Motorola is on the hunt for South Africa’s next music sensation with the launch of MOTOROKR™ STAR.

I have had the priveledge of personally being involved in this campaign, where we developed the Mobi-site and mobile Multimedia components. Needless to say I am very proud of what we have accomplished and as such am posting the official press release on my blog.

The campaign is SENSATIONAL with Wyclef Jean and Fergie - teaming up to record and produce the winners track. Motorola have moved into the music scene with their Rokr range of phones as well as the incredible w230, which is a low end phone with multimedia capability and comes with a 2gig memory card - for R566. Mindblowing!

This campaign is well positioned with their strategy and is set to give local talent a step up to the international platform of musical stardom. If only I could sing!

US Superstars Wyclef Jean and Fergie team up with Motorola for SA MOTOROKR™ STAR

Johannesburg, South Africa – 14 November 2008 – Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) today announced the launch of MOTOROKR STAR, a sensational competition to discover and promote new musical talent.

The competition, which will be judged by music icons and Motorola brand ambassadors Wyclef Jean and Fergie, gives one South African finalist the chance to experience the life of a superstar with an all expenses paid trip to New York. One budding pop star will then be chosen to win an amazing prize, which includes the chance to record a brand new song specially written by Wyclef Jean for the competition, vocal coaching by acclaimed singer Fergie and a recording contract with a major record label.

“We are so excited about the launch of MOTOROKR STAR,” said Andrew Morely, Vice President of Marketing for Mobile Devices EMEA, Motorola. “Our ROKR products give music fans a portable way to enjoy their music; twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. This competition is going to be a fantastic way to unleash a new breed of musical talent for consumers to experience.”

The MOTOROKR™ STAR COMPETITION

Entry

Participants can submit entries in three ways:

Mobile Submit a video audition to www.motorokrstar.mobi

Web Submit a video audition to www.motorokrstar.com

Live From 1st Nov 2008, the MOTOROKR Star Audition Booth tour will visit six major shopping centres across the country to allow participants to record and upload their entries in a recording booth.

Voting

Members of the public can log onto www.motorokrstar.com and vote for their favourite entries.

In January 2009, the 100 most popular tracks will be judged by a panel of music industry experts to find the top 10 entries for South Africa.

Finalists

The top ten SA finalists will be announced and the South African winner will be selected by Sony Music and Wyclef. The SA winner will receive an all expenses paid trip to New York to participate in the final leg of the competition and the nine runners ups will each receive a MTN Exploded Management program.

Winner – THE MOTOROKR STAR

An expert judging panel, which will include Wyclef and Fergie, will then choose the ultimate winner. The MOTOROKR STAR will receive:

• A recording contract with a major record label*

• Vocal coaching by Fergie
  

• A 12 month management deal* with Maximum Artist Management, whose clients include The White Stripes, Eva Longoria and Elisha Cuthbert
  

• The opportunity to record a song specially written by Wyclef Jean for the MOTOROKR STAR competition
  

Celebrating the ROKR range

The MOTOROKR STAR competition celebrates Motorola’s ROKR™ range of mobile phones.

MOTO W230:

Lose yourself in Music with the MOTO W230’s onboard MP3 player, stereo FM radio and dedicated music keys for quick access to and control of your music. With up to 1GB expandable memory, upgradeable to 2 GB you can store up to 500 songs for your entertainment. RRP R566

MOTOROKR™ E8:

The flagship ROKR product, the E8 uses Modeshift™ technology to seamlessly shift between talk, music and pictures. The haptics keypad technology and the Fastscroll navigation wheel make for the perfect combination of style and function.RRP R2499

MOTO™ EM30:

One moment ROKR EM30 is a mobile phone. The next, it transforms into your favourite music player. It uses Motorola’s innovative ModeShift technology to illuminate the keyboard — red keys illuminate in music mode and a brilliant blue keypad appears in phone mode — to take users from talk to text1 to complete music immersion at the touch of a button. With colourful cues that let users know exactly which mode they are in, the ROKR EM30 connects the sounds that matter most: family, friends and favourite artists. RRP R1999

MOTO™ EM325:

The EM325 offers a genuine music-player experience with immediate access to a stored music library or built-in FM radio with Radio Data System technology. The EM325 includes up to 2GB optional removable microSD storage, which gives users plenty of space for their music. RRP R 999

* Subject to individual contracts being signed

About Motorola

Motorola is known around the world for innovation in communications. The company develops technologies, products and services that make mobile experiences possible. Our portfolio includes communications infrastructure, enterprise mobility solutions, digital set-tops, cable modems, mobile devices and Bluetooth accessories. Motorola is committed to delivering next generation communication solutions to people, businesses and governments. A Fortune 100 company with global presence and impact, Motorola had sales of US $36.6 billion in 2007. For more information about our company, our people and our innovations, please visit http://www.motorola.com.

