Samsung Unveils Galaxy S4 mini with 4.3” Screen and Dual-core Processor

By ROMMY IMAH with agency reports

Samsung Electronics announced the Galaxy S4 mini smartphone, which has a larger screen and a better camera than its predecessor, the Galaxy S III mini.

IDG News reports that the introduction of a pared down version of the Galaxy S4 is in line with Samsung's tradition of trying to take advantage of the hype its flagship products have received. The compact version of the Galaxy S4 comes less than a year after the company announced the Galaxy S III mini in October.

The Galaxy S4 mini has a 4.3-inch screen with 960 x 540 pixels and is powered by a 1.7GHz dual-core processor. There is also an 8-megapixel camera, 8GB of integrated storage and 1.5GB of RAM.

The Galaxy S III mini, in comparison, has a 4-inch screen with 800 x 480 pixels and is powered by a dual-core 1GHz processor. The Galaxy S III mini takes pictures with a 5-megapixel camera and stores them on either 8 or 16GB of storage.

After the controversy in the U.K. over how much storage users have left on the Galaxy S4, Samsung has said about 5GB of the storage on the S4 mini can be accessed by users.

That Samsung skimps on storage should raise a few eyebrows among users since the company makes memory products. On the other hand, Sony recently released the Xperia ZR, and that too has only 8GB. Both smartphones have a microSD card slot for expanding the storage capacity.

The Galaxy S4 mini runs Android version 4.2.2 like its bigger sibling. Like the Galaxy S4, it can also use the S Health app, which allows users to keep track of steps and monitor sleeping patterns. The phone can also control TVs, set-top boxes, and DVD players with WatchON's IR remote.

Availability of the Galaxy S4 mini supporting either LTE, HSPA+ or 3G with two SIM cards, will be determined by market, according to Samsung. The company didn't reveal what the phone will cost.

Three Reasons Why Tablets Thrive While PCs Dive

As the PC desktop and laptop market slumps and the tablet market grows, it might seem obvious to tablet users why that's so. However, details shared by analysts dramatically highlight three reasons behind robust tablet growth.

Tablets are growing so much in popularity that they will outstrip laptops shipped in 2013, IDC said, while tablets will exceed both laptops and desktops by 2015. There are three key reasons for the tablet's success.

First, tablets, on average, cost less than laptops or desktops -- about 60% as much.

Second, tablets are lighter and smaller, on average, and, therefore, more mobile, than laptops. Tablets with screen sizes that are less than 8 inches will make up 55% of the market in 2013, IDC said this week.

Third, tablets function differently from laptops and desktops and are regarded as easier to use. They have instant-on capabilities, longer battery life and touchscreens that users, so far, don't seem to want on desktops or laptops.

The big picture

Overall, IDC said tablet shipments will grow by 58.7% in 2013, reaching 229.3 million tablets, an increase from 144.5 million last year.

Meanwhile, PC shipments in 2013 will fall by 7.8%, the second consecutive year of negative growth, IDC said, as users delay PC purchases and turn to tablets and smartphones for more of their computing needs. The bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend in workplaces is adding to the PC decline.

In its forecast, IDC said there will be 187.4 million laptops shipped in 2013. Desktop PCs will account for 134.4 million shipments in 2013. IDC expectstablets to outpace the entire

Google Invests $12m in South Africa Solar Project

By ROMMY IMAH with agency reports

Google has invested about $12 million in South Africa’s Jasper Power Solar Project. Celebrating Progress Africa reports that Rick Needham, Director of Energy & Sustainability at Google, said the project will power about 30,000 South African homes and will be one of the largest solar installations on the continent.

The project which is developed and funded by SolarReserve, Intikon Energy and the Kensani Group, is also backed by Rand Merchant Bank, the Public Investment Corporation, Development Bank of South Africa and the PEACE Humansrus Trust.

South Africa has a goal of achieving a rate of 18GW in renewable energy by 2030 compared to about 44GW being produced by all its resources at present.

The total cost of the Jasper solar farm is estimated at about $260 million.

The investment is a significant win for South Africa given its heavily coal dependent energy system.

Google is confident it can make a reasonable return on its investment in the project by helping spur more growth in the broader sector.

“There’s a clear need for more power in South Africa,” said Needham. “In the meantime, we can make some returns on our investments, so it’s a win-win,” he said.

The project is one of many projects kickstarted by South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program and is expected to create 300 jobs for construction and 50 permanent jobs.

Speaking on Google’s recent investment, Ompi Aphane, a Deputy Director-General at the South African department of energy said, “It’s very good that the likes of Google see value and have expressed an interest in our programme. Over and above that we would like to also have solid investors participating in the programme. You have the confidence that those kind of brand-conscious companies are not going to do a quick and nasty.”

Cisco Drags Microsoft to Court

Cisco and Italian VoIP provider Messagenet have challenged the European Commission's 2011 approval of Microsoft's USD 8.5 billion acquisition of Skype, saying the EC should not have allowed the creation of a monopoly.

Reuters reports that Cisco's attorney, Luis Ortiz Blanco, told judges that the takeover “marked a tipping point in the video communications market”.

The plaintiffs are arguing that the EC should have forced Microsoft to make concessions for the deal to be approved.

Microsoft said in March that its one-third of the world’s voice calls are on Skype and over 280 million people use the service for more than 100 minutes each month.

