Come visit the iBook factory
“Winter is coming” so we’ve decided to fire things up at HQ. This month, we’ll give you a rundown of our March and April #OpenNights which is gaining significant popularity among Silicon Beach attendees. Our team has also released cross-platform updates to the SuperSport app, ensuring that you’re never behind on any of the sports you love – no matter which phone you have. Furthermore, we’re preparing to take the travel and tourism industry by storm as we prepare to showcase our humble iBook ‘factory’.
Come visit the iBook factory
With Indaba returning to Durban shortly, we will be hosting an insider’s look at African Storybook’s iBook ‘factory’, giving vistors a short glimpse of our secret formula for great iBooks. We’ll even have one of our designers build one from start to finish right before your eyes.
Our initiative aims to empower African enterprises in order for them to re-envision and re-invent their content onto digital platforms, with the only restrictions being their imaginations. iBooks are the most interactive, engaging way to discover content in our current marketplace, providing efficient, paperless solutions to traditional marketing problems. Guests will be joined by travel industry power players Angus Begg , Kevin Leo-Smith ,Roger and Pat de la Harpe and Anthony Cavill-Taylor , who will share their insights on the African Storybook initiative.
We will be hosting a ‘factory tour’ on Friday, 10 May and will also have these industry leaders available at our Indaba stand between 11-14 May to engage in one-on-one discussions with anyone looking to transform their content in an innovative and inexpensive way.
If you’d like to meet with us at our Indaba stand or join us for at for a firsthand glimpse of our iBook factory, email us .
Sharing dev learnings with Silicon Beach
We’re quite proud of the success of our monthly #OpenNights which have strengthened the Silicon Beach community and allowed those interested in the post-PC space to freely engage with one another. These events range quite considerably in terms of content and the type of speakers we are to privileged to have join us. The one constant factor in all these is that it provides students, developers, designers and general tech enthusiasts with an avenue to share their learnings with one another thus developing the Silicon Beach community regardless of age, gender or profession.
Last month, we were joined by radio personality and financial journalist, Hilton Tarrant at Tuesday’s #OpenNight. Hilton presented his insights on the state of mobile in South Africa, providing our attendees with the nitty gritty details of the post-PC revolution. Hilton’s thought-provoking presentation was followed by a heated debate on whether Android is a fully-fledged ecosystem (that gives the user a rich and trusted experience), or merely an operating system. immedia app developers, Duncan Scholtz and Jitesh Nunnan represented Android against lead strategist Anice Hassim. James Smith then closed off the night’s proceedings by exploring the Ubuntu Touch operating system on his new Nexus 7. Guests were highly impressed with the learning they took out from this about the current mobile space. @coaxel tweeted:” @immediaza #OpenNight keeps getting better and better! Brilliant presentation on the state of mobile in SA by @hiltontarrant .”
This month’s #OpenNight took our audience on a virtual tour to the northern hemisphere as our guest speaker and close friend, Matt Cavanagh shared his insightful experience at the Nokia HQ in Finland. The night then took a turn as our design boys, Basil Percimoney and Duncan Prince decided to show our audience how to build an eBook and iBook in a matter of minutes. Our audience was transfixed as books were built before their eyes. Audience members commended many of the speakers on the night. @fredfelton tweeted: “Thanks @immediaza for another great #OpenNight event, had a great chat with @RogueCode about apps. His new game looks wicked :)”
Our #OpenNights are an open platform and we always welcome the public to join us for a debate or showcase something they are working on. If you have a topic or demo you would like to present, email us .
Post-PC insights over a morning cuppa
SuperSport has decided to upgrade its app offering across multiple platforms, increasing its functionality for fans with differing phone preferences. The upgraded app is now available for iPhone, Android Phone and Windows Phone. The update now lets fans of golf, tennis and motorsport catch all the latest action in real time, by experiencing the game directly from their app.
Golf enthusiasts can now view a full live leaderboard of a tournament as well as players’ scorecard per round. Tennis fans will also be happy to know that match results (per round) are available as well as up-to-date statistics so that you’re always in the know when it comes to the latest player rankings. The additional motorsport feature provides F1 fans with live race feed, ensuring that you’re with your favourite driver lap-by-lap. The app also supplied users with the latest qualifying and race results, driver standing as well as team standings.
Rave reviews for Windows app
We recently released DStv for Windows Phone and have received great feedback from users. The app provides users with access to the comprehensive, fully searchable guide with regularly highlights and news updates. Not only does this app allow you to categorise channels but also allows users to share what they’re planning on viewing via social networks.
Users were thrilled with their experience giving the app an overall rating of four and a half out of five stars and sharing their reviews on the Windows Phone site. Jeetesh stated: “This is a killer app. All the info on your fingertips in a second” whilst Ricardo added that this was “one of the best apps available for Windows Phone”.
To find out what’s got Windows Phone users raving, download the app below and experience it firsthand.
Interesting insights
What’s next for Facebook Home – Mashable
16 April 2013
Facebook Home is going international; chat heads have escaped the Home asylum and are arriving (in a limited fashion) on the iPhone. Now the social network is teasing future upgrades.
The first update to Facebook Home, which arrived on the HTC First and for select group of Android phones less than a week ago, will arrive by the second week in May, according to Facebook CTO and VP of Engineering Mike Schroepfer and Director of Mobile Engineering Cory Ondrejka who spoke at the AllThingsD Dive into Mobile Conference in New York City… more
Twitter #Music app hands-on (iOS and web) – Engadget
18 April 2013
Surely no one was surprised when Twitter formally announced the launch of its #Music service this morning (save, perhaps, from the fact that the company used Good Morning America, of all places, to share the big news). Frankly, we’re just glad to finally get our hands on the promised big announcement, which rolled out in both browser-based and iOS formats this morning. We’ve played around with both versions, listening to Taylor Swift, so you don’t have to. Check out our impressions after the break… more
Google Now, Donna, Sherpa, and the rise of the smart personal assistant app – TechCrunch
22 April 2013
Mobile personal assistant apps are all the rage these days. First there was Google Now for Android, but over the last several weeks we’ve seen a whole bunch of new apps pop up – apps like Donna, Osito, and Sherpa – all of which seek to make our lives easier by simplifying how we organize our meetings, travel, and other personal information. With that in mind, I sat down with my colleague Drew Olanoff to discuss why this is such a hot space and whether these apps deliver on their promise. On that latter question, we still think these apps have a long way to go… more
Upcoming eventsGeek Patrol Coffee Catchup
Geek Patrol invites interested business leaders every month to touch base with them on the latest technical developments.
For info, email events@geekpatrol.co.za
App Dev Training
Get yourself in the app dev game with our kick-ass training tailored to suit your needs.
To find out more about our May sessions, visit www.akosma.co.za.
Tweets from the team@anicehassim
8 April 2013
almost 80% of clients who use mobile to access Investec online banking use iPads RT Investec’s promise mny.co.za via @moneyweb
@akosma
25 April 2013
2008: 2 months.
2009: 1 month.
2010: 1 week.
2011: 1 day.
2012: 70 minutes.
2013: 90 seconds.
#WWDC #soldout
Get in touchJoin the revolution
We’re looking for iOS, Android & web developers as well as app & iBook designers to join our ‘appy tappy tribe in Durban. Come and show us what you can do.
To come through for an interview, email careers@immedia.co.za
Strategy Workshop
Would you like to learn how apps can transform your business? Have an app idea, but not sure how to monetise your product?
Book a session with our team: info@immedia.co.za
Instagrams from the team
Endless roads of possibility
– and an awesome #autumn day in #durban mom & dad are at the end of this one
