system,
iOS 8 for the iPhone and iPad.
Senior executive Craig Federighi said that iOS 8 builds on the
successes of its predecessor, but has new features.
The new features include: Enterprise features such as Device
Enrollment Program, which sets up your device automatically, per-
message S/MIME, VIP message threads that display on the lock
screen, increased security, and third-party document providers;
HealthKit an app that integrates with leading institutions so it can
link with doctors and hospitals; and iMessage improvements.
Source: ZDNet, 2 June 2014
APPLE UNVEILS IOS
8

BlackBerry has unveiled BBM Protected, the first solution in the
eBBM Suite for secure enterprise-class messaging.
The Canadian-based smartphone maker says the eBBM Suite is a
new family of BBM products and services built for business that
bring together the convenience and usability of BBM with the
additional security and compliance required by enterprise
customers.
The eBBM Suite will include new services designed to enable
mobile workers to be more productive on the go, while meeting
enterprises' needs for security, manageability and control,
BlackBerry says.
As part of the suite, BBM Protected provides an enhanced security
model for BBM messages sent between BlackBerry smartphones,
the company explains, adding that BBM Protected brings regulated
industries the most secure and reliable real-time mobile messaging
experience in the industry.
Source: IT Web, 17 June 2014
BLACKBERRY RELEASES BBM
PROTECTED

The Fire Phone isAmazon’s first venture into smartphones.
Aside from the normal functions of smartphone, it has the ability to
track a user’s head as it has four corner-mounted, front-facing
infrared cameras and produces wild 3D effects. However, their
version of 3D is different as images pop out of the screen. The head-
tracking tech adds depth to the phone.
Amazon built what it’s calling Dynamic Perspective, which redraws
3D images at 60 frames per second. You can see elements
underneath other on-screen elements. Owners can look under icons
on the screen. The four IR cameras have a super-wide field of view
and depth perception. Since they’re infrared, they work in the dark.
The Fire Phone rocks a 4.7-inch IPS screen and is equipped with a
13MP rear-facing camera with image stabilization and a 2.0 lens.
Inside is a quad-core 2.2GHz chip,Adreno 330 graphics and 2GB of
RAM.
Source: Tech Crunch, 18 June 2014
AMAZON ANNOUNCES THE
US$ 199 FIRE PHONE

The experimentalAndroid Runtime (ART) compiler trial has
been successfully concluded and will be included in the next
version ofAndroid by default.
The latest changes toAOSP's source code indicate that the
upcoming version ofAndroid (be it 4.5 or 5.0) will indeed run
ART instead of Dalvik by default. The latter uses a Just-In-
Time (JIT) code compiling, which processes code only when
an app needs it.ART, in the meantime, comes with anAhead-
Of-Time (AOT) compiling, which runs the code before it is
needed.
ART offers slightly better performance and improved battery
life, there are still some apps that are still not optimized to run
under the new runtime. Those that have not been rewritten to
work withART might not work probably and cause a lot of
issues.
Source: Phone Arena, 19 June 2014
THE NEXT VERSION OF ANDROID
WILL HAVE ART RUNTIME

New statistics show iPhone thefts have declined sinceApple
introduced a stronger anti-theft feature in late 2013. They said
criminals are responding by targeting people who carry other
smartphones that don't have a similar feature to disable them if
stolen.
In New York City, robberies involvingApple products fell 19% during
the first 5 months of 2014 compared with the same period the year
before, officials said. Meanwhile, violent robberies targeting people
with Samsung smartphones, many of which do not have a “kill
switch”, increased more than 40% in the city during that same
period.
In San Francisco, iPhone robberies fell 38% during the 6 months
afterApple released its new anti-theft feature, compared to the 6
months before its release. Whereas robberies of Samsung devices
increased 12% during that time, they said. In the corresponding
period of time in London, iPhone robberies declined by 24% while
Samsung thefts increased by 3%.
The new statistics were released by the Secure Our Smartphones
Initiative, a coalition of mayors, attorneys general, district attorneys
and high-level police officials.
Source: Huffington Post, 19 June 2014
APPLE'S PLAN TO STOP IPHONE
THEFT IS WORKING

