In a move that will definitely change the competition dynamics of local mobile money, telecash, the mobile money arm of Telecel has made it free to transfer money to a registered telecash subscriber.This automatically places telecash as the cheapest mobile money transfer option for the Zimbabwean market.

The new wave of “tariff treats” also comes with reduced tariffs for sending money to non-registered subscribers across all local networks and with the 5 cents charge placed by the regulator on all transactions being covered by telecash with that freebie. telecash will however maintain charges for cash-outs.

Through slightly cheaper services, new products like the telecash Gold Card and now free mobile money transfers, Telecel has been putting up a strong fight for the growth and success of their mobile money option. In its first six months telecash had grown to 600,000 subscribers.

Telecel was the last operator to roll out its own mobile money service, which together with the need for success of add-on services in telecoms is what seems to be driving such ambitious market growth tactics.

While any reduced financial burden will undoubtedly be welcome by subscribers, this is a rather gutsy move from Telecel. This price reduction’s long term focus in terms of subscriber growth and loyalty, if not as successful as anticipated could have a negative impact on performance that now relies more on services like mobile money and less on voice revenue.

It will be worth the watch to see how the other mobile money services like market leader EcoCash which has 4 million subscribers, responds to this price reduction.

PayPal has just announced its active user base figure in South Africa, and it’s 1 million! Great yes, that so many more people can pay using what has become the defacto payment gateway of the internet. 1 million is however still less than 1% of PayPal’s active user accounts globally of 152 million and at home in South Africa, 1 million is just 4% of the 22.5 million (2012) banked adults in the country.

No surprises here really as online payments and PayPal itself are bigger in the US, and developed markets in Europe where it started. In the US, the 1 million accounts milestone happened about 14 years ago and now the company has more than 50 million active PayPal users or 24% of the total US banked population.

In South Africa, where about 2% of the population now have active PayPal accounts, PayPal says the rapid expansion has been thanks to a deal with FNB that happened 4 years ago which allowed banked individuals to easily link their bank account to a PayPal account. The one million accounts, an FNB representative said yesterday as part of the announcement, “is an extremely significant milestone for both PayPal and FNB.”

It would have ofcourse been even greater to know what effect on PayPal active user accounts the opening up to Africa move had. What, for example, became of the “tens of thousands” of new users accounts in just a week in Nigeria?

What is clear ofcourse is that Africa represents a huge growth opportunity for PayPal. Africa’s total population is almost the same size as North America and Europe combined. Ofcourse Africa is nowhere near as technologically advanced as America was in 1999. Nor is its population as economically active in value terms as individuals are in developed economies.

Mobile based financial services on the continent have been their own story however, that is not following a path laid out by the developed countries before it. Any payment gateway startup on the continent that’s able to see these opportunities closer than PayPal may be seeing or caring to see, may be able to take the payments giant head on with a different set of tools. It will be a company that leverages a deeper understanding and therefore easier integration to mobile money. We’re guessing that’s what Paynow and PesaPal are about.

Do you use PayPal yet? How much compared to the other payment methods like Mastercard direct, Paynow and others?

In this podcast we discussed the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and the twist Zimbabweans have made to promote HIV-testing. We also touched on the termination of the Kingdom Cell Card. We briefly discussed the up coming ZOL Startup Challenge meet set for Bulawayo and the burgeoning tech ecosystem there.

Recently Ecocash introduced the EcoCash MasterCard Debit Card that undoubtedly was a game changer, allowing millions of ‘unbanked’ people the opportunity to have the convenience of making payments anywhere and everywhere. Yes, the card works across borders, anywhere in the world they say and then there was the ‘possibility’ of making online payments.

I went ahead and got the card as I was interested to know whether the card can be used online to make payments. It wasn’t too difficult. $2 and my I.D. got me sorted. There is some kind of linking of card to the EcoCash mobile wallet that needs to take place, and you good to go. Well, almost, you’ll need money in the account of course.

As we are always looking for the tech opportunity for startups here at Techzim, I was eager to know what convenience the EcoCash MasterCard debit card brought to would-be entrepreneurs who often times need to make purchases online.

Does the Ecocash MasterCard debit card work online?

