Happenings in the South African IT Space

Theres a couple of interesting things that are happening in the IT and communications industry in South Africa of late. Here is a quick recap:

Microsoft Office is going pre-paid

Being that the prepaid cellphone market in South Africa is so huge, Microsoft have found yet another way to make money from its products. So now instead of paying around R6000 for a copy of Office 2007, you will be able to buy the prepaid version that you will pay R199 every 3 months. (The first 3 months will be free – just like the demo). So for around R800 a year Office 2007 is yours. So when the next version comes out – most probably 2009, you have saved more than R3000!
{More reading over at ITWeb}

Telkom ADSL prices dropping

This is good news. From the 1st of August (Pending ICASA approval) ADSL line rentals will drop by around 18%. Currently the entry level ADSL offering by Telkom costs R279 (384kb connection, 1 gig data). This will drop to R199.
{More info over at do Broadband}

Fixed line competition hots up

First it took more than a century (well it feels that way) for our second network operator, Neotel, to be announced. Now we have Vodacom entering the race too. They are planning on rolling out a fibre-optic network across SA’s bigger metropolitan areas and eventually the entire country. With Neotel rolling out pretty slowly, the longer they take to get going, the better for Vodacom. Who would choose the unknown Neotel over the tried and tested Vodacom? Personally, the more competition for the Helkom the better.
{Neotel faces Vodacom battle}

iPhone

iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone. There I said it.
{Gizmodo and Engadget is all you need. Trust me.}