At last: Google Maps directions in South Africa

At last Google Maps has gained the ability to provide directions in South Africa! This small but very significant feature was always missing for South African maps. A while back I wrote that hopefully the 2010 World Cup will bring this functionality soon enough, and thankfully here it is now. It is currently available on the Google Maps website, but also on mobile platforms like the iPhone and Android. Here you can see it in action on my iPhone. The interface is simple enough, and the guidelines are clear, turn by turn. No voice navigation though, but its still great. It integrates neatly with your contact’s addresses as well.

Of course the website is even more powerful – here is a screenshot:

PS: To my overseas readers, sorry that I get so giddy about something so small. We South Africans are not used to it yet – we had to rely on dedicated GPS devices or expensive add on software to get this functionality.

Afrihost starts the broadband pricewar (hopefully)

Ever since the launch of Seacom we have all been waiting for that “disruptive” ISP that will lead the pricewar, and it has been a few months already. Luckily, Afrihost is shaking things up all of a sudden.

Afrihost is currently running a limited time offer of very low cost ADSL bandwidth in SA. Hopefully this leads to more service providers lowering price. At the moment these bundles are available for “power users” – starting at 10 GB and going up to 100 GB per month.

The sad case is of course that in SA you are classified as a “power user” if you use 10 Gig per month. Hopefully this will change soon enough. Now we just need to wait for the other ISPs to make competitive offers, sooner rather than later.

Oh, to Vodacom and MTN – your time is now up. Where is the lower cost 3G? South Africa desperately needs lower cost 3G. Get going.

(thanks Paul Jacobson)

Why a dollar to rand comparison of electronics does not work

I stand corrected.

In my previous post I spoke about the prices of new iPods in South Africa, and I requested feedback on why these prices can possibly be so high. In fact, I really wanted to be proved wrong in my assumption of price gouging, and wanted to get off my high horse.

Well, thanks to twitter, I got some feedback on what type of import taxes are being charged in SA for electronic goods. Here are some important factors to take into account in these comparisons:

Dollar vs Euro vs Pounds: Most electronics distributors in SA get their stock from european headquarters, therefore dollar comparisons will not be fair. For example, Apple Europe is headquartered in Paris, whereas Dell is headquartered in England and Wales. A Euro currency comparison will lead to a much more comparitive price.

VAT: Anything sold in SA typically is taxed with 14% VAT.


Sales Tax: When purchasing anything in the US, a sales tax is typically added to anything, and not quoted on websites. Some states have higher ones than others. For example, when purchasing something in California, a sales tax of 10.75% is added. Good to know.

Import duty on electronics: When reaching the South African customs a typical charge of around 10% – 20%, depending on the type of device. (There are some people who told me that there is no import taxes on electronics to SA though.)

Video device charge: South African customs have started charging additional taxes for portable video devices of around 20 – 24%. Whether this replaces the traditional import tax or is bundled on top of it, I could not get a clear answer.

Like I said, I am not perfectly sure if some of these taxes cancel each other out, but it does give me some understanding. Adding all these costs together does seem to make the current iPod prices a little more fair. In fact, when taking into account VAT, import duty and a possible video device tax on european prices, the cost of a 16GB Nano is already R2700.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I am getting off my high horse for now.

Unlike Julius Malema, I can, and will admit I was wrong.

Look at these – some cool sites

In the past week I havent quite gotten around to my blog – I was off on a quick getaway to Pretoria… Good to have a change of pace, even if it is only for a few days. In the mean time instead of my normal reviews and such, I did find a few very interesting services online, which I reckon is worth a visit:

Personas: This tool analyzes your online presence and tries to graph your personality traits based on traces you leave behind on the web – all in a very graphically rich and animated manner. Results do vary however, and I find that if you have a rather unique name (like me) the tool works brilliantly. However, if your name is John Smith, it might not be all that useful. Worth checking out.

