Alistair Fairweather

I presented this at SA leg of The Internet Show yesterday.

If you'd told me a week ago that we'd have fully functional on-demand TV for mobile phones this year, I would have been highly skeptical. If you'd told me the service would require no downloads or apps, that it would work on 90% of 3G handsets and that it would cost a flat rate of R75 per month (or R20 per week), bandwidth included, I would have called you a liar or at the very least a fantasist.

But that, in a nutshell, is the new offering from On Demand Group - a London based video-on-demand specialist - who have partnered with Vodacom to offer unlimited on-demand video content at a flat rate per month.

I still would have been highly skeptical of the launch unless I had seen it demonstrated, live, while sitting in a coffee shop with the dudes from On Demand (and their marketing agency Cow Africa). Here's the skinny on how it works:
- Customers subscribe via a WAP portal (linked to from Vodafone Live)
- Billing is done via Vodacom - both contract and pre-paid customers can participate
- Shows are browsed and searched via the WAP portal
- When you click on a show it launches in the handset's default video player (apparently this works for all major players)
- The show is streamed to your handset in real time
- You can pause, fast-forward and rewind

These sorts of services rise or fall depending on their library. So far they have a fairly impressive line-up with shows like Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, South Park and Entourage. They also have hundreds of music videos - something I think will drive their uptake hugely in the middle to lower income brackets. I do think they need to broaden their offering quite rapidly though. Shows like The Sopranos are undoubtedly fantastic - but they need to get newer, edgier shows to ensure they can maintain momentum.

At the moment the service is limited to Vodacom, but the On Demand guys are keen to stress that the deal is non-exclusive - so it may be rolled out to the other providers in due course.

As far as the technical end of the system goes, they're using both MPEG4 and H264 and encoding for both 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratios. I'm hoping to chat to their engineers a bit more about some of the specifics (like how the heavy lifting, demand forecasting and load balancing all works) - but that's for another post.

I've attached all the official bumph below (including some screenshots). I don't know for certain whether this will work - but it's certainly going to give DSTV's linear channel model a run for its money.

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When he said "Dining is and always was a great artistic opportunity" Frank Lloyd Wright was talking about more than just eating, he was talking about dining as a cultural experience.

And while he couldn’t have had an Indian restaurant at the tip of Africa in mind, his quote fits Bombay Brasserie as snugly as the elaborately brocaded gowns of the hostesses who greet you at its doors.

But the experience begins even before you reach the restaurant. Walking through the lobby of the newly opened Taj Cape Town, between fluted pink marble columns, you feel as though you have stepped into another time.

The building is indeed from another age. Built in 1932 to house the SA Reserve Bank, the building was apparently inspired by Florence’s Palazzo Pitti.

Bombay Brasserie itself nestles in another historic building adjoining the lobby – The Temple Chambers – a sunken, wood panelled lounge built at the turn of the century to accommodate the denizens of the nearby Supreme Court. Stepping down into its cosy interior you can imagine the whiskered barristers of old enjoying brandies and cigars.

The Brasserie experience is one of total immersion: from the moment you step through the doors and descend into the cosy lounge you are cosseted, fussed over, plied with delicious (if very sweet) cocktails and amuse-bouche and waited upon by no less than three separate staff.

In a wonderfully old fashioned touch, all the food is plated for you by either your waiter or the maître d' who also recommends food and wine pairings with a refreshing candour and passion.

But the food itself remains the main event. Rather than blasting your palette with heat, the menu is redolent with subtler more aromatic spices.

Amanda and I shared Porchai Year (spicy grilled prawns) and Galouti Kebab (butter-soft minced lamb patties) to start, followed by Sunerhi Nalli (lamb shank in saffron curry) and Allepey (prawn coconut curry). We finished off with Masala Chai Custard (a delightful play on traditional crème brulee) and Malai Kulfi (cardamom ice cream).

All the dishes were delicious and immaculately presented, but the two prawn dishes were definitely the highlight of my evening. Amanda was tickled by the Galouti Kebab which was originally made for “the nobles that don’t chew”.

The portions are fairly generous, and the prices not unduly eye-watering. You’re unlikely to leave feeling either hungry or ripped off.

That said, Bombay Brasserie isn’t an everyday eating kind of place. With its carefully orchestrated pomp and ceremony and rich dishes, it’s not somewhere you can take the kids. This isn’t eating after all – this is dining.

 

Full disclosure: The kind fellows at the Taj picked up the tab. That doesn’t change how excellent the evening was, or the fact that I’ll be returning as a paying customer in the very near future.