Well, I tested it out here at the office, tried to make a few online purchases and here are my findings:

1. You CAN NOT make online purchases with your ‘physical’ Ecocash MasterCard. Yes, I frantically tried and tried but was continually met with “we are unable to review this card. Please try again or enter another one“. A call to the Steward Bank toll free call centre (all Ecocash MasterCard’s are issued by the Econet-owned bank Steward) revealed that the ‘physical’ Ecocash MasterCard debit card can not be used for such transactions.

2. The customer services representative advised me that one has to ‘buy’ a Virtual Card Number for $0.50, a MasterCard debit card number, that is valid for 14 days, and can only be used once. Essentially making the cost of your transaction a bit higher. (see transaction table below. Click for higher res)

3. Though you can link you VCN to PayPal (yes, in case you never read, PayPal is available in Zimbabwe), you are limited to doing transactions of $150 and less until you can ‘verify’ your card. If you need to make a payment to someone for more than $150, I guess you just have to advise them that their payment is coming in batches. This should not be much of a problem if you want to send money to a friend or relative though.

4. The VCN currently CAN NOT be linked to Google Play, so essentially you can’t buy Android app with it. Unfortunately, we haven’t tested with IOS but we’ll update once we’ve done so. If there’s anyone who has tried, please comment below.

So in a nutshell, the physical Ecocash MasterCard debit card can not make online payments at the moment. However, the VCN fills the gap on that one.

I’m still of the opinion that this is a game changer as it compares well to the FBC MasterCard and has a hand up on the Telecel telecash Gold card.

Getting a Virtual Debit card from the EcoCash USSD menu. So, you get to that first screen by selecting Wallet Services. -> Select ‘EcoCash Debit Card’ -> Select ‘Get Virtual Card’ -> Select ‘EcoCash/Master Card’ -> Enter the ‘nickname’ as requested and you get the virtual card number via SMS.

We have been following your recent entry into the local market and the waves that it has created. Not too sure if we got to tell you this, but well done!

Imagine our excitement when we found out earlier this week that you have zero-rated Telecash transfers to registered users, essentially encouraging the usage of mobile money. We’re sure you’ve done your maths, you know how profitable this will be for both your stakeholders (merchants and agents), as well as for yourself.

We’re no accountants (or economists) but we give it to you for pleasing your users.

Anyway, our reason for writing is to find out whether we can now directly ‘cash-in’ into other users accounts? Hear the argument: We perceive that the reason you would “force” users to ‘cash-in’ to their accounts and then transfer that money to another user was so you could benefit from the transaction fee levied on transfers. Now that you have removed those fees, wouldn’t it be great to allow us to ‘cash-in’ directly into another user’s account, saving us the hassle of transferring?

Yes, I know that you might say that there is a risk to it, that we might cash-in into the wrong account and that person could then withdraw the money and we go crying all the way from the bank… but, at the point of ‘cash-in’, the Agent representative is able to verify the name of the user, before pressing ‘Confirm’ and hence safeguard any “accidental” cash-ins.

When I go to the bank, I can easily fill in a deposit slip and make a deposit into another person’s account. I have been to other regional markets and have noticed that the mobile money providers have forms that we need to fill in when making a deposit/’cash-in’. I imagine the same could be done here?

So, Telecel, it would be great if you can remove the limitation of depositing only into my wallet, basically allowing any user (even someone using Ecocash) to come deposit into my Telecash account, and you make your money through ‘cash-out’ and other in-platform services (DStv payments, utilities and the like – Oh, while we’re at it, what’s the latest on ZESA prepaid electricity coupons through Telecash?)

In a fulfillment of promises made a few months ago Telecel has, through a partnership with Mukuru,  now enabled the remittances of diasporan funds straight into the mobile wallets of its mobile money service telecash.

With this new arrangement, which will currently be active for remittances from South Africa, when someone sends money through Mukuru and chooses the Telecash collection option, the money will be received in the recipient’s Telecash mobile wallet. It will reflect instantly in the recipient’s Telecash wallet without any charges.

Once the money is in the local mobile wallet, a subscriber can perform all the usual activities that come with mobile money. In Telecel’s case this will mean that funds can also be withdrawn on ATMs and accessed through any Zimswitch points courtesy of its Gold Card.

Telecel pointed out that the whole remittances through the mobile wallet as recently as two months ago when it launched its Gold Card. The arrangement with remittances company Mukuru is also similar to what EcoCash facilitated in June with World Remit. 

Although that arrangement has been lucrative for Econet, it has failed to offer remittances for the South African diasporan market which by anyone’s guess is a huge market in its own right.

