In Nairobi, Uber has grown three fold since it began experimenting with cash-based payments model, as against the regular locked-down card payment. The cash-based model has now been rolled out officially, same for mPesa too. And, you need to begin preparing for the Android-flavored Blackberry handset.
What else happened today in the African tech scene? Here;
10.7 million mobile lines have been deactivated in Nigeria
And affected customers are not happy about it. Customers are picketing telcos’ customer centers across the country. The mass deactivation was in response to local telecoms regulator that gave carriers a seven-day ultimatum to deactivate pre-registered SIM cards and those with poor biometric capturing.
If you are not ready for an Android BlackBerry, practice harder
Because it’s coming. Earnestly too. We’ve been hearing about this for a while and the most recent leak from Evan Blass (@evleaks) is the closest we have gotten to seeing what the device will really look like. There are also rumours of a November launch date. Fingers crossed.
iOS gets a WhatsApp web client support. They only had to wait in line for eight short months. Aha. Insert the sound of a million iPhone users jumping on to Chrome to see it’s for real. Well it is.
These Nigerians are hacking their way to Washington
At the international Cyberlympics (that’s obviously a thing), a global cyber securities competition where white hat hackers exploit vulnerabilities in live networks, three Nigerian teams dominate qualifications from Africa and if they have a good play tomorrow, one of them can be in Washington DC for the finals.
Logistics brand, DHL, has introduced pocket-sized, android based, touch screen computers into the sub-saharan market to track shipments better and generally make logistics less of a nightmare.
In case you missed it:
We have a confession. We have a podcast
Don’t look so shocked, it’s just a podcast. We have been thinking about this for a while and we also think you’d like it. We have our pilot episode here, take a listen and please let us know if we should just give up already.
Don’t miss:
TelOne slashes salaries by 15%, scraps bonuses
State-owned telecoms operator TelOne has slashed employees salaries by 15 percent. This is opposed to the option of termination of employment contracts which has recently been chosen by several companies following a Supreme Court ruling that affected the Labour Act.
MTN may sell SA towers: report
MTN has entered into discussions with fast-growing pan-African mobile phone tower operator IHS Holding with a view to selling its South African tower portfolio, Bloomberg reported on today.