I wrote my last column for News24 this week. After nearly two years of calling it my home I'm sad to be leaving. I've written around 70 columns in that time, which equates to around 35,000 words, or one (very discontinuous) novella on technology. It seems like an age ago that I took my first faltering steps as a columnist - writing as a "guest columnist" about Adobe AIR. I will always be grateful to Jannie and Cathryn who trusted me to speak sense to their 1 million readers.

Have no fear though, faithful reader, I haven't stopped writing, I've merely moved venues. From this Wednesday onwards I will will be writing a weekly column for the Mail & Guardian Online. My first one, about Twitter's business model, is already live and kicking. I'm also going to be writing for memeburn when I have the time and the insight. My first article there was an unexpected success, and I'm busy cooking up a few more.

A few weeks ago the marvellous Marianna Boguslavsky of Breadline Africa asked me to be part of a "geek fashion show". After some hesitation around the spectre of me on a catwalk in a swimsuit, I agreed. It's quite flattering to be included amongst a parade of such rakish lads and lovely ladies - oh, and, Matt Buckland.

If you'd like to watch me and, more saliently, bone fide hotties like Rob Gilmour and Alex van Tonder strut our Billabong and Puma clad stuff then make your way to the Daylight Studio on Bree Street on the 26th of April.

The event starts at 7pm. There are ONLY 130 tickets up for grabs @ R170 each and tickets can be bought through Breadline Africa in 2 ways.

1) You can make an EFT deposit directly into their bank account with the ref being Fashion. This will immediately place you on our exclusive guest list. Call Debbie on 021 418 0322 to find out their bank account details.

2) You can pop by their offices in Green Point and pay in cash or by credit card (just ask for Debbie and she will process your payment). Our address is: No 2 Somerset Road Cape Town South Africa 8001

I'm posting this as a proud member of the #SpeakZA movement. If you're a blogger who cares about freedom of speech, join us today and speak out against the ANCYL's bully-boy tactics. The words below were written by Sipho Hlongwane. I salute his courage and his gumption.

Last week, shocking revelations concerning the activities of the ANC Youth League spokesperson Nyiko Floyd Shivambu came to the fore. According to a letter published in various news outlets, a complaint was laid by 19 political journalists with the Secretary General of the ANC, against Shivambu. This complaint letter detailed attempts by Shivambu to leak a dossier to certain journalists, purporting to expose the money laundering practices of Dumisani Lubisi, a journalist at the City Press. The letter also detailed the intimidation that followed when these journalists refused to publish these revelations.

We condemn in the strongest possible terms the reprisals against journalists by Shivambu. His actions constitute a blatant attack on media freedom and a grave infringement on Constitutional rights. It is a disturbing step towards dictatorial rule in South Africa. We call on the ANC and the ANC Youth League to distance themselves from the actions of Shivambu. The media have, time and again, been a vital democratic
safeguard by exposing the actions of individuals who have abused their positions of power for personal and political gain.

The press have played a vital role in the liberation struggle, operating under difficult and often dangerous conditions to document some of the most crucial moments in the struggle against apartheid. It is therefore distressing to note that certain people within the ruling party are willing to maliciously target journalists by invading their privacy and threatening their colleagues in a bid to silence them in their legitimate work.

We also note the breathtaking hubris displayed by Shivambu and the ANC Youth League President Julius Malema in their response to the letter of complaint. Shivambu and Malema clearly have no respect for the media and the rights afforded to the media by the Constitution of South Africa. Such a response serves only to reinforce the position that the motive for leaking the so-called dossier was not a legitimate concern, but an insolent effort to intimidate and bully a journalist who had exposed embarrassing information about the Youth League President.
We urge the ANC as a whole to reaffirm its commitment to media freedom and other Constitutional rights we enjoy as a country.