Microsoft and Google have signed an agreement with the New
YorkAttorney General to add "kill switches" to the next versions
of Windows Phone andAndroid.
Eric Schneiderman, the attorney general said “kill switches” are
important and have a significant role in mobile security and the
his office's “Secure Our Smartphones" initiative.
The kill switch has become a hot topic in the last several months.
Many states around the US have argued over whether kill
switches should be brought to smartphones.
The Secure Our Smartphones report citedApple as proof that
the feature works such that you can erase phone’s data remotely
and that it deters theft.
Source: CNET, 19 June 2014
ANDROID & WINDOWS PHONE TO ADD
KILL SWITCH TO THWART THEFT

Vodacom’s latest smartphone and tablet statistics show that
Android is the rapidly gaining market share, while BlackBerry is
losing it.
According to Vodacom’s statistics there were 2,190,850Android
tablets and smartphones on its network in March 2014. This is up
from 1,450,000 in September 2013.
BlackBerry remains the most popular smartphone with 3.03
million devices on the Vodacom network. However, this is down
from 3.1 million six months earlier.
Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices showed modest gains such that
it’s up from 650,000 in September 2013 to 785,000 in March
2014.
Abig surprise is the strong growth in Windows devices, up from
270,000 to 377,000 in six months.
Source: My Broadband, 27 May 2014
VODACOM SALES
STATS

Vodacom and Vodafone, have indicated that they will focus in
growing M-Pesa in the year ahead.
Vodacom CEO, Shameel Joosub said that he expects the
relaunch of the M-Pesa service in SouthAfrica to take place by
the end of the 3rd quarter of 2014.
In reporting financial results for the year ended March 2014,
Vodacom said mobile financial services continued to grow well
with M-Pesa customers increasing 21.6% to 6 million. Tanzanian
M-Pesa contributed 18.8% from 14.1% in 2013 to service
revenue.
“M-Pesa has been launched in all our international markets and
our priority has been to increase the number of registered users
and to drive activity levels by widening distribution and expanding
the ecosystem in each market,” Vodacom said.
Joosub said that the improved service would be better integrated
into banks’retail infrastructure, due to an improved IT platform.
He added that M-Pesa would also have far more merchants on
board.
Source: My Broadband, 1 June 2014
VODAFONE & VODACOM
RELAUNCHES M-PESA

SouthAfrica’s MTN has acquired a controlling 51% share stake in
internet service providerAfrihost.
MTN said the deal would “add scale” to its existing online ICT
services offering, which is focused on the consumer and SME
market.
“MTN SouthAfrica expects to leverage offAfrihost’s strong
customer service, value proposition and agility, thereby boosting
MTN SouthAfrica’s presence in the SME, Corporate/Consumer
and Connected Home segments. MTN SouthAfrica will in
addition be able to supplyAfrihost with products for its existing
customer base and vice versa,” MTN said.
Source: Human IPO, 2 June 2014
MTN AQUIRES A CONTROLLING
STAKE IN AFRIHOST

Airtel plans to partner with virtual SIM provider, Movirtu to provide
telecom services toAfrica’s “unphoned” users.
Using a virtual SIM card, these users can temporarily activate
Airtel services on a “friend’s handset or shared village phone to
make voice calls, send text messages or access value added and
informative services such as mobile banking and mFarmer,” says
Movirtu.
First deployments of the virtual SIMs are planned for the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) afterAirtel’s “successful
launch of the Movirtu Share service in Madagascar.”
AIRTEL TARGETS AFRICA’S
‘UNPHONED’ MARKET

MTN's market cap is almost twice the size of EastAfrican nation
Tanzania’s gross domestic product (GDP), an economist has
said.
According to Dr Martyn Davies, CEO of FrontierAdvisory, a
strategy and investment advisory firm, the SouthAfrican
headquartered telecoms giant is one ofAfrica's multilingual
‘winning companies’with their their strategies inAfrica and other
emerging markets.
According to the World Bank EastAfrica'sTanzania had a GDP
of $28.24 billion in 2012.
MTN TWICE THE SIZE OF
TANZANIA’S ECONOMY