You can read the full press release from Telecel below

Telecash and Mukuru partner in remittance

It was with great sadness that we read of Borrowdale Brooke SPAR shutting down. Many of us were shocked and wondered what exactly went wrong, and if things were bad for you what more for the average Joe like us?

We’re not too sure what caused you to close, at least it’s nothing like the Arundel SPAR incident of last year.It would be great if you’d shed some light on what caused you to close, so that we can draw lessons from this.

One would have thought that if any business was to succeed it would be you guys, after all you had it “all” going for you. You were in the ‘right’ location, right in the heart of where the money is!

Who wouldn’t want to target buyers in Borrowdale Brooke? When we also look at what you were selling/offering, many-a-time we’d remark that your products/prices are suited for people in the ‘Brooke’.

But alas.

Where to from here for Borrowdale Brooke SPAR?

Now that you have decided to close shop, I’d have thought the most logical thing for you to have done is to ‘relocate’.

Looking at the area that you were located and the type of clientele that you served, me thinks that the probability of having an online store and having users to buy from you are quite high. More so since users can now conveniently shop and pay online using services like PayNow.

I would have thought that an online store, where users can check the prices of goods and even make purchases would be ideal.

If you do this, targeting former shoppers at Borrowdale Brooke SPAR, and it proves to be a success (after all these are the people with a large disposable income and fast internet access) then there will be an opportunity this will cascade downwards to other income brackets. After all just about anyone having internet access can use the website.

Do you have any plans to go online? Would you need any assistance in setting up a website? I’m sure readers here on Technology Zimbabwe will be more than willing to help (maybe get paid for it as well) and hopefully we can work towards solving the e-Commerce opportunity here in Zimbabwe.

Here’s this week’s edition of the podcast. We discussed the new online music platform, Jive Zimbabwe and its impact on the fight against piracy. We also touched on Telecel’s new arrangement with Mukuru.com for remittances from South Africa to telecash wallets, the new Twitter Analytics feature and TelOne’s disclaimer on ADSL speeds.

Please feel free to share your own opinions on the topics we covered in this podcast in the comments section below.

“Nobody wants to buy their Tomatoes online!”

This weekend we (my friends and I) decided to have a little get together and watch all the airing football matches together, something that we do every other weekend.

As is also always the case we found ourselves debating over every topic under the sun during the breaks but this time online shopping (specifically why it has not caught on in Zimbabwe) was one of the topics we explored.

A lot of nuggets were unearthed during these escapades and I have decided to share them with you. Please bear in mind some of these strongly worded arguments are not mine, they are just my friends’ crude attempts at candour.

For a long time those in the tech sector have peddled various reasons why e-commerce ,specifically online shopping, has not yet caught on in Zimbabwe. For a long time all the failures of online entrepreneurs were blamed on inadequate payment solutions.

To some people all our woes could be placed squarely on PayPal’s door. The consensus among my friends was that this was rather simplistic and the fact that the arrival of PayPal, the Ecocash MasterCard and the development of Paynow as well as other payment solutions has not resulted in any immediate breakthrough seems to justify this conclusion.