#SpeakZA Blog roll:
http://thoughtleader.co.za/siphohlongwane
http://rwrant.co.za
http://vocfm.co.za/blogs/munadia/
http://vocfm.co.za/blogs/shafiqmorton/
http://blogs.news24.com/needpoint
http://capetowngirl.co.za
http://thoughtleader.co.za/sentletsediakanyo
http://thoughtleader.co.za/davidjsmith
http://letterdash.com/one-eye-only
http://boyuninterrupted.blogspot.com
http://amandasevasti.com
http://blog.empyrean.co.za/
http://letterdash.com/brencro
http://6000.co.za
http://chrisroper.co.za
http://pieftw.com
http://hamishpillay.wordpress.com
http://memoirs4kimya.blogspot.com
http://thoughtleader.co.za/azadessa
http://watkykjy.co.za
http://fredhatman.co.za
http://thelifeanddeathchronicles.blogspot.com/
http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/common-dialogue/
http://clivesimpkins.blogs.com/
http://mashadutoit.wordpress.com
http://nicharalambous.com
http://sarocks.co.za
http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/stompies/
http://helenmoffett.book.co.za/blog/
http://01universe.blogspot.com
http://groundwork.wordpress.com
http://iwrotethisforyou.me
http://fionasnyckers.book.co.za
http://attentiontodetail.wordpress.com
http://blogs.women24.com/editor
http://www.missmillib.blogspot.com
http://snowgoose.co.za
http://dreamfoundry.co.za
http://www.vanoodle.blogspot.com
http://www.exmi.co.za
http://cat-dubai.blogspot.com
http://alistairfairweather.com
http://www.zanedickens.com
http://www.nickhuntdavis.com
http://guysa.blogspot.com
http://book.co.za
http://baldy.co.za
http://skinnylaminx.com
http://blogs.african-writing.com/zukiswa
http://www.mielie.wordpress.com
http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/gatherer/
http://thoughtleader.co.za/sarahbritten
http://stii.co.za
http://blogs.news24.com/FSB_AP
http://twistedkoeksuster.blogspot.com
http://whensmokegetsinyoureyes.blogspot.com/
http://trinklebean.wordpress.com
http://commentry.wordpress.com/
http://matthewbuckland.com
http://blogs.news24.com/colour-me-fran
http://gormendizer.co.za
http://www.harassedmom.co.za http://ravingfans.co.za
http://khadijapatel.co.za
http://simon.co.za/speakza
http://synapses.co.za
http://fsi.org.za
http://gnatj.com
http://moralfibre.co.za
http://www.exmi.co.za
http://www.macgeek.co.za

Last week I wrote about an appalling piece of sensationalist journalism by England's Daily "Hate" Mail. They claimed that they had created a fake profile of a 14-year-old girl and had been approached "within 90 seconds" by a middle aged man intent on performing sex acts.

To test this out myself I created the lovely Cherry McSweetbottom, a 14-year-old ballet dancer from a posh suburb in Birmingham who votes Tory (or will do in 2014 at any rate).

Well, I'm proud to say that after only two weeks of making friends with the dodgiest people on Facebook and hanging out on pages called "I love sex", Cherry seems to have finally hooked her first bona fide kiddy fiddler. A few other men approached her, but as soon as she confirmed her age all of them backed off.

But finally on the 17th Cherry got a message from what looks to be a proper perve - a man in his late fifties from Huntingdon who - bizarrely - lists his cellphone number on Facebook, and links to his own daughter's profile to boot. Here is the message in all its glory. <Shudder>

So, the conclusion is that you can get picked up by a weirdo on Facebook, but it takes 14 days and a lot of risky behaviour (including hanging out in sex interest groups and befriending old men) before it actually happens.

I might keep Cherry around for a little longer just to confirm my suspicions, but I'm not sure I can stomach any simulated sex talk with some dude from Huntingdon.

On Tuesday I spent a day workshopping with some fine folks from the property business. It was intended as an introduction to the whole social media sphere, with some mobile aspects thrown in. I chose to concentrate on Facebook and Twitter, as those are the two sites (in my opinion) with the most local potential. Have a look through my presentation below - all feedback gratefully recieved.

 

Yesterday, via the amazing electrical Twitter machine, Russell Martin asked for some stats on social media and internet usage in South Africa. This made me realise a few things.

1. I have a whole lot of (relatively reliable) stats on the local market that I have gleaned over the years. This is thanks partly to stalwarts like Arthur Goldstuck , Dave Duarte and the cool dudes at Quirk, and thanks partly to research I've either been involved with or stumbled upon (if you'll excuse the pun). MWEB also recently released some tasty survey results, which confirmed (and informed) many of my hunches. (UPDATE: Another interesting survey by Universal McCann)

2. I share these nuggets with hardly anyone - which is a shame (not least because I may be wrong and someone may have better, harder data that can correct me)

3. I have been meaning to start my own personal blog for ages and this is as good an opportunity as any.

And so, dear fellows, a breathless summary of South African social media usage, according to the best and freshest numbers, straight from my grubby paws to you:

As far as I can tell there are only seven social media brands with any kind of mass market traction:

• Facebook
• YouTube
• Twitter
• MXit
• Linked.in
• Blogger.com
• Wordpress.com

We have the most reliable data on Facebook. Their sales dudes shared it with us at the recent Habari Media launch. Granted they are sales dudes, so they may have massaged the figures, but they match up so closely with our own anecdotal evidence so I believe them.