TweetMeUp.net: Anybody who is on twitter would know about the new phenomena of “tweetups” – which basically means meet-ups organized on twitter. A typical scenario is at a conference, all the social media enthusiasts would organize a meet-up through the use of twitter. TweetMeUp uses a clean interface to quickly and easily set up a tweetup. They are currently working on the next release, so support South African developers and take a look at it!

Testfreaks: Almost like metacritic for gadgets, this is pretty good aggregator of reviews for all things tech. They use a weighted score system depending on how influential the site is that reviews it, and its catalogue is quite big already. Also, if a particular product is getting older, it drops the score as well. A South African version is also available, but the catalogue is still limited.

To be honest, these days I post interesting sites to Twitter, and I also share them in Google Reader. So go take a look!

Look what I got my hands on

Turns out five 3GS’s were sent to the two iStores in the Cape Town area. So last night I went to go pick it up.

Have to say-for the first time I was seriously impressed by the service at iStore. Finding one of the new model phones was pretty tough, seeing as Gauteng normally gets the first batch. This resulted in a bunch of conversations with different Vodashops, who were all pretty useless, telling me I can only get one later.

But iStore phoned me up and told me they had the phone in stock, and they reserved it for me. But more on that later.

Have a good weekend people.

The iPhone 3GS arrives in SA, finally

Yes, the 3GS is finally here. Vodacom apparently interpreted July ’09 as “31 July, 12:00, and only in a few stores in SA, and only in Gauteng”.

After phoning a few Vodashops, it has now been confirmed that the iPhone 3GS is available today in SA, although only in Gauteng. If you are anywhere else, sorry for you buddy.

The next shipment of the phones are only coming second week of August, and that is probably when other provinces will get it.

Now while you Johannesburg and Pretoria guys and gals enjoy your 3GS, I will just stare at the beautiful mountains here in Stellenbosch.

To Vodacom: Im not mad at you, just disappointed.

More info on Vodacom’s site.

Update: After speaking to Vodacom head office, the iPhone is “launching” on Saturday, but stock is only available to stores by Wednesday. When asked about other provinces getting it only later, I was informed that no, couriers will send it to all provinces.

So when is the iPhone 3GS arriving in SA?

Just received an email from Apple telling me that the iPhone 3GS is “available” in SA on 31 July:

Well, Friday might also mean 7 August which seems more likely. However, I just phoned Vodashop to ask about this, and yes, once again they are clueless. They stated it is “launching” on Friday, but they do not know when they will be able to order it yet for clients.

So what does “launch” mean Vodacom? Just a tip to Vodacom: Apple did the whole “launch” thing in June already. You dont have to – its your job to inform us where and when should we be interested.

Again, I am still flabbergasted that Vodacom has NO info whatsoever on this issue.

iPhone 3GS cost in SA leaked (thanks for nothing Vodacom)

While I expect the high prices, I think it really shows poor service by Vodacom to not have ANY info on their website. Get with the program, the iPhone 3G has been announced in June already.

I walk into vodashop a few times a week to find out about 3GS, and I am normally stared at like I am speaking Mandarin.

Well, thanks to Craig Nicholson – he somehow got hold of the South African iPhone 3GS prices from Cellucity. However in my previous experience, Cellucity has higher prices for the iPhone. For example, Cellucity asked a R1000 more on a cash iPhone when I bought it last year. Seeing as it is a in-demand devices, it is understandable.

