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This automotive report highlights emerging automotive industry trends shaping an exciting and revolutionary future. They are ushering in a new era where vehicles converse with each other to evade accidents and electric powertrains significantly diminish carbon footprints. Imagine urban environments devoid of traffic congestion, made possible by intelligent transportation systems, or the exhilarating experience of being a passenger in an autonomous vehicle.
Recent breakthroughs are dramatically reshaping the transportation landscape. This encompasses the incorporation of artificial intelligence in vehicle engineering, advancements in battery technology, and the extensive implementation of connectivity solutions.
Supporting these innovations and automotive market trends are persuasive data points. A recent study by Precedence Research valued the global automotive motors market at US$28 billion in 2022, with a projected growth of approximately US$42.86 billion by 2032. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.4% from 2023 to 2032. Moreover, EV adoption in the US is projected to skyrocket to 30% by 2030, with a global penetration of 41%, according to PwC’s auto industry prediction.
In this data-driven automotive report, we delve into the current trends in the automotive industry, including electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, telematics, connected cars, and advanced driver assistance systems.
- Dominant Trend: The automotive industry, with a trend magnitude of 99.8% and maturity of 78.06% according to TrendFeedr, exerts a significant influence and exhibits a solid growth trajectory across global markets.
- Broad Spectrum: Automotive firms are actively participating in emerging trends such as electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, telematics, connected cars, and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), thereby transforming the transportation ecosystem.
- Media Attention: Over the past five years, there has been a steady increase in automotive industry news coverage by 0.85%, indicating continuous media engagement and public interest.
- Investment Hub: The automotive sector is a hive of activity with around 176,000 organizations attracting significant investments, with total funding nearing US$500 billion.
- Financial Backing: Major investment firms like Warburg Pincus, Goldman Sachs, and SoftBank Vision Fund are investing heavily in the automotive future, directing billions of dollars into innovative projects that aim to revolutionize mobility.
- Geographical Influence: The automotive trend has a strong foothold in key markets such as the United States, Germany, India, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Furthermore, cities like Bangalore, London, New York City, Mumbai, and Melbourne are identified as major hubs driving automotive advancements and contributing to the global spread of the trend.
Table of Contents
- Understanding Automotive Industry Trends
- Automotive Industry Trend Card
- Emerging Technologies Disrupting the Automotive Industry
- Key Automotive Industry Trends
- 5 Emerging Automotive Companies
- Automotive Investment Trends
- Mapping the Geographical Activity
- Media Coverage of the Automotive Industry
- Automotive Industry Future Outlook
For this detailed analysis of emerging automotive industry trends, we use TrendFeedr, our all-in-one trend intelligence platform. TrendFeedr uses advanced algorithms to identify future industry and tech trends. With a focus on trend discovery, clustering, and analysis, the AI-powered platform reviews thousands of trends each week to provide actionable insights.
Among more than 20,000 trends and technologies monitored by TrendFeedr, automotive has made a significant impact. Here’s why:
- Automotive lands in the top 50 trends, and it ranks within the top 1% of global trends, demonstrating its significant evolution and integral role in the world economy.
- With a maturity of 78.06%, the automotive industry has surpassed its initial stages of innovation and now finds itself in a phase of refinement and consolidation. This stage is characterized by steady growth, established methodologies, and a clear path towards future development.
- The extensive influence of this industry is revolutionizing transportation, manufacturing, and urban planning sectors. It is driving progress in electric vehicles, hybrid cars, and autonomous vehicles, steering them towards sustainability and environmental friendliness.
This report explores various aspects of the automotive industry, including performance, investment, regional, and future outlook.
Understanding Automotive Industry Trends
Positioned at the intersection of innovation and sustainability, a plethora of trends in the automotive industry, are reshaping our understanding and interaction with vehicles. These trends, deeply anchored in technological progress and a shift in consumer preferences, are heralding a new epoch in transportation. Let’s delve into these trends and explore emerging technologies in the automotive industry.
What are trends in automotive?
The automotive industry is in the midst of a significant transformation, with several key trends reshaping transportation. One of the most influential trends is the shift towards electrification, driven by a global emphasis on reducing carbon emissions and conserving fossil fuels. Automakers worldwide are enhancing their EV offerings, promising longer ranges and faster charging times at more affordable price points. Alongside this, strides are being made in the domain of autonomous driving. Features like lane-keeping assistants, adaptive cruise control, and self-parking are already being integrated into consumer cars.