Facebook stats:
Active monthly users - 2.6 million (about 1 million of these are active every week)
MWEB survey: 82% of respondents used Facebook

Male / female: 47% / 50% (3% undeclared)

Age split
18-25: 36%
26-35: 28%
36-45: 13%
46+ 9%

Graduates: 12%

Married: 20%

(NOTE: All these demographic figures are based on people's profile info which may be incomplete or incorrect)

We have much less specific and reliable data on YouTube, so we're forced to rely on sources like Alexa (that I don't trust much*). They rank YouTube as the 5th most popular site in South Africa, after the two Googles (com and coza), Yahoo and Facebook (who are second). Interestingly YouTube used to be fourth until Facebook came along. That suggests that the growth rate of most big international sites is now pretty stable, with only upstarts like Facebook able to make an impact.

Given that News24.com, with its 1.5 million readers, ranks number 10 on Alexa, and Facebook ranks 2nd, we can assume that YouTube sits comfortably between these two - around the 2 million monthly browsers mark. MWEB's survey found that 32% of respondents used YouTube. This is so low that I suspect many respondents actually use YouTube without even realising it.

Participation rates on Twitter are still low by comparison to the biggest players, but their user base growing like topsy. Arthur puts the size of the local user base at 88,000 "based on 0.4% market share of 22m users". Note this is USERS - not visitors. I suspect that at least ten times as many people are reading tweets as are tweeting. This is bourne out by Twitter's 8th place Alexa ranking, which puts it in the same league as News24.com (ie a comfortable 1 to 1.5 million browsers per month). MWEB's survey found that 28% of people "used" Twitter - which correlates nicely with both Arthur and Alexa's numbers.

Linked.in has a naturally smaller user and audience footprint than the others, given its specialised focus on business networking. Even so, it has comfortably ranked in the top 20 on Alexa for the past year. Right now it is at 15 - putting it in the ballpark with IOL's 750K local monthly readers. This correlates fairly closely with MWEB's finding that 14% of respondents used Linked.in.

Blogger has a massive local audience, and many local bloggers also use their service to host their own blogs. This puts the service into the top 10 on Alexa - a space it's held for over two years. However it's nearly impossible to separate out local readers reading local blogs from the confusion. I strongly suspect that a large chunk of the traffic comes from local readers of popular international blogs that happen to be hosted on Blogger.

Wordpress.com is the real wildcard here. They easily make it into Alexa's top 20 and that's just with their commercial play. If we take into account how many prominent local bloggers are running Wordpress installations, I would put Wordpress as South Africa's blogging platform of choice.

MXit is the hardest to measure out of any of these. MXit stopped publishing their numbers after they surpassed Vodacom (ie 10 million customers) Anecdotal evidence points to nearly 100% penetration in people under 18. MWEB's survey reported that just 28% of respondents used the service, but I think that says more about the age of respondents than it does about the reach of the brand. And since MXit is almost entirely mobile, Alexa has no view on their popularity. If I had to guess I would put MXit penetration between 40 and 50% of the total cellphone using population - so roughly 12 to 15 million people. That makes it bigger than all the rest of the players put together. And even if I'm out by a factor of ten they are still larger than News24 or Twitter.

UPDATE: I've just received some harder numbers on MXit from the lovely Sandra who does PR and strat for them. Apparently they have more like 19 million users in SA. I'm confirming some more details with her and will post again later.

So folks, what do you think? Have you got harder or fresher stats? Please, feel free to correct me - I welcome a good debate on the subject.

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* Why don't I trust Alexa? I think there methodology is fundamentally flawed. They rely on users installing their toolbar and then using that sample data to extrapolate analytics for the entire planet. Compare them to someone like Compete and you'll see what I mean. I still think their data is useful, but only in the most broad and general sense. I don't trust, for instance, that Wordpress has more South African readers than Linked.in just because Alexa tells me so - but I do trust that they are in the same ballpark together.

*ANOTHER UPDATE*

A great comment by Justin Hartman about Alexa, setting me straight:

"While the Alexa rankings are not authoritative they do give us a "fair" indication of website popularity. When you say that you need to install the toolbar I say humbug.

For years now Firefox has been sending Alexa anonymous data without the need for the toolbar. There is an option somewhere in FF that is selected by default that gives FF permission to send "anonymous" data to Mozilla.

In addition, the Google Toolbar also does exactly the same thing if you have selected to send Google anonymous usage data.

So, based on this, I don't think Alexa is completely off the mark however it does preclude many many IE users who don't have the Google Toolbar installed."

Thanks Justin :-)