Category: Tech

Microsoft Office is taking huge leaps on the Office platform. According to Microsoft, every platform is important to us and they’re bring all the features to all the platform. Join us on the live coverage below.

Visa marks the continued success of Visa Checkout, the online check out service that enables shoppers to pay with their cards online or on any device. In recent months, at least 33 new merchants have signed on to offer Visa Checkout.

Since the beginning of 2015, registered sign-ups for the service have increased by more than 92 percent. In June and July 2015, the average monthly enrolment growth rate for Visa Checkout was over 30 percent.

Today’s expanded list brings the number of merchants offering Visa Checkout to nearly a quarter million globally, while financial institution partners have grown to over 330.

In the UAE, Visa Checkout was made available in April 2015. Since then, banks in the UAE have offered Visa Checkout to their customers for secure cross-border shopping. The expanding list of UAE issuer partners includes Mashreq, Emirates NBD, Majid Al Futtaim Finance, Dubai Islamic Bank, and Emirates Islamic Bank.

Newly signed merchant partners worldwide include:

· United States: Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, Barnes & Noble College, Cle de Peau Beaute, delivery.com, EllenShop.com, JustFab, LivingSocial, Shiseido, ShoeDazzle, Shutterfly, Sport Chalet Mobile, StudentUniverse, Under Armour, Taco Bell, Title Nine and zulily

· Australia: Event Cinemas, Village Cinemas, Hoyts, Moshtix, The Roses Only Group and Ticketek

· Canada: Grand & Toy and Heart and Stroke Foundation

· Colombia: Archies, Agrocampo, BabyMarket, Carulla.com, Exito.com, Falabella.com, Myriam Camhi and Unicef (due to technology partner IATAI integrating Visa Checkout)

Now if only Apple Pay made its way here sooner !! Right ?

Microsoft is launching their next version of Windows today. Windows 10 will be a free download for all the users running Windows 7 and Windows 8. We’ll be covering the event live from Burj Khalifa, Dubai.

Espoo, Finland – LG Electronics has agreed to take a royalty-bearing smartphone patent license from Nokia Technologies. The Korean company is the latest of more than 60 licensees for Nokia’s 2G, 3G and 4G mobile communication technologies and the first major smartphone manufacturer to join the licensing program since Nokia divested its Devices & Services business to Microsoft in 2014.

“We are pleased to welcome LG Electronics to our licensing program,” said Ramzi Haidamus, President of Nokia Technologies. “We’ve worked constructively with LG Electronics and agreed a mutually beneficial approach, including the use of independent arbitration to resolve any differences. This agreement sets the scene for further collaboration between our companies in future.”

The detailed royalty payment obligations will be subject to commercial arbitration, expected to conclude within a 1-2 year timeframe. Other terms of the agreement remain confidential between the two companies.

On Monday, Microsoft Corp. announced that Windows 10 will be available July 29 in 190 countries. Windows 10 will help people be more productive and have more fun, with a personal and natural experience that works across all their devices. Familiar, yet better than ever, Windows 10 will deliver ongoing feature innovations and security updates. Windows 10 will be available as a free upgrade to people using Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, 1 enabling hundreds of millions of people around the world to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. Microsoft is finally following Apple’s path by giving their operating systems upgrade for free.

Visa, a global payments technology company, is set to host the first Strategic Retailer Congress in the MENA region for retailers, acquirers and industry stakeholders to discuss emerging trends that can enhance the payment experience.

Scheduled to be held on 30 April, 2015 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Dubai, the Visa Strategic Retailer Congress has been successfully held in regions with fast-growing economies, including South Africa and Asia Pacific.

As one of the leading payment partners for merchants in the MENA region, Visa believes the forum will set the stage for healthy discourse on crucial issues influencing MENA’s retail industry, including solutions to drive customer loyalty and recruitment, customer protection, and achieving growth through omni-channel convergence, all of which can be enabled through new payment technologies.

Speaking ahead of the event, Ihab Ayoub, Group Country Manager – MENA at Visa, says: “Innovation is key for merchants in prospering economies these days, and we are witnessing an urgent need to bring game-changing expertise to meet the needs of this region. With local businesses already converted or in the process of crossing over to tap in to the growing digital customer base, payment solutions such as Visa Checkout, Tokenization and mPOS are gaining relevance more than ever before.

“Our objective as a payments technology firm, leading several innovations in the industry, is to reach out to stakeholders and bring them closer to a future-ready payment infrastructure that helps them achieve business growth. We look forward to hosting merchants, acquirers and other partners in the industry, at this first of its kind forum Visa is leading in the region.”

Mohanish Agni, Head of Merchant Sales and Solutions – MENA at Visa, adds: “Merchants in the Middle East are looking to improve their offerings in terms of customer engagement and seamless shopping experiences. The Strategic Retailer Congress is a forum to showcase Visa’s abilities to complement merchant operations through Innovation in Retail, Big Data and Analytics, as well as Fraud and Risk Management.

Through this forum, we hope to set the stage for formal direct engagement with merchants across the region and collaborate in developing a superior consumer experience and facilitate secure and speedy payments. We want to be a key merchant partner in driving business.”

Visa believes the current market offers new opportunities for merchants. Increased connectivity and use of smart devices are steering consumers towards eCommerce and mCommerce at a faster rate. In addition, as the popularity of social media continues to rise, there have been innovations in retail engagement which leverage data and offer high levels of personalization.

A huge driver for this trend is the MENA region’s young and affluent population, which could influence retailers’ eCommerce and omni-channel operations. As technological developments and consumer behaviour grow and shift at a rapid pace, Visa aims to build new and reinforce existing partnerships with merchants as retail enters a new wave of modernization.