• No culture of online buying-  Most Zimbabweans ,it would seem, prefer making their purchases in store because it is the way they have done it for years. People prefer to choose the products and services, feeling them out, taking clothes into change rooms and such. A lot of people for example do not even know what size clothes they wear, they just go into a shop and buy whatever fits. Even when people where making mail orders in developed countries they were still unpopular in this country. Online retailers need to overcome this reluctance shown by people which is no easy task. Few people order their pizza by phone, they have always bought their pizza in store and that is not about to change because PayPal came to Zimbabwe.
• There are no clear advantages to buying online-Right now buying products online in this country is nothing but a mere novelty with no apparent virtues. Why should I buy a pizza online instead of going to the store? Most available online stores have a more limited selection of goods and some even charge a premium when compared to their brick and mortar counterparts.
• Courier problem- Local couriers like to charge a premium and most do not deliver to remote areas-the very places that would benefit from online shopping. For example couriers like DHL, FedEx and UPS do not deliver to most growth points and rural areas and require you to visit one of their urban depots to collect your packages. Why order online when you will have to go to the nearest town to receive the goods anyway? It would help if couriers had an overnight or same-day delivery option that was affordable.
• Most people don’t understand online buying at all- Even when it’s virtues are apparent, most people still don’t get online buying at all. What is it all about? Those involved in the sector must embark on an evangelising exercise extolling its virtues in much the same way pentecostal churches go about their business.
• Coordinated frontal efforts are absent- Zimbabwe is a very small country and all the online selling efforts have been fragmented. There is no Zimbabwean Amazon/e-Bay instead there are a dozen unpopular, some downright ugly sites, some are cheap imitations of their international counterparts lacking most of their functionality, some are broken. Most are geek projects with very little merchandise on them and run by people  with little business experience. You would not believe how many sold houses are still listed on some selling websites-some posts were made years ago and there is not monitoring process to weed out sold listings. The big guys like OK, TM and Meikles are not bothered by online selling. It would be very different if say Econet were to make an online Amazon, they have the financial leverage and business acumen to make it work.
• Adolescent payment systems- while we now have payment systems at our disposal most are still in their infancy and are either still in development or the public do not yet understand them well. vPayments for instance would do well to add more banks to their portfolio, EcoCash’s MasterCard solution is just likely to lead to USSD fatigue – Why don’t they just develop an app? EcoCash would also do well with an official API that would ease integration with online stores allowing customers to click and pay instead of going through hurdle after hurdle of USSD codes-it’s so frustrating when the process fails 5 steps down the way.
• Expensive payment systems-compared with going to the bank and making a singular withdrawal most of the payment systems in this country are expensive. For a typical withdrawal you will be charged $3.50 maximum. Swiping your card will incur POS charges per swipe. My bank charges $2 for each swiping transaction. The same fee is levied for online transactions. If you use an EcoCash card you will have to generate a new one every 14 days for a fee.
• Liquidity crunch- people are in a vice they would rather do their purchases the old fashioned way rather than try something new and take on unknown risks of buying online.
• Most local goods are not suitable for online selling-one of the arguments advanced was that since local factories have fallen silent most of the goods sold online are imported goods which we have seen are sold at a premium. It would be cheaper to purchase the items directly from China rather than buy from a local dealer who is selling them at a premium. I mean as long as we are buying online why not just skip the middleman? In our agro-based economy no one is going to buy their tomatoes online.

If some of these problems are to be overcome those of us believers have to “go ye forth and preach the gospel to the unbelievers.” Just like the rugged band of believers in Christ’s time when they received the so-called Great Commission we have to go out and show people the benefits and virtues of e-commerce and online selling.

Perhaps it will become just as popular and come here and be done here as it is in developed countries.

Martin Njuguna of Chamasoft at PIVOT EAST 2014

A couple of months ago Evernote passed through Zimbabwe looking for design and development talent keen on using Evernote’s open API to develop solutions for the African market, and submit these for consideration at the Evernote Platform Awards.

As a follow up to that, Kenya’s Chamasoft was announced last week as the winner of the Africa Innovation Award. This is part of the Evernote Platform Awards presented in partnership with the African Technology Foundation.

The Kenyan app beat Prowork from Nigeria and South Africa’s OurHood- a shortlist that more or less reflects the maturity of the tech startup ecosystems in those three countries.

The Chamasoft app is a web based platform which automates the management of investment groups called chamas which are the Kenyan variant of what we call maround in Zimbabwe. The app was a winner of the PIVOT East Finance category having been launched at DEMO Africa.

The Chamasoft team will pitch during the Evernote Conference in San Francisco, California and Evernote has pledged to follow through with this initiative to ensure that African startups they work with get exposure to a global audience.

Evernote launched the Platform Awards as a way to recognise software apps around the world that connect with Evernote with the best apps being featured in Evernote App Center. The African Innovation Award is meant to recognise top development talent on the continent, which has been under the spotlight with increased attention on local ecosystems.

With online payments and e-commerce pretty much figured out thanks to various options like Paynow, Pay4App and vPayments, everyone who prefers “e-simplicity” is looking at how local merchants and service providers will make it a part of the ordinary transaction experience.

In a first from local transport and logistics concerns, freight company Swift has taken a step in that direction with its new campaign called “Just Swift It”, which extends to an easy online service experience that has an e-commerce component attached to it.

According to Swift’s PR and marketing manager Kerne Mackie, “Just Swift It” is meant to simplify the whole process of identifying and choosing what sort of service a customer wants with the internet facilitating this, together with an option to pay for the service digitally.

