Nokia road show hits town

The Nokia Nseries road show came to Johannesburg today. The two items they seem to be most proud of at the moment are the N95 and the N76. The N95 has some seriously impressive features, the dual slide handset allows for easy access to many features which helps, especially considering Nokia tend to include as many features as possible in one phone. What really impressed me is that the whole presentation was done through the N95 onto the LCD, video out is a great feature to have on a phone (see picture).

The N76 also got some coverage at the event. There were murmurs in the crowd though – the hushed whispers focused on the fact that the N76 looks exactly like the Motorola Razr. Admittedly there are a lot more features in the N76 but you would expect Nokia to use their own design.

The presentation did reveal one major issue with the cell phone giant – they release so many phones so quickly. If you buy the latest and greatest today it will be yesterday’s news very quickly. Another point brought up at the presentation is the fact that other cell phone makers tend to offer specific features on each of their phones. The customer then has to choose the features they need the most, supposedly making life easier for them. Nokia are obviously taking a totally different approach by including all the multi-media functions they can. With Nokia holding a 50% share of the multi-media market it seems there approach is winning at present.

.za DNA rewired

The Domain Name Authority of South Africa (.za DNA) today announced a new approach to regulating local domain names. From now on disputes will be settled through independent adjudicators, meaning that expensive court cases are no longer a necessity.

“One of the most common problems we see is when a person or business registers a competitor’s name online for financial gain, or to get an unfair advantage over competitors by denying them access to a domain name,” says Dr. Hasmukh Gajjar, chairman of the .za DNA. “They may also register an offensive domain name, which could bring another person or organisation into disrepute.”

It will cost companies R10 000 for a single adjudicator while a panel of three will set them back R24 000. According to DNA this is far cheaper than a legal battle in the courts, which can apparently run up a bill of around R250 000. 10 percent of the fee will go towards a fund intended for companies that cannot afford the adjudicator fees.

In essence this new system acts as a domain name claims court, without the lawyers though. This will definitely be a big breakthrough for companies that have had their domain names taken.

“If people or businesses want to lodge a complaint, the process requires that they are able to provide sufficient evidence proving that a domain name registration is abusive or offensive. The current owners of that name are also given the opportunity to prove why they should keep the name up and running” furthered Gajjar.

Second life, second business

Companies need to wake up to the virtual world. According to Gartner research 80% of active users will have some kind of second life on the Internet by 2011. Virtual worlds like World of Warcraft and Second Life will soon have many more users than we are currently seeing. If businesses do not start making inroads into these virtual worlds they are set to lose out.

Gartner stress that businesses need to come up with a viable business model for success in these worlds, however they also mention that large projects, at least in the beginning stages should be avoided.

Just imagine the possibilities in a game such as Second Life though. Real Estate agents could open up their virtual offices and sell off property. Millions could be made by anyone with enough business sense.