News24 Logo

Nokia Logo

News24.com have announced the release of their Nokia widget. This is the first local widget for South African consumers which will deliver local news to your Nokia device.

“Consumers have been calling for local applications and widgets to be made available to enhance their Nokia experience,” says Helen Jarvis, Nokia’s services marketing manager. “News24 is the first local widget which is available for Nokia devices, specifically the Nokia N97, and can be downloaded for free from http://store.ovi.com.”

A widget is essentially a shortcut key which can be downloaded onto a mobile device enabling users to get access to real time content at the touch of a button. According to Jarvis, widgets allow users to experience an ‘always open’ window to their favourite social networking sites and Internet destinations with the added convenience of viewing the shortcut keys on their screen.

This just confirms News24 as being South Africa’s leading digital news brand. This widget will allow all South African Nokia device owners to receive instant, real time, news updates on their phone at a click of a button.

Android Logo

On friday we wrote about the Android Market finally being launched in August. HTC have just notified me that the August launch will only give users access to free applications and not the paid applications as yet.

We assume this has to do with payment methods but are unsure at the moment and will update you when we know more.

What this does mean is that the local market is really missing on some of the premium applications that have been developed for the Android system.

Android Market

Finally, any person with their hands on an Android powered mobile phone will no doubt know that they have been missing out on the Android Market, Google’s mobile application directory. However the wait is over. From August 2009 it will be available to all South African Android users.

When HTC launched the HTC Magic and HTC Dream in South Africa, the local users did not have access to the Android Market which led to developing their own application directory which proved to be highly successful. This resulted in Google deciding to launch the Android Market in South Africa.

Now all HTC Magic and HTC Dream users will have access to a multitude of free and paid for applications which range from improved office and business functionality to fun and games.

To get access to the Android Market you will need to get a software upgrade by visiting a Leaf regional office, a Leaf retail store or visiting the Leaf website. All future HTC Android models will already contain the latest software giving you instant acces to the Android Market.