Through the “Just Swift It” web application clients are able to get an online quote on a parcel or cargo weighing between 0.1kgs and 6 tonnes, book a delivery and make online payments for goods. The payment process has been enabled through local payment gateway Paynow, which makes options such as EcoCash, Telecash and VISA available.

A user has to specify the size of the package they want delivered in terms of volumetric weight (the limit is 45cm x 45cm x 40cm) and since the service is currently limited to Swift Courier Express (small parcels and documents only) the package weight maximum is 20kg.

Once a user has received a quote they can proceed to pay through Paynow. If the package is at a business address Swift will come and collect it for free. However packages that need to be collected from a residential address attract a surcharge of $5.

The Swift Super Pack which carries 10kg packages

The other services on the site include the option to track and trace parcels and find the nearest Swift depot. There is also live online help which is ready to address any questions that a client might have.

The Swift web application scores a lot of points in terms of a simplified interface and service layout. Anyone landing on the page will find it fairly easy to navigate through processes such as getting a quote, finding a depot, tracking a package or paying for it. Its mobile friendliness (long live HTML5) and online help chat also add significant value.

So will this web application mean anything for tech startups involved in e-commerce?

The team from Swift indicated that they are exploring an integration with e-commerce services that want to factor in a product delivery option for their services. This element, though not yet defined at this stage, would definitely be a strong boost for local e-commerce and e-tailing efforts.

Other services to look forward to include SMS and e-mail updates for parcels in transit and increased thresholds for parcel volumes whose delivery can be paid for online. This will also hopefully unfold to include cross border deliveries through Swift’s Skynet Worldwide Express service.

Have you used the Swift web service? What has been your experience and how does it measure against competing services? Are you keen on trying it out if you have never used it before? Please feel free to share your opinions in the comments section below.

image credit: daviesevents.com

Almost two weeks ago the rather disappointing bit of news about the cancellation of John Legend’s Harare concert was announced by the organisers of the event. This meant getting refunds and giving up those tickets that some of people had reserved online in large numbers.

Well Davies Events, the same crew behind John Legend and the Bryan Adams concert has announced another headline international artist.

This time it’s James Blunt and the multi -platinum, award winning star will be at the Harare International Conference Centre on the 17th of February 2015.It definitely seems like a lifetime away for the James Blunt fan.

Just like the Legend concert the online facility that’s at our disposal is the reservation of tickets, something that Davies Events introduced to Zimbabwe when they were making arrangements for John Legend. One would have hoped that they had added that game changer to the whole online ticketing experience.

I hope that between now and February the organisers make an arrangement for online payments. An integration with Paynow or even Pay4App is very possible, and could spare fans that already make online reservations the challenge of having to queue to buy the ticket at specific box offices.

At Paynow’s developer day held at Hypercube last month a couple of developers had or talked of prototype e-ticketing systems, something that I’m sure any music fan and event organiser would be keen on seeing on the market.

If you are keen on getting more information on the concert and/or reserving you tickets online you can click here.

image credit: Twitter blog

Yesterday Twitter announced on its blog that it had started testing the use of a “Buy” button feature on tweets. The add-on allows users to initiate a purchase or buy a product or service by tapping on a button that is attached to to a tweet from a service provider.

The service is still being tested on a small percentage of users in the US, with Twitter working with a small number of test partners. A tap on the button gets you information on the product and a prompt for payment and shipping information. Enter the proper details(Twitter has made assurances on security here) and the product is delivered.

This idea of the service and its test is hardly new though. in terms of announcement Twitter is actually following in the heels of a similar service test that Facebook announced mid July, complete with all the bells and whistles (US test cases also) on this Twitter experiment.

Image credit: Facebook for business

So is Twitter’s own forward approach to this “tap to buy” approach an proof that commerce through social networks is on the horizon?

Should we be excited about the prospect of tapping or clicking on Facebook ads and tweets to place an order for concert tickets without logging out of bundle-priced social media platforms?

The jury is still definitely out on that one as the “testing the waters” approach from Twitter and social media giant Facebook suggests that its not so easy to assume this will work.

If it does take off in the US the next frontier is the global market where Facebook particularly has a tremendous footprint. In Africa Facebook has 100 million monthly users with over 80% on mobile devices. That’s an impressive potential market to work with assuming that the right structures are in place.

The successes in Africa or any other market will likely hinge on how it is sold, particularly in instances where e-commerce and online purchasing is a different animal all together. Some relevance to previous online purchasing efforts has to be drawn first.