Lets hope Vodashops can also lower the prices slightly this time round (the finance option is what you pay in addition to your contract should you choose not to pay the once off fee):

Update: I spoke to a Cellucity representative who told me that these prices are entirely untrue. On the other hand, seeing as it is “leaked” they wont confirm anything.

	iPhone 3GS 16GB		iPhone 3GS 32GB
Package	Once-Off	Financed	Once-Off	Financed
Talk 1000	0		999	49
Talk 500	3439	169	4579	229
Business, Talk 120 & 240	3439	169	4579	229
Talk 350s	3439	169	4579	229
Top Up 315, 315s, 300s & 500s	3669	179	4809	239
Top Up 590	3669	179	4809	239
Talk 75s	4239	209	5379	269
Weekender	4919		6059
iPhone 3GS Talk 500	1999	99	2999	149
iPhone 3GS Talk 120 & 240	2999	149	3999	199
iPhone 3GS Weekender	4199		5199

Open Letter to Apple Consumer Relations – Europe

Here is a letter I sent today to Apple’s European Customer relations representative. Core buys their stock from Apple Europe, so they seem like the right people to contact. I hope I get feedback.

To whom it may concern

I am sending you this email because I have had service from you in the past, and I was very impressed by the way Apple handled my request, even over international borders. I live in South Africa, where the sole importer of Apple is the Core Group. Currently there is starting to form a bit of a media frenzy over the high prices Core is asking for Apple products. Now this is not a complaint because of the high prices of Apple – I will by all means always pay more for a product if it is indeed better than alternatives, and I put Apple in that group.

I cannot however, understand how there can be such a big discrepancy in prices between SA and the US. While I understand the parties involved need to be make a profit, I refuse to believe that Apple will condone such high prices in other countries. In the US and Europe, Apple is trying to justify through effective marketing its premium prices on good quality hardware and great software, with which I wholeheartedly agree. However, imagine all Apple products was a minimum of 30% more expensive, and iPods an additional 50%. This is the sad state of Apple in SA, thanks to the Core group. (And do not think your recent hardware refresh, which have lowered the prices of macbooks across the board has made any difference at all, they still charge the same high markup.)

Here is some examples:

Computers:
Baseline unibody Macbook in SA: R15999
Baseline unibody Macbook in US: R11041 ($1299)
Price difference: 30%

Baseline New iMac 20 inch in SA: R14999
Baseline New iMac 20 inch in US: R10191 ($1199)
Price difference: 33%

8 Core Mac Pro in SA: R40000
8 Core Mac Pro in US: R28050
Price difference:30% (or more than R10000 on a single computer)

iPods:

iPod Nano 16GB in SA: R2699
iPod Nano 16GB in US: R1699 ($199)
Price difference: 38%

iPod Touch 32GB in SA: R5800
iPod Touch 32GB in US: R3400 ($399)
Price difference: 42% !!!!!

Peripherals:

Mini Displayport to DVI adapter in SA: R510
Mini Displayport to DVI adapter in US: R246 ($29)
Price difference: 52%!!!!

Now these are the cheapest prices available in SA. If Core is buying these machines at wholesale prices, I think it is safe to say this is plain old profiteering.

I plead you to pass this to your consumer relations department – I doubt Apple wants to do its name any damage, regardless of where it may be in the world.

Some sights against Core I have come across. I should mention some of these sites are the highest viewed sites in South Africa. If you go to Google now and type Core and Apple, and view pages in South Africa, some of these articles appear above official Apple or Core website results. You can maybe just look at how many people join the discussion at 2oceansvibe, one of SA’s top most visited sites. All the comments are negative.

http://www.stopcore.co.za

http://www.macgeek.co.za/2009/05/31/open-letter-to-core/

http://www.2oceansvibe.com/2009/05/25/calls-for-apple-us-to-revoke-local-distributor-cores-license/

http://www.2oceansvibe.com/2009/05/19/core-group-insiders-come-forward/

http://www.mpieters.com/2009/05/just-how-expensive-is-apple-in-sa.html

I really hope you can maybe just speak to whomever might be in charge of Apple’s international relations. If Apple is going to continue to be imported to SA by Core, I cannot help but believe you will do your brand irreparable harm. South Africans have no way of purchasing Apple products, whether it is iPod or Macs, through any other channel. They control the entire distribution system.

I welcome your feedback.

PS: To anyone who wants to contact them as well, PM me on twitter at @mpieters, and I will contact them with your request as well. If you have written a similiar blogpost or letter, send me the link as well.

