Mobile Web

Nimbuzz, the mobile social messaging service, may not be particularly well-known in Africa, but all that is about to change. This is according to Tobias Kemper, the General Manager of Nimbuzz Inc. USA, who spoke to Memeburn about his vision for the company and the various ways Nimbuzz is used around the world. Memeburn: Where did the idea for Nimbuzz originate? Tobias Kemper: The idea began in 2006, and we launched in May 2008. So it’s roughly two-and-a-half years old and we ...

By the year 2014 the mobile environment will be dominated by smartphones. This is one of the many bold predictions by technology analyst Nick Jones, speaking on Tuesday at the Gartner Symposium on Innovation in the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Jones also predicts that smartphone penetration in South Africa is likely to reach 80% by 2014. Jones is a vice-president at Gartner and his work focuses primarily on mobile business and technology, mobile applications and emerging technologies. He foresees a royal ...

Named by Time Magazine as one of 2010's 100 Most Influential People in the World, Matt Berg is the technology director of ChildCount+, a ground-breaking mobile health (mHealth) platform that uses mobile phones to monitor the health of tens of thousands of African children. In between a hectic schedule that sees him flying regularly between Africa and the U.S, Matt spoke to memeburn.com about mHealth, open-source software and what the world can learn from Africa. MB: Childcount+ uses simple, standardised text messages to co-ordinate the ...

If you’re in downtown Nairobi before the 4th of August, be sure to pop in to the Barber Q Hair Studio and get yourself a free head massage. The studio is on the 2nd Floor of El-Roi Plaza, close to the Odeon Cinema. This is just one example of the thousands of snippets of information that are at the heart of Mocality, a free-to-list, hyper-local mobile business directory in Nairobi, Kenya. Mocality offers a free business suite of tools to all ...

With the move of computing power away from the desktop to cellphones and other mobile devices, computing is becoming increasingly intimate and integrated into daily life. In his latest book, "Mobile Mania", Simon Silvester (EVP Head of Planning at Young and Rubicam and Executive Planning Director, Wunderman Europe Middle East and Africa), argues that computings’ new intimacy, driving as it does aspects of our social, shopping, travel and personal communication, offers amazing opportunities for mobile app developers and entrepreneurs. Memeburn.com ...

With the current surge in popularity of smartphones and web-capable phones, increased focus has been put on designing for mobile. There are however some marked differences between designing for the web and designing for mobile. Here are some must-have tips which cut through the mystery of designing for mobile phones. Before You Start. The mobile screen is small, and instead of planning around this, many designers use that fact as an excuse to take shortcuts. You wouldn’t want a website that only ...

Take a tree. It provides shade. It let’s you string up a hammock and allows you to build a tree house. Now take a tiny little tree – a bonsai. Small. Cute. Portable. Convenient. Fits in your pocket. It may look exactly like a full-size tree, but it isn’t. This single, critical truth is the first thing that needs to be accepted by those wanting to explore the mobile web or provide a service for it. The mobile web simply isn’t ...

Mobile VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) has carried so much hype and potential for what now seems forever. But when will mobile VoIP finally pass the threshold from innovative technology to common consumer product with mainstream adoption? Mobile VoIP began growing sometime in 2006, driven largely by the adoption of mobile messaging, and the introduction of VoIP-capable smartphones such as those running Windows Mobile 5 and the Symbian 8.0 Operating System. During those early days, the devices never touted being ...

When it comes to internet useage via mobile devices, applications far outpace browsing, even though both types of activity are available on almost two-thirds of the phones used by urban cellular users, reveals a new study. The study, "Mobile Internet in South Africa 2010" by respected research firm World Wide Worx, shows that usage of specific applications like Facebook Mobile and mobile instant messaging (IM) client MXit are used more than accessing the web via the phone's browser, also known ...

Recently, I was craving a Nando’s burger but had no menu or phonebook. Easy I thought - just go to their mobile site, find a menu and the number of the nearest branch. If only it were that easy! Nando’s first mistake was not detecting my mobile browser, thereby subjecting me to their second mistake – a site built entirely in Flash. So not only could I not see their menu, but I couldn't even get their phone number! Google rescued ...