For most of Africa, any whiff of e-commerce and e-tailing has to consider the mobile commerce perspective. In the Zimbabwean context for instance, any mention of credit card details won’t get you far if you want to dominate the small market.

However if you bring in an m-commerce angle through mobile money options this means tapping into the wallets of famously touted “previously unbanked”. Perhaps a Facebook and Twitter “Buy” button with an integrated local payment solution will work in such a case.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves for now. It’s still an experiment after all.

You may have noticed increased visibility of a money remittance service called Hand2Hand. They are interesting in a couple of ways but mainly that they got access to what so far we thought was only accorded to WorldRemit only – they are able to send money directly from global credit cards via a website to EcoCash mobile wallets.

So, in short, Hand2Hand, a Zimbabwean registered forex company, enables anyone anywhere in the world to transfer money to an EcoCash Wallet, and Zimbabwean bank accounts through their website. The “anywhere in the world” part is exactly as Hand2Hand puts it, which is interesting in that so far we thought there were some regulatory issues that are preventing WorldRemit from activating the South Africa – Zimbabwe channel.

Hand2Hand being able to send money from South Africa to Zimbabwe is a big deal because there’s a lot of money flowing already between the two countries either via such methods as bus drivers, truck drivers, FNB, Western Union, Moneygram, Mukuru etc… It has been estimated that the 1.9 million Zimbabweans living and working in South Africa send an average R6.7 billion (about US $620 million) a year to Zimbabwe. Match that with EcoCash’s 4 million subscribers in Zimbabwe and you have potential for a very healthy business.

The reality however that may make Hand2Hand’s business not as big as the potential suggests is the limited number of migrants in South Africa than have access to credit cards. We may ofcourse be wrong but we imagine there are many Zimbabweans in South Africa that have no access to credit cards, most of whom are in South Africa illegally. Making it as easy as possible for such people to transact is something Mukuru has understood more than their competitors.

That aside, in terms of rates, Hand2Hand charges 6.5% but a minimum of USD $3.50. In short if you are transferring less than $50 then you are paying significantly more than the 6.5%. The less you transfer the more you pay.  In terms of comparison to the competition, WorldRemit said they charge about 5% for a similar transfer to a mobile wallet. Western Union, for a normal brick and mortar branch pick up, charge about 10%. Mukuru also charges 10% flat for all transactions whether destined for Telecash, Textacash or brick & mortar. Please note however that if you decide to use Hand2Hand, like all other services allowing you to send money from your credit card, there’s the credit card transaction fee and the mobile wallet withdrawal fee to add to the remittance service’s fee.

That said Hand2Hand is currently the only way to send cash from a credit card directly into an EcoCash mobile wallet from South Africa so the competition is not really direct competition. Yet.

As for transfers to other mobile network wallets (Telecash and OneWallet) please do note that even though Hand2Hand advertises as though this is possible, when we signed up for the service, only transfers to EcoCash mobile wallets and to regular bank accounts were possible.

The other interesting thing about Hand2Hand is a Multi-Level Marketing component to remittances that they have. Essentially, you get a cut of the commission Hand2Hand charges if you get someone else to sign up and use the service. Like other MLM services, Hand2Hand promises that if you take the job of recruiting other users seriously enough, there’s an opportunity to make big bucks. In the thousands a month!

We noticed searching the internet for information about Hand2Hand that their history stretches back to 2002 when they launched “a Web-based International Money Transfers Service“. They saw the future a long time ago!

Here’s a video about the service:

The Apple event has come and gone, and all that can be said about the whole thing is, wow. They took their “do it late but do it right statement”, and went all the way home.

Not only have they made their phone faster, but they have managed to listen to their customers and make it bigger. They have also managed to guarantee their followers a need to upgrade, assuming that many had not already done so, by making their previous iterations of the phone irrelevant.

“How so?”, one might ask. Simple, size does matter, and they for the first time have released two bigger versions of their phone, the 4.7” and 5.5” . Both are bigger than their previous iterations of the iPhone, with one comfortably large and the other for the “premium” seekers. All versions of the iPhone 6 will be running iOS8. The software will be available for iPhone 4S and above.

SPECS

In this article, all that will be discussed is the first impressions, given that it will take quite a while for the phone not only to reach Zimbabwe, but also for it to be reviewed.

