New mobile service providers 8ta has announced the availability of BlackBerry Prepaid Blackberry Internet Services (BIS) vouchers.

The new prepaid BIS vouchers from 8ta will give you access to Blackberry Internet Services and free Airtime for the period of 6 months for only R600 once off.

BlackBerry Internet Services is a easy to use and low cost solutions for those wanting access to internet, email and social networking, making it ideal for the youth of today that needs to constantly connected. With the new prepaid BIS vouchers parents can be rest assured that their children will not run out of airtime while surfing the net and there is no need to take out a contract, ensuring no bill shocks at the end of each month.

The prepaid BlackBerry Internet Services vouchers from 8ta is valid for 6 months and will give you R600 worth of airtime, free BIS subscription valued at R59pm, 500mb of free YouTube streaming, and the ability to get 50 free sms message each day when you send 5 sms messages. You will also earn free minutes after the first 3 seconds of each received call.

The BlackBerry prepaid BIS vouchers is obtainable from any 8ta flagship stores, Telkom Direct stores, Edcon and Altech Autopage, and can be used in conjuction with a Prepaid tariff and any other active bundle, be it SMS, data or other. Once the voucher expire you’ll have the option to migrate to another Prepaid tariff plan and to keep your existing BIS.

Popular smartphone app WhatsApp, which allows you to message other users on different platforms running the same app at the fraction of the cost of an SMS, has denied sending out any messages stating that it is about to start charging users.

The message reads as follows:

WhatsApp is going to cost us money soon. The only way that it will stay free is if you are a frequent user i.e. you have at least 10 people you are chatting with. To become a frequent user send this message to 10 people who receive it (2 ticks) and your WhatsApp logo should turn Red to indicate a frequent user.

WhatsApp has responded on their blog after they got numerous emails from users of the smartphone app about hoax message doing the round on the instant message application, stating that this is a hoax and there is no truth to it.

Another hoax message has now also started doing the rounds, this time stating that WhatsApp will be shutting down on 28 Jan and if you do not forward the message to your contacts you will be deemed inactive and your account will be deleted withing 48 hours.

WhatsApp will not be shutting down any time soon, nor will they start charging you if you do not forwards messages to your contacts, if they really wanted to contact other WhatsApp users don’t you think they can just simply message you directly?

Neotel has without much flair, launched what one can only describe as one of the best mobile data deals currently available, over the weekend.

The new NeoGo 24GB data deal was launched by Neotel over the weekend and give customers 24GB of data that is valid for 12 months for a mere R799 once-off fee. The new NeoGo 24GB deal also include a free USB modem.

Users have the choice of either getting the whole 24GB up front or has the ability to request that they receive 2GB every month for the period of 12 months. When users go over their either monthly 2GB or once-off 24GB threshold they will be billed pre paid data rates of R0.20 per MB.

The new NeoGo deal from Neotel comes in considerably cheaper then current deals offered by mobile operators, with the R149pm deal from MTN and the previous Cell C special not even coming close price wise.

Neotel also has a NeoGo 2GB deal for those not so data hungry people which costs R399 once off and also includes a free USB modem.

In South Africa mobile is big, just about everybody in the country owns a cellphone, most of these making use of prepaid, but why? Simply put they just can not afford contracts or like the idea of being tied into a 24 month contract, or have the credit scores that allows them to take out a contract.

Enter Flexicell, Flexicell has innovated the prepaid landscape in South Africa by introducing prepaid month to month contracts, it’s a contract but not really cause it runs from month to month. You decide the amount of airtime you require each month, pay Flexicell and come each new month your phone is credited with the amount of airtime.

With this month to month offer from Flexicell you get all the flexibility of being on prepaid, while still having the convenience that contract customers have, like being assured that come beginning of the month you will have you airtime loaded automatically with the added benefit of not having to sign a 24 month contract.

You get to choose whatever amount you feel comfortable with spending each month on airtime and Flexicell will simply deduct that amount from you account and load the airtime, once you feel you can not afford it anymore you simply need to give one month’s notice and your done.

With the iPhone 4S set to launch at midnight in South Africa, details have emerged about MTN’s pricing and packages for the iPhone 4S.

MTN will offer the iPhone 4S on three different packages that start from R499pm to R819pm, all packages will include a 250mb data bundle every month for the duration of the 24 month contract.

MTN are yet to announce at what stores the iPhone 4S will be available from tomorrow, but they have confirmed these pricing on their Facebook page. What I do find dissapointing is the fact that even though they opened up pre-registration of the iPhone 4S they are now requesting that you go into a store tomorrow to get the iPhone 4S.

