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For about a decade, South Africa’s three major mobile networks have been wrestling to be the country’s leading service provider. Now, the competition has intensified with the rollout by MTN and Vodacom of devices that can connect to the internet using televisions as monitors.

On 15 February, Vodacom unleashed its Vodafone WebBox – a multimedia plug-and-play keyboard that can be connected to a television, turning the ‘idiot box’ into a computer monitor.

The sleek Qwerty keyboard can turn any television into an internet portal with its built-in modem. The device connects with a standard RCA cable. It is supported by the Android 2.1 platform, and uses the Vodafone Opera Mini browser to surf the internet. Other features include a video player, picture viewer and FM radio.

According to an Engineering News report, WebBox was developed by Vodacom’s parent company Vodafone, with the emerging market in mind. It aims to bring the internet to people who previously did not have access because of high connectivity and equipment costs, and will launch in South Africa before its introduction to other markets.

Rivals in the race

The WebBox launch took place a day before MTN unveiled its version, called InternetOnTV.

InternetOnTV is not as sleek as the Vodacom device as it comprises three separate parts – a keyboard, mouse and handset – whereas all the WebBox’s components are contained within the keyboard. But it does have all the features of the WebBox, including the same web browser and access to email and SMS services – with a few added bonuses.

According to Mapula Bodibe, MTN’s GM of consumer marketing, their device offers social media integration, MS Office document support and 3G at 7.2Mbps. Furthermore, the built-in media player also supports popular multimedia formats such as MP3, AAC, DIV, WMA and MPEG4, while the handset can be used to make phone calls.

There have been a few negative comments about both offerings, such as the purchase price – R749 (US$105) for Vodacom and R999 ($140) for MTN, given that the devices are aimed at the unconnected market – and the fact that users still have to buy prepaid data bundles or use their airtime, but the general consensus is that this is a step in the right direction.

The InternetOnTV will soon be available in Jet retail stores across the country, and account holders will have the convenience of paying it off over six months, interest-free. Those interested in the WebBox will have to go to a Vodacom outlet and pay for the device up front.

Educational tool

Patrick Chomet, Vodafone’s Group Director of Terminals, referred to the WebBox as a simple and innovative product that can make a difference for those living in developing countries.

“The WebBox has the potential to make a powerful difference in the lives of people in emerging markets who have limited access to the internet, but where TV penetration is typically very high. It brings the internet to the TV, be that at home for the family, in schools for education or in small businesses to assist local economic growth,” he said.

Vodacom’s commercial director Romeo Khumalo agreed, saying the WebBox will add dramatic value to schools, homes and small businesses.

“The wealth of knowledge that is available on the Internet can now be accessed by millions of South Africans which will add greater value to the South African economy.”

Still making its presence felt

Though the WebBox may revolutionise the way we watch television and view the internet, some tech savvy South Africans seem to be oblivious to the WebBox’s existence. Jaen-Pierre Klaassen, CEO of web development company My Guru, had not heard of the WebBox and instead knows of other similar devices that have been selling in developed countries.

“I know of Google TV doing something similar. And at the moment, I do the same thing on my PlayStation 3,” he said. The PlayStation 3, of course, is a much more expensive device and is not aimed at the developing market.

Klaassen did praise the WebBox for its convenience.

“Right now, this sort of technology is at the beginning stages and can only get better from here. The Apple iPad, Google TV and the WebBox are nice ideas. What could be better than sitting in your lounge and browsing the internet on your TV?”

Additional features

The WebBox’s browser homepage is bookmarked with links to news, sport and social networking sites as well as a job search and application service, which is more relevant to the local situation. The device also stores games, a dictionary and a basic text editor.

The WebBox scooped the Universal Design Award Consumer Favourite 2011, with special mention given to its flexinility and usability, as well as its security and affordability.

The product’s cost includes a two GB SD card and prepaid SIM card with 100 MB of data which is valid for three months. It may also be available on a 24-month contract in future.

Source: MediaClub South Africa

Here are 10 easy steps to help improve your website performance. This is by no means a definitive list, but it is a good start (even if you have limited technical know-how). Use this as your basic SEO checklist and action plan:

1.)  Decide on the best keywords.

• Research and find those keywords that your target audience is searching for.
• Use A/B testing to find the layout and text combinations that bring the best results. (Tip: Set up a Google AdWords campaign, run it for a month or two and use different keywords to find those that work best for you.)
• Establish whether you can compete on those keywords. How established are the websites that appear on the first Google page for those keywords? Is the content relevant to the keywords? Would you be able to compete with these websites? Will you be able to build enough authority to be included on the first page of Google for these keywords? If not, you might consider other keywords or phrases or re-arrange them differently.

2.)  Once you have chosen those keywords that will drive the most traffic to your site, (they are relevant, your target audience is searching for them, and they are not too competitive) insert your keywords in:

• The page title
• Headings on the page
• Page URL
• Text on the page
• Alt-text on images

3.)  Write the best possible description for each page of your website. When your page appears on the Google search results, your target audience should understand what you are offering. They should want to read more. Convince them to click on your site.

4.)  Build links within your site to other key text or keywords on your site – anchor text to other pages. Remember to make the hypertext the description or title of the page it directs to – the landing page.

5.)  Submit your site to the main directory: Dmoz.org

6.)  Communicate through social networking (Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+) and your blog. Add content that people want to remark on and share with others. (Tip: Provide free tools to use in your industry, give tips, free tools or presentations, write a top 10 list…) Join groups and comment on the content of others.

7.)  Your blog should be your homepage (www.yourdomain.com) or (www.yourdomain.com/blog) or a sub domain like blog.yourdomain.com. Why? Because you want to drive more traffic to your site and build inbound links. You do not want your efforts to build authority and improve the rankings of someone else’s site – Word Press, Blogger, etc.

8.)  Your blog/website should incorporate your social media applications, i.e. include Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube widgets on your site or blog.

9.)  If you create regular new content – and you should – also include RSS functionality and an email subscription form. This will enable visitors to have easy access to your great content .

10.)  Register with and start using social bookmarking sites: Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon.

That’s it for starters.

Marketing is a process of research, planning, action, control and improvement, centred around the goal of satisfying customer needs profitably. You should identify your target customers, understand them better than your competitors do, add value to your product or service and focus on your competitive advantage.

If one could summarise marketing into three steps, this would be it:

1. Find those products or services that satisfy your customer needs
2. Make your products or services available to them at an acceptable price
3. Tell your customers about it.

Have you seen marketing messages spray painted on dirty pavements recently?

A creative agency used so called “clean” advertising to promote a website for a car maker in 5 major cities in the UK: London, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol and Birmingham.  The messages were spray painted on pavement sites with high-footfall using naturally collected rain water. These markings last for around two to three weeks and then simply fade away.

As many people have not seen this form of advertising before, it attracted more attention and people slowed down and took time to take it in. This already attracted more than 135,000 people to the website with over 3,400 people registering details to obtain more information in the future.