Build

The build design of the iPhone has changed quite a lot compared to the iPhone 5s, with the iPhone 6 duo sporting a more rounded feel to them. The phones are not using the rumoured sapphire display but they are now using, what Apple has branded “ion strengthened glass”.

This glass has been curved around the edges to present a more seamless experience when swiping. Both phones are made with anodised aluminium, with the iPhone 6 coming in with 6.9 mm thickness and the iPhone 6 Plus at 7.1 mm.

The screen for the iPhone 6 has a 4.7” IPS LCD with retina HD, which is 750×1334 and translates to 326 ppi. While the iPhone 6 Plus has a 5.5” IPS LCD with retina HD display of 1920x1080pixels which translates to 400ppi. The apps on the devices should work well with the new displays because of a desktop-class scaler.

This will only be necessary until developers update their apps to support the new resolution. Apple addressed the old annoyance of not being able to reach the opposite corner of the screen by allowing one to double touch the home key to force the screen to move closer to the thumb.

Camera

The iSight camera makes a return on both phones with its now relatively low resolution of 8MP, however apple says it has improved it by adding phase detection auto-focus with an f/2.2 aperture offering 85% more light than the previous aperture.

The iPhone 6 will only feature digital image stabilisation, while the iPhone 6 Plus will have optical image stabilisation. The camera is said to be able shoot panoramas of up to 43MP. Video recording resolution is still at 1080p but now supports 60fps, up from 720p at 60fps. Slo-motion capture is available at up to 240fps at an unspecified rate as of yet.

Processor and Graphics

The new phones both feature the A8 chipset built using a 20nm process. This has allowed it to be more energy efficient, while at the same time the CPU is 25% faster and with a GPU boost of 50%.

Apple is promising sustained performance from their new phones, where in the older iterations you have the phone’s performance drop over time during use, the new phones are supposed to be able to sustain performance despite operating at maximum for a while, e.g. during gaming. This would probably mean less chance of phones lagging when running heavy apps.

Battery

The battery life on the phones seems to have been improved, which is expected given they now have more space to throw the battery into.

However the battery life isn’t the same for both phones, with the iPhone 6 having a promised 50 hrs audio, 11 hrs video, 11 hrs Wi-Fi browsing, 10 hrs LTE, 10 hrs 3G browsing and 14 hrs  3G talk and standby of up to 10 days.

The larger iPhone 6 plus will have a whopping 80 hrs audio, 14 hrs. video, 12 hrs. Wi-Fi, 12 hrs LTE, 12 hrs. 3G browsing, 24 hrs 3G talk and 16 days standby. This is the most battery life to be seen on an Apple phone, and I have to say it was about time.

Apple Pay

Apple’s version of mobile payment system is Apple Pay. It works with the touch ID sensor and NFC brought in with the new devices. Since it works with the NFC in the dew devices, the service will not be available on older devices.

Basically when making a payment all that’s needed is for the phone to be brought close to an online terminal and then one’s finger be placed on the home button of the phone for a second, and the payment is done. Literally with one touch payments are made, no codes or any other hassles.

For the system to work, one of the users cards needs to have been entered into the phone. For new users all that’s done taking a picture of the card, then with some clever character recognition software, the information is taken from the card. Then Apple verifies with your bank if the card is yours, and thereafter its added to your passbook and then your payments can be made with a touch.

The once off adding of billing and shipping information makes the one touch payment system a reality. Apple claims that it uses a secure system for the technology and that it has no access to your spending data.

It also says that card information is not shared with the merchant. The system is unfortunately only available in the US, and that will be from next month. Apple does however say that work is underway to make the system available worldwide. Visa and MasterCard are already into the system, along with American express.

Apple Watch

The Apple watch is finally here, though to be honest Apple seemed a bit shy when it came to the hard facts about the watch, like battery life. The watch comes in 38mm and 42mm cases.

A rose gold version was announced but there will be more affordable ones in aluminium and steel. The steel version being the “Watch Sport”. The screens on the watches are sapphire and backs ceramic.

The screen stays off and comes on when you lift your wrist, however I’m curious how it’ll handle things while the user is on the move, e.g. jogging. The screen is both touch and force sensitive, though one can also use the dial which Apple has dubbed the “crown” to interact with the apps as well.

Siri will work with the watch and will recognise questions and offer suggestions for replies. Also available is the ability to add custom gestures, and sketch on the watch’s face to reply messages. The Apple Watch will not be available anytime this year and will cost $350 when it is available. those using iPhone 4s and below will need to get more recent phones if they want to use the Apple Watch.

