Africa

Social networking stalwart Facebook claims one-billion users. That’s around a seventh of the population of the planet. Sometimes it’s easy to believe the internet is comprised solely of Google, Wikipedia and Facebook. But what about more regional social networks, mobile social networks and specifically those with a strong foothold in ...

In the last couple weeks I’ve had the opportunity to be in Nigeria (Maker Faire Africa), followed by South Africa (AfricaCom). Along with Kenya, these countries represent the biggest technology countries on the continent. They are the regional tech hub cities at this point in Africa.In both places I was ...

Anyone who's a fan of nature documentaries knows that Botswana's Okavango Delta is one of the world's most unique wildlife regions. Now you can visit from the comfort of your own home.Google today announced that Street View images of the Okavango, Chobe game reserve and Makgadikgadi are now live. ...

Aids kills millions of people around the world every year, many of whom don't know that they're HIV positive. Others do know their status but might not know what medications are available to them. That's why the integration of the info4africa HCT (HIV Counselling and Testing) database into the YoungAfricaLive ...

Maybe, just maybe, Google is getting it wrong in Africa. I recently attended a very good session on responsive design by Luisella Mazza, and although I think responsive design is awesome, it's not for Africa. She (and Google) recommended that anyone building for an African audience use responsive design to ...

MEF, a global community for mobile content and commerce, has launched a dedicated African office to help promote mobile growth and showcase innovation on the continent. Headquartered in Johannesburg, the MEF Africa Office, launched in association with mobile operator Vodacom, will reportedly serve as a hub for MEF's African membership. ...

We all know that mobile in Africa is a big deal. It allowed countries to leapfrog some Western technologies and has fostered innovative products like Mpesa. Less well known is the actual number of mobile subscribers. Hint: it's big, and will only get bigger.The number of mobile subscriptions ...

Look at the figures. Android and Apple are completely dominating the smartphone space. Despite the best efforts of its competitors, no seems able to break their hold on the industry. Mozilla thinks it can.The open-source organisation reckons it can disrupt the smartphone OS space in the same way it ...

Success in the mobile space is all about “glocalisation”, says Ralph Simon from mobile strategy company Mobilium.Speaking via Skype from Russia at the Tech4Africa conference in Johannesburg, Simon talked about the importance of making content that’s in line with global trends but that is at the same time locally relevant ...

Building an ecommerce business in Africa is a markedly different process from other, more developed parts of the world as well as other emerging markets. The business models, operations and marketing solutions that work for Amazon, for example, probably won’t work in Africa which is evolving very differently in terms ...