Vodafone Webbook gets SA release by Vodacom

Vodacom has announced it will release the Webbook in South Africa – the first Vodafone mobile operator to do so.

The compact Webbook device weighs less than 1kg and has a 10 inch LCD screen, 512MB of memory and 4GB of storage space. It is run on the Ubunti operating system and comes with various software applications installed.

Chris Ross, Managing Executive: Commercial Development at Vodacom said the company expect the device to be “particularly important and attractive” for the emerging market.

“The Vodafone Webbook is going to offer the end user a compelling, mobile or at-home computing experience at an affordable price.”

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The Webbook, which carries a 24-month warranty, is available from today from R1499 for a standalone device. With a prepaid starter pack, which includes a modem, Sim and 100MB data per month, the device costs R1,899 and with a modem costs R189 for customers with the My Meg 500 plan for 24 months.

Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of Canonical which developed the Ubunto OS, said: “We are delighted to provide the operating system for the Vodafone Webbook. Ubuntu’s founding principle is to remove the barriers of access to computing for everyone, and products like this give hope of connectivity to people all over the world.”

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