About MOTOROKR STAR

For terms, conditions and further information, please visit www.motorola.com/motorokrstar or SMS ROKR to 39066.

FireFly - Phone for Children

I came across this phone a couple of months ago and whilst I have not had the pleasure of testing and playing with it I think it's a great idea.

I have 3 children and I can tell you that this is definitely on the cards as it is a simple device that would work well for when I would want to contact them - I just wonder how durable it is as they have a nack for breaking things!

The phone is available through Kalahari.net and has the following functionality;

Parental management of incoming and outgoing calls
Easy activation with nationwide wireless service
Customized ring tones, animations and colours


Product Information:

Works on GSM 900/1800 MHz networks
Internal antenna
Rechargeable, nonremovable lithium ion battery
Up to 6 hours talk time
Up to 205 hours standby time
Dimensions: 8.79 x 4.45" x 2.01 cm
Weight: 60 g
Dual language capabilities: English and Spanish

Fun for Kids:

Firefly Fireworks™ display flashes when making and receiving calls, during standby, and when charging
12 ring tones to choose from
5 animations to choose from
7 LCD screen backlight colors to choose from

No Sweat for Parents:

Speed dial Mom, Dad, and 112 emergency number
PIN-protected Phone Book with up to 20 numbers
Optionally rejects calls from numbers not in Phone Book
Missed call indicator and list

Package Contents:

Firefly Phone, Travel Charger, Backpack Clip
Instructions for getting started

Nokia E71

It's been almost 2 weeks since I had my new device, although trying to get the device after I upgraded was almost an impossibility. After a week and a half of numerous calls to the upgrade centre I was advised by the call centre agent that if I did not like the "service" I was getting I should consider moving to Nashua Mobile! Fortunately Lizette at Altech Autopage came to my rescue and had it delivered within a day of my call to her. Thank you Lizette!

Putting that all aside I have to say that this is probably the best handset I have ever used! I have had everything from Nokia, Siemens, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Imate, HTC and in those variants I have had the priveledge of having various models so the base I'm working from is quite solid.

What impressed me initially about the device, is the form factor. It is sleek and sexy, fits into your hand comfortably and just screams capable!

I thought it would take me some time to get used to the menu structure as I have been a loyal Sony Ericsson fan for many years now however to my surprise I had the device configured and working within a very short space of time - with no hiccups.

The software works - I have not experienced any hanging what-so-ever, and literally as you click on an icon the application opens. This for me is a big issue, as I am the most impatient person on this planet - so when something works as I expect it to it's a major thing.

WiFi - is also a really big thing for me. I'm not a techy and with my lack of patience sometimes find myself beating inanimate objects to death when they decide not to cooperate with my expectation. Having experience with WiFi on my PC and believe me it has not all been pleasant - ask Telkom help desk - I was blown away by the simplicity of connecting to my WiFi network. I honestly thought it could not be that easy - either that or my lengthy calls to Telkom have taught me something I may not have realised I knew.

The keys - some people may battle with them at first however coming from the Sony Ericsson M600i which has up to 4 functions per key - I'm finding it an absolute pleasure

The GPS is a bit of a misnomer for me - I use a Garmin Nuvi normally, so this feature is not of primary concern, however it does take a while to access the satellites and I have not quite tested it yet due to the response speed - but still, if you consider what you are getting in the sleek and slim package - it's incredible!

I enjoy the active note application where you can link notes to a call - very clever.

The camera is not great but that's ok because I don't want a camera as a phone.

As far as being able to personalise skins - there is not much to go with although I have not been online to establish whether there are downloads - suffice it to say the standard skins work ok - for now.

Everything works - Email was also a breeze to set up, I mean normally I would have called our IT technicians in to do the job. But in this instance it was as simple as 1,2 3.

In a nutshell this phone is functionally everything I could want for managing a mobile maketing business. It caters for a full multimedia experience, delivers the goods on all fronts and gets a BIG thumbs up from me.

Full specifications can be found here and additional in depth reviews can be found on Paul Jacobsons' site as well as Johnothan Greene's review.