Minibus taxi commuters will get 50MB of free Wi-Fi data a
month as part of a plan to roll-out broadband Internet access to
commuter taxis countrywide.
The SouthAfrican NationalTaxi Council (SANTACO), has taken
the wraps off the service, called WiTaxi.
The taxi body is rolling out WiTaxi through its commercial
subsidiary TaxiChoice and Telkom is providing the 3G and 4G
bandwidth that will be used in the taxis to provide commuters
with Internet access.
“This initiative is part of SANTACO’s long-term vision is aimed at
modernising, revitalising, transforming and developing the taxi
industry into a world-class taxi service,” said association
president Philip Taaibosch.
Phase one of the project will see Wi-Fi access points rolled out
to 1 500 taxis and about 50 taxi ranks. This phase will take
about six months. The second phase will see the installation of
between 4 000 and 5 000 Wi-Fi access points per month.
Source: Tech Central, 12 June 2014
TELKOM MOBILE ROLLS OUT FREE
WIFI ON TAXIS

MTN has been rated among the top 500 global companies on
corporate sustainability and environmental impact in the 2014
Newsweek Green Rankings.
Newsweek partnered with Corporate Knights Capital and
individuals from non-governmental organisations and the academic
and accounting communities, to complete the rankings, using eight
performance indicators.
“The ranking is particularly significant for MTN because we are in a
small select group of global companies whose revenue is
generated off a relatively low environmental impact basis,” said
Paul Norman, MTN Group chief human resources and corporate
affairs officer.
Norman said “the recognition ahead of some of the major global
brands is humbling, particularly as we operate in markets where it’s
not regulation driving responsible environmental behaviour. MTN is
on this journey not only because it makes commercial sense; we
operate in some of the most environmentally vulnerable parts of the
world”.
Source: Human IPO, 19 June 2014
MTN RATED IN TOP 500 GREEN
FIRMS GLOBALLY

MTN & PRICECHECK APP
LAUNCHING IN NIGERIA
PriceCheck CEOAndré de Wet and MTN Group Chief
Commercial Officer, Pieter Verkade jointly announced it’s
partnership, to introduce PriceCheck in Nigeria.
De Wet stated that, “PriceCheck’s experience over the past
7 years has taught us that search is where everything
starts. Price checking is the first step in the purchase
decision making process for the end user, the point where
influence is the strongest”.
The partnership with MTN both in SouthAfrica and in
Nigeria gives us access to the largest mobile phone market
inAfrica. Together we own product search. Shopping is no
longer somewhere you go, it’s something you do – that’s
the power of mobile.”
The PriceCheck MTN Nigeria app will be available in all
leading app stores fromAugust 2014. The app will also be
pre-loaded on popular mobile phones across Nigeria.

TELECEL INTRODUCES WHATSAPP
BUNDLES IN ZIMBABWE
Telecel WhatsApp bundles are available for both pre-paid and
post-paid subscribers. There are three WhatsApp bundles that
can be purchased. The daily bundle, which costs 29 cents, gives
subscribers access to WhatsApp for 24 hours.
The weekly bundle, which is valid for seven days, costs 89 cents.
In addition to access to WhatsApp for a week, it gives the
subscriber 5MB of bonus data for the first 1 000 subscribers who
sign up for this bundle. The monthly bundle, which costs $2,85
and is valid for 30 days, comes with 20 MB of bonus data for the
first 500 subscribers who sign up.
“The WhatsApp bundles allow unlimited messaging. Subscribers
can chat, send videos and share voice notes without having to
worry about running out of data. Even if the ordinary data has
been used up, it will still be possible to use WhatsApp.
“The $2,85 per month bundle is a real winner. One subscription
will guarantee the subscriber unlimited access to WhatsApp for a
whole month. Moreover the subscriber receives bonus data to
browse the internet,” commentedTelecel marketing Director
Octivius Kahiya.