PS PS: Dont believe the hype that Apple is lowering prices of macbooks by “up to R9000″. That is grade A BS. They are merely clearing out old stock, which would of course have sold better if they had normal prices…

My take on Seacom, and SA’s future broadband scenario

About a week ago I went up to Mtunzini to visit the cable station that recently finished contruction. Seacom is a underwater fibreoptic cable which is being installed along the coast of east Africa, which is tremendous boost for all the countries affected. When it comes to internet bandwidth, Africa has always been left behind, thanks to monopolies and poor legislation with devestating effects on its economies and quality of life. I might sound dramatic, but if one takes into account that the digital divide is currently increasing at a exponential rate, it is not far fetched to once again call us the “dark continent”.

South Africans are not much better off either. Our primary source of international bandwidth is supplied by the very limited SAT3 connection, which is currently around 130Gbs, which is also divided to major operators such as Telkom. This leads to very low bandwidth actually reaching end users – in fact, in 7 years in which ADSL has been available in SA, the standard “package” is still a 3 Gigabytes capped connection with a slow 384kbps line. This is not however what the rest of the world calls “broadband”.

True broadband is at least 4Mbps and is theoretically uncapped. True broadband is the ability to use the internet without taking amount of consumption into account. US citizens are used to using services like hulu instead of having to subscribe to 100′s of channels. Once we have this attitude we can call what we have “broadband”. Seacom might not be that enabler, but it sure does get us one step closer.

Seacom will boost our bandwidth from 130Gbps up to 1.28Tbps. This increase in bandwidth will theoretically make it much cheaper for service providers to buy wholesale bandwidth. These cost savings can then be passed on to the consumer, and make it much cheaper to transfer large amounts of data. Due to past monopolies, SA ISP’s had to use Telkom’s infratructure for its network, which led to very low margins and high costs for end users. Due to legislation passed last year, any ISP with necessary capital can now build their own network infrastructure.

Now it is important to remember that “cheaper” internet in SA does not mean that the base cost of having “fast” internet will suddenly drop to a R100. No, there are still businesses that are built up around a revenue model that relies on customers spending more than R300. If the price is suddenly R50, those businesses will fold, regardless of how cheap bandwidth might be.

Instead, what we might be seeing in SA over the next year (Seacom goes live in about a month) is a dramatic increase in the amount of “capped” data we can get for the same amount of money. Instead of spending R400 total for a ADSL line and 3GB data, the same user might now get 5GB or (hopefully) 10GB. A big problem currently is that networks in SA is currently unable to properly use all the extra bandwidth. Telkom cannot easily jump above the 4Gbs it currently offers, due poor quality cables. But Neotel and a few cellular operators have started investing in land based fibre cable, right to the curb in some areas. This means that these players might be the first to actually be able to use the wave of extra bandwidth. MTN and Vodacom have also started to enable 7.2 Mbps HSDPA on its network, which theoretically means that if you wanted the fastest broadband line in SA, you have to go 3G.

So what does Seacom mean for SA end users in the near future? In my opinion, a few things will happen. First (the next 6 months) I believe networks will first try to get maximum profits while bandwidth is suddenly cheap. This will lead to increasing pressure from end users, and then we can wait for a ISP to offer a “disruptive product” which will cause all subsequent offers from ISP’s to drop tremendously in price. The fact of the matter is that ISP’s in SA have always been used to low profit margins, and they can easily adapt their businesses to once again operate on those margins once bandwidth is cheap. It will only take time.

This is truly an exciting time for communications in SA – we are currently in a perfect storm of situations which can contribute to a sudden reconnection to the world.

Want more info on Seacom? Read some of my fellow SA digirati’s comments on Seacom:

The Digital Edge Podcast (you might hear me talk to him in there as well…)
DChetty – Seacom, What Now?
From The Couch – David Perel
Tech Start News - J Bagley
Charl Norman

Good meeting you guys!