EC lawyer Corneliu Hoedlmayr pointed to Skype rivals such as Google Talk and Viber as evidence that there is no competitive harm, adding that emerging technologies “could render Skype a relic”.

The court is due to give its verdict in the coming months.

MTN Group Names Former CEO Nhleko as Chairman

*Nhleko

MTN Group has named former CEO Phuthuma Nhleko as its chairman, replacing Cyril Ramaphosa, who has stepped down.

In a statement, MTN confirmed that Ramaphosa had retired from the board of MTN at the conclusion of its AGM. Ramaphosa has served as chairman of the MTN board since 2001.

MTN said his valuable contribution and strong leadership had been key drivers in the success of the group. 

Nhleko, one of South Africa's best known businessmen, retired as MTN's chief executive in 2011, after nine years at the head of the company.

MTN also noted that at the AGM, all the ordinary and special resolutions contained in the notice of the Annual General Meeting dated 19 April 2013 were passed, without modification, by the requisite majority votes.

MTN Eyes 200m Subscribers by Mid-2013

*Sifiso Dabengwa

MTN Group expects to have 200 million subscribers on its network by the middle of the year, according to Agency reports.

MTN Group CEO, Sifiso Dabengwa said at an MTN AGM that the telecom company had increased its subscriber base to 197.4 million in the four months ended 30 April.

Dabengwa said MTN expected to deliver improved organic growth in revenue and EBITDA during 2013. The group's revenues had grown by 5.6 percent year-on-year in the four months to end April. Rand-reported revenues were up 15 percent year-on-year and were driven by a weaker rand against the dollar, while local currency revenues were down marginally year-on-year.

Dabengwa said that, despite the larger-than-anticipated cut in termination rates in Nigeria, the group remained comfortable with its guidance on MTN Nigeria's revenue and EBITDA margin for the full year.

Meanwhile, MTN South Africa's performance was hit by weaker consumer demand and increased competition, but it maintained its relative revenue share in the first four months of the year.

The group's operations in Iran, Ghana, Sudan and Uganda showed healthy growth in both revenue and subscriber numbers for the period. Group data and SMS revenue continued to expand strongly in most markets, increasing their contribution to total group revenue to about 18 percent.

Dabengwa stated that the implementation of cost-optimisation initiatives would remain a key priority for the group in the year ahead.

Odusote to Preside Over Nigeria IPV6 Roundtable 2013

*Mrs. Odusote

Former Admin Contact for Nigeria’s country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD), .ng, Mrs. Ibukun Odusote, has been named the chairperson of the Nigeria IPv6 Roundtable 2013, which is on its fourth edition.

Organizers of the event, DigitalSENSE Africa Media, through its Executive Director, Operations, Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke said the nomination of Mrs. Odusote to preside over the 2013 edition of the Roundtable was unanimously adopted by the management board of her company.

Mrs. Nweke noted that the one-day Nigeria IPv6 Roundtable is held annually in commemoration of the World Internet Protocol version Six (IPv6) in the country, every June 6, with this year’s theme as “IPv6 and Mobile Services in Nigeria.”

She added that several companies who intend to play in the IPv6 industry are gearing up for the commemoration by booking a space for exhibition of some products akin to IPv6.

The Executive Director pointed out that Mrs. Odusote’s pedigree in Nigeria’s Internet industry cannot be over-emphasised beginning from when she became the Admin contact for .ng and later grew to become director, IT at the Information and Communications ministry.

As the national coordinator of Digital Peers International, Mrs. Odusote has proven that Nigerian women can really play the role of champion in Internet evolution and as pioneer in several fronts in encouraging children to adapt to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

Mrs. Nweke revealed that the event would hold on Thursday, June 6, this year with a

Court Orders APCON to Vet Airtel Adverts

The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) to perform its statutory obligation of vetting advertising materials submitted to it by leading telecommunications service provider Airtel Networks Limited.

A statement made available to onlinerommy.blogspot.com quoted Hon Justice M. N. Yunusa as giving an order of interim injunction on May 24, 2013 compelling APCON to carry out its functions regarding Airtel’s advertising materials and restraining it and its agents or officers “from refusing to vetting, approving or giving consideration to any advertisement whatsoever” from Airtel pending hearing of the motion on notice on June 13.

The statement further added that Justice Yunusa also granted Airtel “an order of certiorari to quash the ruling and proceedings of the Advertising Standards Panel of May 3, 2103”, an order to prevent APCON from effecting the decisions of the Advertising Standards Panel of May 3 as well as an order of mandamus compelling performance of its statutory function.

Justice Yunusa’s orders followed a motion exparte deposed to on behalf of Airtel by Tinuola T. Ogundipe-Alatise on May 23 seeking the court’s leave to quash the proceedings of the Advertising Standards Panel of May 3, 2013 which had refused to vet advertising

Google Plans Wireless Internet Networks Across Africa, Asia

Google is looking to build wireless networks across Asia and Africa using high-altitude balloons and blimps.

According to wired.com, the aim is to help connect around one billion people to the Internet by financing, building and helping to operate networks from sub-Saharan Africa to Southeast Asia.

To support the project, Google has been developing an ecosystem to low-cost, Android smartphones with low-power microprocessors.

By carrying the signal on high-altitude platforms, Google is expected to be able to cover areas of hundreds of square kilometres.