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IOL News
14 hours ago
- Business
- IOL News
Minister Malatsi's silence at the Honor Smartphone Launch: A missed opportunity?
The HONOR 400 was launched at the Kyalami Racetrack on Thursday night. Image: Supplied It was heart warming to see the Minister of Communications, Solly Malatsi, attending the launch of the flagship smartphone device by Honor, the Chinese mobile device company. It was not the first time the Minister attended a high profile tech event. Not so long ago he attended another tech event hosted the Tik Tok Summit in Cape Town. Clearly, the Minister likes all things Tech it seems. During the Tik Tok Summit he said what I thought should have been repeated at the Honor launch. He spoke about the need to support the creative economy in South Africa. Yet, he did not even speak at the Honor event. What is interesting is that during the same week that the Minister was attending the event, in the US the Trump family launched a Trump branded smartphone. While it's a terrible idea for a sitting President to launch a telecommunications product while he's also indirectly regulating it (through the US Securities and Exchange Commission) I could not help but admire the thought behind the idea. Let me explain the beauty behind a homegrown device, which provides services that could be of benefit to the citizens. Imagine if the Minister of Communications had stood up and requested Honor to develop a smartphone for the African continent, starting with South Africa as a primary and launch market. Such a smartphone could probably come pre-installed with major African developed Apps or even be designed to only embrace local tech. Just think about its apps that may include SABC Plus and Showmax for entertainment, Ayoba and Socialise for social networking, Siyavula and other online education platforms for education. In addition to current apps, imagine the opportunity such a device would create for local app developers to contribute towards building the local apps economy. If that is not enough, just imagine employment opportunities that could arise from a smartphone that is locally produced. During the launch, Honor showed signs that they were ready to embrace local by announcing their partnership with the South African Football Association. What if such a partnership could lead to the development of the local online games development starting first with a PSL and SAFA online games. Once again Honor showed signs that they were ready to support innovation by announcing a $10 billion (R181bn) fund that could support innovation across the world. What if at least 1% of that fund could be channelled towards the development of the local technology industry. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading I was not in the room when the Minister of Communications was chatting with the Honor (South Africa) CEO, Fred Zhou, however, I do hope that the Minister raised some of these points and if not may be he can raise them in future engagements with the Honor (South Africa) executive leadership. The company is no stranger to innovation. It has been around for many years. Honor was officially founded in 2013. The Chinese technology company was created to help Huawei target a more budget-oriented consumer audience in China. Although it's no longer part of Huawei, it seems to have borrowed and learnt a lot from its cutting edge innovations. Honor first branched out to an international market in 2014, choosing Malaysia as its first location outside of China. In October 2017 Honor spread its wings into Europe. Its first product in Europe was the Honor 6 and the company managed to sell 20 million phones in the first half of 2015. Honor grew quickly, as a result you are likely to find the brand in most countries around the world. Following a strong uptake of its AI-powered innovations in South Africa, Honor has introduced the new Honor 400 and Honor 400 Pro. This is a launch that could further entrench the brand's momentum in the local mid-to-premium market. Unveiled at Kyalami Racecourse, the event brought together government and industry voices, including Malatsi, underscoring the growing alignment between mobile innovation and digital policy. Honor's Zhou announced that their goal is to become, 'Top 1 in 2028' or the leading smartphone brand in South Africa. The company is armed with a price strategy that is accompanied with great quality. I do believe that will not be enough. An Honor smartphone designed for Africa and produced in South Africa may be a better strategy. Wesley Diphoko is a Technology Analyst and Editor-in-Chief of Fast Company (South Africa) magazine. Image: Supplied Wesley Diphoko is a Technology Analyst and the Editor-In-Chief of FastCompany (SA) magazine. *** The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Independent Media or IOL. BUSINESS REPORT
IOL News
13-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
How SABC can win the streaming wars with SABC PLUS
SABC Plus has topped a million registered users Image: Karen Sandison/IndependentNewspapers Last week, the 1 million subscribers for the SABC Plus app was celebrated in Parliament, I could not help but wonder if it was a milestone worth celebrating. There are reasons to celebrate an existence of a streaming platform that allows anyone with a smartphone to view national broadcaster content. There are enough reasons to celebrate a technological leap for a an organisation that has been part of the former technology. I'm not sure however if in a country of 60 million people we should only have 1% adoption of a technology that should be accessible to many. In the past I've suggested that SABC should create a premium version of the platform to generate revenue. If there's only a million subscribers to a free version one can only wonder what will be the adoption once the platform forces users to pay. Let me be clear, SABC Plus should at least have 10 million subscribers by now. I keep coming back to the performance of the SABC Plus app partly because it is an important infrastructure for the survival of the national broadcaster. It is the SABC of the future. Granted, it's difficult to grow anything online in a competitive and social media obsessed world. This raises the question, what will it take for the SABC Plus to capture the minds and hearts of its intended users? Here are some of the key actions that can considered. Across the African continent there's an appetite for developments in South Africa. Although SABC Plus is mainly for South African audicences there's nothing stopping it from reaching out beyond SA borders. This is an opportunity waiting for the SABC Plus app. When the SABC Plus app was launched it was embedded in Hisense smart televisions. This was probably due to some partnership with the national broadcaster or some form of trade exchange. The SABC needs to consider embedding the app on other smart television brands aswell including smartphones in the South African market. The app reach and technology cannot do much without quality content. In a world that is dominated by other streaming platforms the SABC needs to improve on content quality. Is it not time the SABC opens up the platform to other quality content creators to showcase their content on the platform. The SABC as an entity can only develop so much content. The SABC needs to adopt the App store model in order to become truly a digital platform. Lastly, beyond just content the SABC Plus can offer services such as elearning on behalf of others. It can become a games platform for gamers and offer a broadcasting platform for companies. All of these things are possible if the SABC were to embrace a new way of thinking about itself as a platform. Such an approach would enable the SABC to celebrate 100 million subscribers in the near future. The first in that direction is the appointment of a CEO for the SABC Plus app with an internal dedicated technology team supported by a strong commercial team. The SABC Plus needs to be treated as a technology and media startup if it is to win the streaming wars with the likes of Apple TV, Disney Plus, Netflix and Showmax. Wesley Diphoko is a Technology Analyst and the Editor-In-Chief of FastCompany (SA) magazine. Wesley Diphoko. Image: File. BUSINESS REPORT
IOL News
08-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Live sports drive SABC Plus to one million registered users
The South African Broadcasting Corporation's streaming platform, SABC Plus, continues to gain momentum, with the public broadcaster announcing it has reached one million registered users. Revamped and relaunched in July last year, the platform was upgraded to include the SABC Plus website, mobile apps for iOS, Android, and Huawei devices, as well as TV apps for LG, Apple TV (tvOS), and various set-top boxes. In a statement on Thursday, the SABC said the platform reached one million registered users, a milestone that underscores the growing demand for accessible, high-quality local content. 'The SABC is proud to announce that SABC Plus, its Over-The-Top (OTT) streaming platform, has reached an impressive one million registered users since its relaunch in July 2024," the broadcaster said. "This significant milestone highlights the success of the SABC's digital migration strategy and the increasing appetite for local, on-demand content.'