Today’s vehicles are increasingly becoming connected hubs, thanks to advancements in connectivity and infotainment systems. With vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication, the driving experience is becoming more interactive and informed. Additionally, the concept of vehicle ownership is evolving, with younger generations leaning more toward shared mobility solutions. These include car-sharing, ride-hailing, and even shared ownership. Beyond just vehicles, there is also a focus on making the manufacturing process greener through the use of sustainable materials, waste reduction, and supply chain optimization for minimal environmental impact.
What are new technologies in the automotive industry?
A host of emerging technologies serve as the backbone for the trends mentioned above. In the realm of battery technology, advancements in lithium-ion and solid-state batteries are enhancing the range of EVs, reducing charging times, and bringing down costs. AI and machine learning are enabling better driver assistance systems and predictive maintenance. They are playing a pivotal role in the development of autonomous vehicles. The global rollout of 5G networks is enhancing vehicle connectivity, enabling real-time data sharing between vehicles and infrastructure.
Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), using a combination of cameras, radars, and sensors, offer features like automatic braking, pedestrian detection, and blind-spot monitoring. This significantly enhances road safety. Furthermore, the use of lightweight materials such as carbon fiber, advanced alloys, and composite materials is reducing vehicle weight. This leads to improved fuel efficiency and performance.
Automotive Industry Trend Card: Concise Overview of the Evolving Automotive Landscape
In our ongoing series examining key industry sectors, today we zero in on the automotive industry — a vast arena characterized by intensive innovation and substantial economic heft. The Trend Card at hand provides more valuable insights:
Looking for all trends related to Automotive?
- Market Dynamics: The automotive sector, home to 176,672 companies, shows a slight decline in year-over-year growth, indicative of a competitive yet maturing market.
- Media Presence: Exhibiting robust media coverage with a ‘very strong’ signal status, the industry nonetheless faced a 1.79% dip in yearly news growth.
- Innovation and Development: An impressive trend magnitude of 99.8% places the automotive industry firmly as an established, time-tested sector. With a maturity level of 78.06%, it remains ripe for growth and innovation, ranking in the top 1% of global trends.
- Intellectual Property: Holding 129,970 patents, the industry emphasizes a deep commitment to research and development, driving continuous innovation.
- Industry Dynamics: Over the past five years, there’s been a 58.68% increase in media coverage of investments, contrasting with a 21.01% decrease in new company formation and a 34.46% reduction in funding.
- Human Capital: Manpower stands at 16.5 million, underpinning the industry’s scale.
- Financial Confidence: With total funding reaching US$525.8 billion, the industry displays robust financial backing and confidence in its future trajectory.
- Global Footprint: The United States leads in the country ranking, followed by key players like Germany, India, and the United Kingdom, illustrating a diverse geographic distribution of automotive prowess.
Stay with us as we delve deeper into our exploration, we will dissect each aspect, providing insights and thorough analysis.
How Do Emerging Technologies Disrupt the Automotive Industry?
Emerging technologies are revolutionizing the automotive industry, paving the way for a safer, more efficient, and more sustainable future. In this section, we will explore in greater depth about these automotive technologies:
Electric Vehicles (EVs)
EVs are disrupting the automotive industry by offering a cleaner and more sustainable alternative to traditional gasoline-powered vehicles. They produce zero emissions and are increasingly seen as a key solution to reducing the carbon footprint and combating climate change.
Companies such as Munro Vehicles create specialist electric 4×4 vehicles with HV compressors that condition the powertrain, battery, and cabin across a wide range of temperatures. Its electric drive systems provide maximum traction off-road while producing zero tailpipe emissions.
Autonomous Vehicles (AVs)
By using advanced sensors and artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles navigate without human drivers. AVs are set to transform the way people travel, potentially making roads safer and more efficient.
For instance, companies like Motional use sensors and artificial intelligence to navigate without human drivers. Its IONIQ 5 robotaxis are used for both driverless ride-hail and delivery. The startup’s driverless vehicle technology makes autonomous vehicles a safe, reliable, and accessible transportation solution.
Telematics increases road safety, improves driving behavior, and enables transportation companies to monitor their assets using GPS. This technology onboard diagnostics to record data such as driving habits, geographical locations, and irregularities that could lead to accidents.
