The adage “think global, act local” has not been lost on mobile companies in efforts to encourage the creation of local applications development. Nokia recently announced an $85 000 grand prize in its Calling All Innovators South Africa competition for instance.

Vodacom has joined the local centric party by introducing Vodafone’s open mobile applications development platform in the country today. Betavine.net will provide South African app developers with a community platform and the necessary resources to develop local applications.

"Betavine is one of the ways we encourage innovation in the areas of wireless and Internet communication. It is an online open development platform and community, which supports mobile application developers in stimulating ideas, building, testing and launching great new applications for mobile and Internet communications and services," says Romeo Kumalo, Executive Director: Commercial, Vodacom South Africa.