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Steven Ambrose

Steven Ambrose is the CEO of Strategy Worx. Strategy Worx specialises in strategic consulting and decision support for organisations seeking to pursue hi-tech strategies. Strategy Worx is licensed to conduct the Webagility Web Site Auditing system by World Wide Worx.Steven is a rather lateral thinking Chartered Accountant with deep experience in technology, marketing, and running start-ups, as well as large divisions of major corporations. As senior consultant and analyst at World Wide Worx and now his own consultancy Strategy Worx, Steven delves into the high tech universe in an attempt to simplify and highlight the challenges that businesses small and large are facing in our high tech world.Music, water sports, and his family, are his overriding passions, though technology comes close. Steven keeps in touch with the latest gadgets by writing reviews on www.gadget.co.za the oldest gadget website in South Africa, and talking tech on radio and TV.

RECENT POSTS

• Google has a cracker of a first quarter for 2012

  Google announced an amazing first quarter for 2012, with growth of 24% over the same period last year. Total turnover for the quarter was US$ 10.65-billion and its cash stockpile grew to US $49.3- billion. Of greater significance was the more than doubling of the search giant’s net income which rose 60% to US$2.89-billion, compared to the same period in 2010. That this performance came from a traditionally subdued quarter makes the results even more impressiveGoogle surprised the market a ...

• Lessons from Facebook’s Instagram deal: Screw accountants, trust social

  Accounting be damned! Valuations and the science of accounting can never justify the pricing decisions of the new internet gods. What’s a billion amongst friends, a billion US dollars that is? Plenty will be written about why Facebook bought Instagram for that sum. As a Chartered Accountant the right side of my brain is feeling a little battered.Where is the return on investment, ROI, where are the valuations that make sense? Stepping back for a moment, is the ring ...

• 3 Reasons the new iPad is actually a huge deal

  Apple's iPad launch hype has come and gone. A number of the speculations were proven wrong: there is no smaller iPad, there are no 3D glasses. In fact, the new iPad is essentially the same as before. There are, however, a few changes such as the high-resolution screen, fast LTE connectivity in the USA, and for some that’s all there is to the new iPad.Wrong. The new iPad is a big deal, a very big deal. In fact, in many ...

• The big BlackBerry shuffle

  The new year has started with some pretty big tech upheavals. The tech and mobile industry is heaving with new products, new deals, and now new CEOs. Research In Motion, (RIM), makers of the BlackBerry solution, announced on Sunday that the founders and co-CEOs of the company Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie had resigned, and that Thorsten Heins, a former Siemens executive who joined the Canadian company only four years ago would take over as CEO with immediate effect.RIM was ...

• The Telkom conundrum: Can a Telco catch up to leading mobile players?

  The news is not good, and in fact has not been good for a while. South Africa’s largest telecommunications provider, Telkom, is in trouble. Of that there is no doubt. The depth of this trouble is what should concern us all. The billion dollar question is whether or not Telkom can dig itself out of the ever-deepening hole it’s slipping into. Or will the long-suffering taxpayer have to bail it out, which seems to be becoming the usual course for ...

• BlackBerry is back

  With hindsight huge issues, such as the recent BlackBerry service outage, may not have been as critical as they seemed at the time. If asked we would not, or could not, imagine life without our various devices, especially our key communicator -- the mobile phone.Imagine going back to the time that we only placed a call, or on the odd occasion sent a text message on your phone. That time was not all that long ago, when we could all ...

• We appear to be living in the golden age of apps

  Are apps the only way to do mobile, and in fact, any computing? We appear to be living in the golden age of apps. There is an app for whatever you wish to do, be that read, or play. Led by Apple, the iPhone and iPad have the most, with hundreds and thousands of all types and styles.Android is coming on strong but other ecosystems, from Nokia to Windows Phone 7, still lag far behind. Recent events, and in ...

• The BBM debate: Can speech ever be consequence free?

  The latest call to intercept messages on the Blackberry Messenger (BBM) platform, by South African Deputy-Communications minister, Obed Bapela, threw the veritable cat amongst the pigeons with regard to freedom of speech and privacy. This call resonated globally, with TechCrunch and other media houses worldwide commenting on the statement.South Africa's own level-headed communications minister Roy Padayachie was quick to clear the air. He has stated categorically that there is no current plan to intercept or regulate BBM specifically, but ...

• Competition is getting us all converged

  Summer is almost here and in an unlikely turn of events, South African telecoms giant Telkom, decided spring day was the day it was going to get all competitive. Business communications is, and always will be, a hotly contested market.At a recent launch, Telkom Business finally unveiled Telkom Mobile, which must have been the culmination of months of intensive work. Telkom Mobile is clearly focused on business telecommunication users, small and large. The launch of a business mobile ...

• Rumours of the PC’s demise have been greatly exaggerated

  The personal computer is not dead nor is it dying. Hype and slick marketing may be painting such a scenario, but that is not even part of the picture when you look at the facts.The first consumer computers were introduced by IBM in 1974/75. In 1981, Microsoft introduced the computer operating system called DOS, and followed up with Windows in November 1985. Although it took around 20 years before almost every home and every office had at least one, ...