The New digital trends 2015 research conducted in UAE from Microsoft has revealed that the modern consumer is putting pressure on brands to use personal information collected online to tailor services and help them get more done. The research – taken from Microsoft Advertising’s bi-annual Digital Trends report – found that almost two thirds (74.2%) in the UAE are looking for technology to help filter the messages they see; while four in five (79%) want digital services to help manage information shared online.

The report also uncovered clear insights for brands, online service providers and advertisers to help them to serve target audiences more effectively, without breaking their trust. Over three quarters (83.5%) are aware that digital data can be used to exchange for rewards or better experiences. In addition, half are interested in these exchanges, showing that consumers are more open to sharing personal data – as long as they’re clear on where it is going and how it is used.

The Microsoft Digital Trends 2015 study polled more than 13,000 consumers in 13 different global markets, and tracked how the eight most important trends identified in the original report have evolved over the last two years* since the inaugural study in 2013. Other key findings include:

o   IntelligentlyON: Consumers increasingly want an easier way to find information that’s valuable to them, with almost two thirds (74.2%) interested in future technology and services that automatically filters content/messages so they only see or hear what they really need to at any one time.

o   Real: Redefined: Bridging the physical/digital divide is increasingly important to consumers, who are more likely now to be interested in a future wave of digital devices and services that will allow them to experience any place or object online or offline in the same way (67.6%

o   Right To My Identity: 79% of Consumer interest stays in digital services that can manage all of the information they share onlineIn addition, 51.8% of UAE consumers want to be able to choose how long information they share stays online.[3]

o   Life Analytics:  14%  consumers have never interacted with tracking apps or devices, such as connected apps, household appliances and wearables,). However, while consumers may have been downloading more trackers, around one third are currently using it to optimize performance.

“Consumers are making themselves more open to brands, presenting huge opportunities for marketers – as long as the rules are followed,” commented Thom Arkestaal, Research & Insights Lead, Emerging Markets, Microsoft Advertising.  “Companies have to be transparent about how data is collected and how it will be used.  There must be a reward – giving consumers an incentive to provide data and engage with services. Finally, brands must make the experience seamless, minimizing friction and workarounds and giving consumers the same experience wherever they are.”

Other findings from Digital Trends 2015 include:

o   The New Age of Discovery: 69.8% of Consumers showed interest in future technology that provides suggestions and recommendations for new experiences, new connections and new things to do that fit their personality and needs. And brands aren’t off the hook – over half (61.7%) expect brands to know them and help them discover new products or services that fit their needs.

o   Now Networks: The lure of ‘one size fits all’ social networks is falling,  67.3% of consumers use different digital social networks that are specialized, and suited to their precise needs or activities  . This presents a big opportunity for brands – 66.7%  of consumers in UAE say they are more likely to interact with a brand when using more specialist and niche digital services. But marketers should think beyond fixed networks and think about how to find the right network for the right moment – and not trying to capture all experiences at the same time.

o   Creative Me: Consumers want to take control and shape their digital experiences.  In UAE , 39.3% say they would like to be able to learn more about customizable services. –. For brands: 59% of consumers in UAE say they are much more likely to buy from companies who allow them to shape their products or services

Waseem Afzal, Head of Digital at OMG said: “With the proliferation of media choices and explosions of screens, we have seen significant investment and the growing need to understand consumer insights. Our digital landscape in the region has changed massively over the last few years and the new study conducted by Microsoft unlocks some powerful and interesting insights. While it looks at the UAE through a global lens, it reveals what differentiates this market from many other developing ones”

Microsoft Digital Trends 2015 is the result of a partnership with the Future Laboratory Research Now to investigate the future of digital behaviour and technology to better understand how brands can meet consumers’ expectations today and in the future.  Each trend tells a compelling story of the changing consumer relationships toward devices, platforms, apps and brands, and together, helps advertisers to understand the new rules around consumer digital experiences.
The full Digital Trends 2015 whitepaper can be downloaded here.
 

* Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States.

Watch out people, the clock is ticking. Yeah, I can’t give you any further clue on this. Apple has finally announced for one of their break through devices, the Apple Watch. The Apple watch was announced last year alongside the new iPhone with a release expected in early 2015. It seems like Apple is now ready to ship them. 

Tim Cook earlier also added that the Apple Watch despite its phone and health tracking capabilities will also double as your car key. That’s just great news provided it doesn’t need additional hardware. Its interesting to see how the Apple Watch will perform in the market. Its not like the smartwatches from the other manufacturers are doing great. But then again, we know that non of that applies to Apple. There were also reports that the competitors want Apple to launch the watch just as any of us so that the smartwatch segment gets the traction that it needs right now. And we all know, no one but Apple creates the best hype and stereotypes. 

One of the biggest shortcomings of Whatsapp was that it was limited to your smartphone. And that has been helping its competitors to eat Whatsapp’s fair share of customers fulfilling that drawback. I myself has been using the Telegram app a lot just because I could message from my computer. Well, Whatsapp has now put an end, well almost an end to that by releasing a web client that can work on the Google Chrome browser. Please note that it also needs you to be an Android Whatsapp user. Due to limitations on iOS, as Whatsapp say, the functionality cannot be enjoyed by those on iOS at the moment. If you’re one of those who use Whatsapp on Android, then head on to https://web.whatsapp.com to enjoy Whatsapp right from your computer. You may also want to head to Play Store just to ensure you have the latest version of Whatsapp on your phone.