The end of an era

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A Little Intro:

The reign of the keyboard and mouse is slowly coming to an end. I mean we may not see it right now, but gradually technology is moving away from the point and click system and going into a more intuitive system. The way we use computers has remained largely unchanged for nearly 40 years. Even with the advent of touch screens and tablets in the past 10 years, we have only experienced a slight modification of the familiar point-and-click paradigm. Hoewever this will change very soon, we are currently going through the most significant evolution in the way we work with computers since Steve Jobs launched the Macintosh in 1984.

I will be rasing just a few interface revolution just to support my theory:

• touch and mulitiple touch
• gesture control
• voice
• HUD
• wearable computers
• holographic displays
• bain machine interfaces

The above points that I have rasied are both from protoypes which you see at science exhibitions and actual devices which are currently being made, so keep your eyes peeled!!

Business App of the year

A lil intro:

The build up and excitement over the last few weeks leading up to the first ever MTN Business App of the Year awards event, proved worth the wait as the ICT industry awarded innovation in application development. The awards, which took place at "The Venue" in Melrose Arch, it saw the announcement of the FNB Banking app team winning the overall best App of the Year for 2012.

Nomalanga Nkosi

The General Manager for Business Marketing at MTN Business, Nomalanga Nkosi says "The MTN Enterprise Business team congratulates the FNB Banking app team on this achievement and title. The team's passion for application development, innovation, alongside an understanding of the broader business market, expertise and dedication has certainly paid off. We found an innovative application, born from a forward-thinking and creative idea that will no doubt positively impact the way business will be undertaken going forward, and will empower businesses to conduct work seamlessly and effectively."

There is a need to develop apps that address the demands of businesses and individuals. The awards aim to recognise local app developers that are spearheading innovation in this space.

Hayley Horan, the journalist for Creative Space Media says "The event was a huge success and one that we are proud to have initiated. We commend and thank every application developer who entered the awards as they exhibited the depth of talent and creativity we have in the South African ICT market. Selecting the finalists and the winner was certainly no easy task and it certainly points to the enormous talent that exists out there."

With various award categories throughout the evening, winners included:

• FNB Banking for the best iOS consumer App
• Health ID for the best iOS enterprise App
• FNB Banking for the best Blackberry App
• TransUnion Dealer Guide for the best Android enterprise App
• FNB Banking for the best Android consumer App
• Rapidtargets for the best HTML5 App
• Matchy for the best Windows App
• Plascon Inspire Me for the most innovative App
• PhraZApp for the best Garage developer App

I think awards like this serve as a good indication as to how companies like MTN are dominating the respective fields they're in and doing a good job of making sure services for all customers are met. GOOD ONE MTN!!!!

Banking in a new way?

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The future is something no-one can truly predict or fore-see, this is a fact on almost all aspects of life. However the same sentiment cannot be shared for cellphone banking which is full of predictions which may come true. For example using your cellphone to pay for your bill or your grocery purchases isn't some distant, dreamy idea.

This idea would truly be something extraordinary in the market we live in which is confined by the plastic cards called debit and credit cards. Jonathan Houston the digital marketing lead executive in the Deliotte consulting technology division said, "It is obviously far fetched to think that the use of debit and credit cards will be completely eliminated, but a time will come when you open a bank account, you will be asked to choose between having a card or a phone (as a means) to pay". This raises the question just how far will technolgy grow(in terms of banking) in the 21st century? Houston answers this by saying "The rapid convergence of mobile and banking technology which started  with such simple functions as money transfer was increasingly making the cellphone a virtual bank itself".

Bankers say that South African's high mobile penetration rate made it the perfect maket to launch banking technology and products using cellphones to reach an under-banked and unbanked population estimated at more than 11 million. An initiative which particularly caught my eye in terms of banking which took place in May was by FNB which launched a person-to-person payment option called "Geo Payments", using its banking app which allows users within close range of each other to make payments to one another without using their bank account details. This shows great promise for our local market.

Girl Power

In commemoration of women's month, I would like to focus on the predominatly women-owned company BLT SA. To dwell deeper into what BLT is all about and what they exactly do I chose an extract from BLT South Africa products manager Clinton van den Berg, "Durban-based materials handling equipment specialist Big Lift Trucks (BLT) South Africa offers a range of MecLift variable reach trucks, designed for diverse materials handling applications, including the efficient handling of electrical cabling." The company is generally considered a baby in their respective industry of shipping due to the fact that it was only recently established in January of this year. A range of other products the company offers is container handling equipment, including the supply of new and refurbished variable-reach trucks, mobile container handlers and terminal tractors. What really makes them unique in a sense is that they are a distributor for equipment manufacturer B&W Mechanical Handling Equipment, which supplies a range of harbour equipment, including link conveyors, grab hoppers, surface feeders, radial boom stackers and mobile ship loaders.

Charity Gumede(marketing director of BLT) says "the company has been well received by the local industry so far, although competition in the market has been tough." she went on to add on that by saying “we are working in a very demanding industry, but we are holding our heads high. We ensure that we provide the best service possible and keep up to date with the latest industrial technology. We are also committed to providing productive and dependable equipment for our customers.“It is important to build good business relationships in this highly competitive sector and we have managed to secure supply, service and distribution agreements with some of the world’s most respected materials handling equipment manufacturers. This enables us to offer the local market the latest international products.”

Local businesses like this are the type of establishments that spur on other aspiring South Africans, especially females to take advantage of the oppurtunities available to them in our ever growing country.