This week in tech saw a number of developments across the African continent and the world. Facebook revealed that the company is looking to put steps in place to monetise popular messaging service WhatsApp.
In other news, Joe Falter was appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer of Jumia Travel.
This week, the team at IT News Africa produced a list identifying the Africa countries with the fastest download speeds.
From all of us at IT News Africa: have a great weekend. The top stories of the week can be found below.
News
Facebook planning to monetise WhatsApp
Facebook has revealed that the company is looking to put steps in place to monetise the messaging app, WhatsApp. Read More.
Nairobi Garage relocates to state-of-the-art premises
Nairobi Garage has revealed the official opening of its new state-of-the-art entrepreneurship centre, featuring three floors of specially designed office, co-working and event space in the heart of Kenya’s capital city. Read More.
Mobile money platform Alipay enters South Africa
Online and mobile payment platform Alipay has announced a partnership with Zapper, a mobile payment, customer insights and digital marketing platform developed in South Africa. Read More.
Two medical students tackle reproductive health challenge in Rwanda.
Two medical students from the University of Rwanda have developed an application that aims to teach teenagers about reproductive health. Tantine was developed by Sylvie Uhirwa and Sylvain Muzungu Uhirwa after the pair saw a need to educate teenagers about reproductive health. The app is available for download on Google Play Store. Read More.
Joe Falter appointed as the new CEO of Jumia Travel
Jumia Travel has announced the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer, Joe Falter, succeeding Paul Midy who has exited the top post to take a different position in the larger Jumia Group. Falter, who is also the Founder and CEO of Travel’s sister company Jumia Food, assumes the role as part of efforts outlined to further bolster the company’s operations. Read More.
Safaricom’s Uber/Taxify rival to hit Nigeria in October 2017
As the rivalry and competition between the two taxi hailing apps, Taxify and Uber, grows across the continent, a new player is entering the game. Little, the newest taxi hailing app, has the backing of Kenya’s telecoms company, Safaricom, and is set to begin operation in Lagos as of 8 October 2017. Read More.
Top Opinions & Features
Attendees react to 2017 Healthcare Innovation Summit Africa
The 3rd edition of the Healthcare Innovation Summit Africa (#HISA2017) took place on 29 and 30 August 2017 at Vodacom World in Midrand, Johannesburg. This two-day event featured provocative panel discussions, interactive roundtables and a roster of thought-leading, incisive speakers. Read More.
Shadow IT could be the reason businesses “wannacry”
There are mixed opinions about implementing unauthorised, IT applications (apps) within the organisation, a practice known as Shadow IT. Opinion on Shadow IT is divided into two camps. Some believe that due to the fast pace of business, demands are exceeding IT capability, Shadow IT answers the need for fast, agile solutions and encourages innovative thinking. However, others suppose that Shadow IT causes a breakdown in traditional yet necessary processes, opening up the scope for risk. Read More.
Top 5 essential gadgets to have during a natural disaster
The world is going through a tumultuous period with various forms of natural disasters hitting different sections of the globe seemingly all at the same time. Countries in Africa, Central America, the Carribean and the United States have all been subjected to different forms of natural disaster, all causing different degrees of devastation and loss. Read More.
Top 10 African countries with the fastest download speeds listed
Internet penetration is growing in Africa and more people use the internet for various reasons such as work, school, accessing information as well as, more recently, streaming video content such as YouTube, Netflix, Showmax, and more. New streaming video services are making strides in the African market but with slow internet speeds, streaming video can prove to be difficult. Read More.
How to protect your PC system from viruses
Virus threats have always been around the cyber community affecting not only their security but causing data loss as well. Virus threats in the form of ransomware, spyware, adware, Trojans, phishing attempts and much more have caused a serious threat to users around the world. The threat is visible in different forms even today when a lot has been done to fence cyber security. The repercussion might not have been changed but the threat is coming in different forms every single day. There are certain measures you can follow to avoid these threats. Read More.
How new local data centres will drive digital transformation in Africa
Fundamental to the digital transformation process and becoming an always-on enterprise is access to data, be it mission-critical, business-critical, or other. This requirement underpins every aspect of business as companies cannot be competitive without having high-speed and reliable access to the data hosted on a server, whether it is on-premise or in a data centre. In a world where virtualisation has become standard and businesses are doing more to understand customers using all manner of new data types, this connectivity to data takes on a whole new level of importance. Read More.
Gadgets and Gaming
Huawei becomes worlds second largest smartphone brand surpassing Apple
Counterpoint Research revealed on Thursday 7 September 2017 that Chinese smartphone manufacturer, Huawei, has overtaken Apple as the world’s second largest smartphone maker by sales. Apples’s iPhone now sits in third place with Samsung sitting at the top of the pile. Read More.
Vodacom releases new range of “affordable devices”
On Tuesday, 5 September 2017, Vodacom announced the launch of two new 4G smartphones to bolster its suite of Vodacom Branded Devices (VBD) that are designed and priced to appeal to the value conscious customer looking for a device that is affordable and that offers the latest smartphone technology. The latest devices are the Smart V8 and Smart N8, both devices come with the latest Android Nougat operating system. Read More.
The Nokia 8 launches in South Africa
The new Nokia 8 was released on Thursday 7 September 2017 in Johannesburg, South Africa. HMD Global, the home of Nokia phones, unveiled the first flagship device in the Nokia/HMD journey which will be available exclusively from Vodacom at the recommended retail price of R9 499 and on a uChoose flexi 150 at R499x24, no date has been announce for the end of the exclusivity period. Read More.
Top 8 games to buy this September 2017
Septemeber 2017 is most definitely the month for gaming. With most of 2017’s top-tier releases hitting the shelves, it may be hard to decide just what you should spend your hard earned salary on. Read more.
Destiny 2 servers down
PlayStation 4 users attempting to login into Destiny 2 have recently been greeted by a server error. Developer Bungie has confirmed that Destiny 2 servers are currently down for some PlayStation 4 players. According to the development team, this is due to a large PlayStation Network issue and a prolonged outage, just a day after the games big worldwide launch. Read More.
IFA 2017: Motorola Launches Moto x4 and Moto z2
Motorola, a subsidiary of Lenovo, announced the launch of two new devices on Monday the 4th of August in Berlin at the world renowned 2017 IFA showcase. The Moto x4 was revealed in a worldwide premiere of the device while the Moto z2 Force Edition was released to the Europe, Middle East and African markets. Read More.
By: Dean Workman
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