Thirsty Rock

Google Inc. plans to sell Android powered mobile phones directly to consumers. Nokia , Research in Motion , Apple and others have been put on notice. Google recently launched a free GPS service for mobile phones. This service, packaged with Google Earth , has unsettled the GPS market. Add the Nexus One phone to this potent mix and you have a formidable foe in Google. It should be interesting to see how incumbents respond. Or is resistance futile?

In the midst of the worst global recession for seventy years mobile phone operators continue to post impressive subscriber growth numbers. MTN , the largest mobile operator by subscription in Africa, has enjoyed an upward tick in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) in Nigeria and Ghana. According to the ITU, teledensity remains low in most emerging markets but markedly so in sub-saharan Africa. New accounts appear to drive further demand through word of mouth (WOM) and simply because mobile phones are a coveted status symbol. This is a clear testimony of supply creating demand, says Say.

What you need to get started: Console – must have a Wi-Fi adapter Wireless Access Point (AP) – with an Ethernet port available Laptop – Wi-Fi ready with a free Ethernet port. Hotspot coverage Windows OS – with Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) Our environment: Console: My son's PSP 3000 Access point: TRENDnet TEW-432BRP wireless router Laptop: Lenovo ThinkPad T500 Windows OS: Vista SP 1 Step 1: Configure access point Disable DHCP service on the AP. Assign 192.168.0.x to the AP LAN address where x is any number greater than 10. ICS will set LAN address on the laptop to 192.168.0.1 – more on this later. We set our AP LAN address to 192.168.0.100. Step 2: Configure console IP address: 192.168.0.n (set n to any number other than 1, we set our PSP IP address to 192.168.0.7) Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0 Gateway address: 192.168.0.1 Do not assign addresses to DNS and DHCP servers Step 3: Configure laptop Enable internet sharing on the wireless adapter (not the ...

Tito Mboweni, head of the Reserve Bank of South Africa, is a very angry man. Despite presiding over a 350 basis point reduction in the repo rate (the rate at which the central bank lends to banks) he does not see this benefit passed on to the consumer. The spread between the repo rate and the prime (base) rate is a consistent 3.5% across the board. It seems that all the banks' models use the same algorithm to compute risk. Tito wants the banks to revisit that algorithm. Last week the reserve bank invited top bank executives to dinner. Although little is known about the content of the discussions, the rate at which banks lend to individuals must have focused many minds. You must wonder how much control Tito has over the matter since banks draw less than 1% of operating funds from their lender of last resort. As things stand, Tito is playing snooker with a string for a cue stick. As the central bank cuts the repo rate the banks pretend to cut the onward lending rate. This gives ...

Was Milton Friedman right when he said that a government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem ? 2008 has turned out to be far worse than suggested in my December 2007 post. The US government has shovelled trillions of dollars into financial institutions but the liquidity issue refuses to walk away. America has seen unprececdented government market intervention. One sees Uncle Sam's hands all over corporate America. What started off as a subprime mortage fiasco has sipped into the real economy. Everything from commodities through stocks to retail sales has been affected by the financial market implosion. This crisis has claimed several giants. The Big Three US car manufacturers are living off government goodwill. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are under intensive government care. Citigroup, once the biggest bank (market capitalisation), is suckling from the state. What does the year 2009 have in store for the US economy? Expect to see less US influence i...

The government of Prime Minister Geir Haarde has moved to nationalise Kaupthing Bank hf (the largest bank in Iceland) after failing to secure investor confidence in the economy. The national currency, the Krona, was in free fall before trading was suspended until October 13. With a debt burden almost 12 times the size of the economy Iceland has bested the worst amongst the world's basket cases. Russia, previously chided by western governments for wholesale nationalisation of strategic assets, is looking to provide some EUR 5 billion relief to Iceland's battered economy while allies (the US and Europe) fight their own financial demons. Fervent supporters of free market economies have been dealt a hard lesson. Selling the virtues of privatisation to command economies just got harder.

Zimbabwe is Africa's Lazarus. The economy is in tatters, the citizenry of this great nation are despondent but Robert Gabriel Mugabe remains firmly in charge. For the time being. Many believe that only South Africa is in a position to determine the destiny of Zimbabwe. Yet President Thabo Mbeki, save for his quiet diplomacy, appears disinterested in employing enough downward pressure for Mr. Mugabe to repent his sins and thereby rid the Zimbabweans of their current economic woes. What exactly does Mr Mugabe have on Mbeki? In exile Mbeki lived, at different times, in the United Kingdom, Botswana and Zambia. He hardly was guest of the Mugabe's. On that score alone, Mbeki does not owe Robert a good turn. Of the two neighbours, Zimbabwe is most reliant on the other. Zimbabwe relies on South Africa's ports for her exports and imports. She draws electricity and routes her telecommunication traffic through her southern neighbour. South Africa is one of Zimbabwe's m...