It seems the wait was worthwhile, albeit long. However I have to say it looks like Apple has pulled out all the stops to make this one work. Now we see how well Apple’s new ecosystem is taken by the world. It seems Google is not the only one out to take over the world.

Hammer and Tongues Holdings, through its lottery gaming provider, Africalotto, has introduced mobile and online gambling  to the Zimbabwean market with an Android application called The Africalotto Mobile App.

Through this app,the first of its kind in Zimbabwe, registered users can place bets on the different lottery games that Africalotto already provides through its retail network. These include Lucky Numbers, BONUS LOTTO and Fast Lotto.

The application’s main menu has 10 tabs that run through options which include:

Purchasing which takes you to the Games List(Lucky Numbers, BONUS Lotto and Fast Lotto)

Scratch Game (Lists the scratch card games only)

Find a retailer – This is for identifying where to top your account or to redeem your winnings on a bet across all the 10 provinces in the country. This comes with a list and map view.

Reports – This details all transactions and purchased tickets. Reports detailed here include withdrawals on any winnings or money already in your account.

Results Report – an e-solution for lotto results which has always been one huge problem on its own. Its really useful if you miss the ZBC Saturday night results broadcast. While other lottery services outside Zimbabwe have developed apps for this one feature Africalotto has made it an add on to a host of other services.

An Invite A Friend Feature – There’s no fun in playing lotto on your own apparently. Its a smart move on Africalotto’s part as the whole referral aspect will help grow the network of mobile Lotto players.

So how does one place bets? Well once you register your account on the app (You have to enter your Date of Birth which safeguards against underage gambling) you have an account that you can credit with money via mobile money or at any Africalotto outlet.

The first Africalotto agent i spoke to assured me that I could use EcoCash, telecash and OneWallet for deposits but on my account the only mobile money option I saw was for EcoCash. This was presumably linked to the phone number I had used for registering. Withdrawals are made at the same outlets as well.

The app can be used on any device running Android Ginger Bread and later versions with a download link for its apk and instructions for setup available on the Africa Lotto website and on a QR code that has been placed on the adverts for the app. Africalotto says it is working on an iOS and Windows Phone version of the app as well.

The developers/owners of the app put up a note (misleading one for that matter) that states how lottery apps are not allowed on Google Play hence the download and installation of an app that your device will warn you against. This is likely to deter users skeptical of installing apps that don’t look legitimate, especially where monetary concerns are an issue.

The app scores points for coming in to provide a solution that most would have expected the local lotto and gaming houses to execute by now. Local gaming has been ripe for tech disruption for a while so perhaps the first visible attempt like this one will help show how the opportunity exists along with solutions. Perhaps we are going to see sports betting being tackled next?

Have you used the Africalotto app? What do you think of its functionality? You can share your opinions in the comments section below.

Some months ago we wrote about Nettcash and their official launch in the Zimbabwean mobile money space.

The independent service was applauded as a sign of healthy competition in a market dominated by mobile network operators.

Since the launch the mobile money landscape has gone through significant changes, with the different service providers noting significant growth in numbers.

There have been product additions launched by EcoCash and telecash, the two biggest players in this space, and mobile money has started incorporating money remittances.

On its part Nettcash has been aggressive in maintaining strong brand visibility judging from the extensive ad campaign it has been working on.   It has also made its API public in an attempt to engage entrepreneurs keen on engaging in e-commerce.

By putting an emphasis on these factors and playing its strength as a network agnostic service, it still hasn’t escaped from the realities of mobile money service growth.

Success almost always calls for a strong agent network where users of the service can conveniently send and receive money. This reality has in the past led to a scuffle for agents which culminated in a mobile agent war.

Currently Nettcash has enjoyed agent representation mostly through the local postal network, independent retailers and service providers. Its hardly any different from what the other players are working with in the field. Nettcash’s own solution for the agent growth challenge is the use of Mobile Money Brand Ambassadors.

We haven’t established what sort of commission Nettcash is offering to individuals who will take up this role and how lucrative the opportunity is when compared to just being an agent, Nettcash hasn’t been too generous with those details.

According to Nettcash these will be individuals in different communities who will help grow the agent network by recruiting individuals to act as the agents. It seems Nettcash is looking for a cost effective way of establishing a larger footprint throughout the country.