Yesterday I spent most of the day phoning around in Cape Town to find a MTN store that will have the iPhone 4S on 16 Decemeber 2011, but I was told by every store I phoned that they will not have the phone on launch date, shocking considering I phoned most of the bigger stores.

Both Vodacom and MTN has however told MyBroadband that users should not be concerned and that there will be stock at certain stores where customers can go to on launch date to apply for iPhone 4S contracts. These customers going into stores to take out iPhone 4S contracts will be treated on a first come, first serve basis.

Vodacom has also revealed the stores where the iPhone 4S will be available on launch date, see table below.

With the news of the iPhone 4S launching in South Africa, MTN has now also opened up pre-orders for the device.

Vodacom was the first to officially announce that they will be launching the iPhone 4S in South Africa on 16 December 2011, with the news Vodacom also opened up pre-orders for the device on their website. MTN soon responded saying that they will also be launching the iPhone 4S in South Africa on the 16th of December but there were no word on pre-orders.

MTN has now also opened up pre-orders for the iPhone 4S. Users wanting to get they hands on Apple’s latest iPhone can pre-order their devices on the MTNSP site, the pre-orders are open to new or existing customers wanting to upgrade to the iPhone 4S.

The iPhone 4S features Apple’s lightning fast A5 dual core processor, an all new and impressive 8 Mega Pixel camera, iOS 5 and the much talked about digital personal assistant called Siri that responds to your voice commands.

When Apple announced the launch of their new iPhone 4S, South Africans has been holding thumbs that just maybe the iPhone 4S would launch here. Unfortunately as with most tech products, South Africa is not always on top of the list to get things first.

Apple then announced the second launch wave of the iPhone 4S to a few additional countries and yet again South Africa was left behind, but it seems like we are in for a Christmas surprise.

Vodacom yesterday revealed in a tweet that they will be launching the iPhone 4S in South Africa on 16 December 2011. Rumors was doing the rounds that the iPhone 4S would have launched on 30 November 2011, but later industry players stated that the launch was postponed to December.

MTN has also responded and said that they will also be launching the iPhone 4S on 16 December, but pricing are yet to be confirmed.

If you are a Vodacom customer or would like to become one you can pre-register for a iPhone 4S here.

DStv Mobile has taken the wraps off yet another device that will enable you to view DStv Mobile on the go.

The new device will be the third available DStv Mobile device covering all aspects of viewing DStv on the go. The new DStv Mobile Walka Handheld TV is just what is name implies, a handheld TV.

The DStv Mobile Walka Handheld TV opens up a whole new market for DStv Mobile, enabling consumers without fancy smartphones and tablets and even those without access to a computer to be able to watch DStv on the go.

The Walka Handheld TV is a slim, lightweight device with a 3.5” viewing screen providing digital visual and audio quality. After activating the Walka through the MultiChoice call centre it connects to the DStv Mobile DVB-H broadcast signal, giving access to 16 great DStv channels in the genres of sport, music, news, cartoons and general entertainment. The content line-up includes the two brand new channels that were recently added; magical channel M-Net Mobile and the informative Discovery channel.

The Walka Handheld TV is the third device from DStv that enables you view DStv on the go and will be available from retails outlets and MultiChoice centres from 1 December 2011. The device did leak out on Kalahari.com for just under R700 but has since been taken offline again.

At an event in Johannesburg last night, Motorola Mobility, has launched the world’s thinnest smartphone, the Motorola RAZR, in South Africa.

The South African launch comes only a mere week after Motorola announced the Motorola RAZR to the public internationally, showing that Motorola really has put more focus on marketing and bringing their latest devices to the country.

Owning the title of the world’s thinnest smartphone one would have expected Motorola to skimp on hardware power, but this is not the case with the RAZR. The Motorola RAZR features an 1.2GHZ dual-core CPU, 1GB of RAM, an 8MP camera and a gorgeous large 4.3″ AMOLED screen.

Apart from the impressive hardware features the RAZR also comes with an array of consumer experiences which Motorola considers to of high importance, seeing as they currently have more engineers working on this then on the hardware itself.

A nice consumer experience is the smart actions that learns a users habits on the phone and then automatically adjust the phone settings according to your habits to ensure longer battery life.

The RAZR is also compatible with the Lapdock and the HD Multimedia Station Motorola introduced with the Atrix.

The Motorola RAZR will be available at Vodacom from November 2011 on a 24-month Business Call contract at R269 or at a retail price of R6999, which too be honest is a bit on the steep side.