Developed by Lego's Future Lab, Fusion was invented as a
way to integrated digital and analogue play.
Ditte Bruun Pedersen, a senior design manager said that the
Lego team discovered that children don't really differentiate
physical play from digital. "To them, it's not two separate
worlds. It's one world that blends together. It's all just play."
However, games on tablets and phones remain popular with
kids because of how immersive they are, so the trick is to put
the two worlds together.
Each Lego Fusion set consists of 200 bricks along with a
special "capture" brick building plate that's meant to be paired
with a corresponding app. But firstly you would need to build a
two-dimensional facade then launch the app's camera function
to focus on the printed pattern, which is used as an
identification tag.
This will let the app figure out exactly the size and colours of
the Lego bricks you've built on the plate, enabling it to import
and translate that physical creation into the digital realm.
Source: Engadget, 19 June 2014
LEGO FUSION FUSES VIRTUAL
PLAYGROUNDS WITH REAL ONES

Researchers at Ford and Heinz are collaborating to develop a
bioplastic using tomatoes.
They’re investigating the use of tomato fibres in developing
sustainable, composite materials for use in vehicle manufacturing.
Specifically, dried tomato skins could become the wiring brackets
in a Ford vehicle or the storage bin a Ford customer uses to hold
coins and other small objects, the vehicle manufacturer said.
“We are exploring whether this food processing by-product
makes sense for an automotive application,” said Ford plastics
research technical specialist Ellen Lee. “Our goal is to develop a
strong, lightweight material that meets our vehicle requirements,
while at the same time reducing our overall environmental
impact.”
Heinz researchers were looking for ways to recycle and
repurpose peels, stems and seeds from the 2 million tonnes of
tomatoes it uses annually to make tomato sauce.
Source: Tech Central, 10 June 2014
YOU SAY TOMATO, THEY
SAY TOM-AUTO

Source: Times Live, 10 June 2014
FACEBOOK & TWITTER BRACE FOR
WORLD CUP FEVER
Nearly 40% of Facebook's 1.28 billion users are football fans.
The world's biggest online social network is adding new features
to help fans follow the World Cup - the world's most widely
viewed sporting event - which takes place in Brazil from June 12
to July 13.
Facebook users will be able to keep track of their favourite teams
and players throughout the tournament in a special World Cup
section, called "Trending World Cup."Available on the Web as
well as mobile devices, the hub will include the latest scores,
game highlights, as well as a feed with tournament-related posts
from friends, players and teams.
In addition, an interactive map will show where the fans of top
players are located around the world. The company is also
launching a page called FacebookRef, where fans can see
commentary about the matches from "The Ref," Facebook's
official tournament commentator.
Twitter said that the "the only real-time #WorldCup global viewing
party will be on Twitter, where you can track all 64 matches,
experience every goal and love every second, both on and off
the pitch.

Source: Digital Trends, 13 June 2014
FACEBOOK MESSENGER ADDS VIDEO
RECORDING & BIGGER THUMBS
Facebook Messenger is playing catch-up in the great messaging
app race, but the near-constant flow of enhancements to remain
the preferred social app.
Now, you can either “Like” something or you can “Big Like”
something. To get the giant blue thumb, all you have to do is
press down on the like button a little longer than usual. Then, the
biggest blue thumbs-up you’ve probably ever seen will pop up on
the screen for you and your friend to see.
Asimilar action is required to send a short, 15-second video
message. When you hold down the picture button, the app
automatically knows that you want to send your friend a short
video and opens up the camera app to let you begin filming.
Previously, Facebook only let you send pre-recorded videos, but
with this update, you can now shoot and send impromptu videos
from inside the app.

http://www.humanipo.com/
http://www.ventures-africa.com/
http://www.reuters.com/
http://www.businesstech.co.za/
http://www.fin24.com/
http://www.itweb.co.za/
http://mybroadband.co.za/
http://www.itwebafrica.com/
http://www.itnewsafrica.com/
http://www.bizcommunity.com/
http://www.zdnet.com/
http://techcrunch.com/
http://www.phonearena.com/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
SOURCES
http://www.cnet.com/
http://www.techcentral.co.za/
http://www.engadget.com/
http://www.digitaltrends.com/
http://www.timeslive.co.za/

CONTACT US
Have a look at all previous Mobile Reports and other mobile work on our site -
http://www.nativevml.co.za/home?keyword=mobile
Should you have any mobile insight, strategy, campaign or solution requirements please
contact us.
Angus Robinson | Director: Mobility
[tel] +27 (11) 555-3800
[cell] +27 (83) 635 4400
[fax] 0867210884
[email] angus@native.co.za
[twitter] @angusrobinson

NATIVE VML: June Mobile Report 2014

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NATIVE VML: June Mobile Report 2014