For example, Brightmile uses telematics to incentivize eco-driving and lower CO2 emissions. Its platform offers a way for fleet managers to engage drivers and improve driving habits while also achieving sustainability targets. By tracking metrics like speeding, phone use while driving, and fatigue, the company provides insights and coaching to drivers.
Leveraging advanced technologies such as the IoT, AI, and cloud computing, connected cars offer enhanced connectivity, real-time data exchange, and smarter in-vehicle experiences. It delivers real-time instructions to vehicles, reducing congestion and lowering costs.
Eloy, for instance, provides solutions to improve traffic management for large events and destinations through connected vehicle technology. Its products help traffic managers and drivers plan routes more intelligently and deliver real-time instructions to vehicles.
Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS)
ADAS utilizes a combination of sophisticated sensors, cameras, and algorithms to significantly enhance vehicle safety. These advancements lead to a reduction in accident rates and an improvement in driving comfort.
Companies such as Roadio develop automotive-level ADAS for small vehicles like motorcycles and scooters. Its system pairs with a smartphone app to give riders a real-time view of their surroundings. It uses cameras and neural networks to reconstruct the vehicle’s 3D environment, eliminating blind spots and providing early warnings of potential collisions.
In conclusion, these emerging technologies are not only disrupting the automotive industry but also shaping its future. As these technologies continue to evolve, we can expect to see even more innovative solutions transforming transportation systems.
Key Automotive Industry Trends & Firmographic Insights
The automotive industry is undergoing a monumental shift, driven by cutting-edge innovations and a diverse array of organizations. With over 16.5 million professionals contributing their expertise, this sector is a melting pot of large-scale enterprises and agile startups.
The average company size of 131 employees juxtaposes with a median of just 21, highlighting a landscape where industry giants coexist with niche players. The influx of 737.9K new employees, averaging 7 per company annually, paints a picture of an industry in constant flux, balancing aggressive expansion with cautious growth. As we dive into the latest data from TrendFeedr, let’s explore how over 176,000 companies are steering the future of automotive through pioneering trends:
1. Electric Vehicles (EVs)
- Powered by an electric motor using energy stored in rechargeable batteries, EVs mark the evolution of the automotive industry towards sustainable and eco-friendly transportation.
- A staggering 29K organizations are delving into this cutting-edge trend, collectively gathering a substantial US$299.5 billion in funding.
- Driven by a dynamic workforce of 2.7 million individuals, these organizations are reshaping the future of green transportation.
2. Autonomous Vehicles (AVs)
- AVs, also known as self-driving cars, embody the convergence of sensors, cameras, and AI to navigate and control the vehicle without human intervention.
- A specialized yet impactful 8,363 organizations are driving this trend, attracting a robust US$140.9 billion in funding.
- These entities, supported by 808K professionals, are committed to creating safer and more efficient roads.
- Telematics combines telecommunications and informatics to enhance vehicular functionalities, ranging from GPS to real-time monitoring, enhancing operations and efficiency.
- A total of 5,213 progressive organizations have ventured into this domain, securing an impressive US$27 billion in funding.
- With a unified team of 334.2K professionals, these institutions are leading the charge in optimizing vehicle safety.
4. Connected Car
- This trend highlights the integration of internet connectivity into vehicles, enabling them to share data with devices both inside and outside the vehicle.
- A total of 1,925 forward-thinking organizations are exploring this trend, collectively raising US$21.5 billion in funds.
- Supported by a team of 197.3K individuals, these entities offer solutions that redefine the boundaries between technology and transportation.
5. Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS)
- Employing technologies such as sensors and cameras to offer features like adaptive cruise control, automated braking, and lane departure warnings, ADAS enhances vehicle safety and assists drivers.
- 1,011 innovative organizations are embracing this trend, raising an impressive US$22.2 billion.
- With a combined force of 208.1K committed experts, these organizations are pioneering safety-first approaches in vehicular navigation.
The automotive industry is unmistakably on the brink of a groundbreaking transformation, fueled by these pivotal trends and the extensive network of organizations propelling them. Each trend carries its potential, challenges, and unique innovation landscape, playing a significant role in the redefinition of mobility and transportation as we currently understand it.
Emerging Automotive Companies Leading The Way
In the past five years, there has been a marginal downturn in the influx of new entrants in the sector. This is marked by a negative growth rate of 0.77%. The pattern indicates a phase of consolidation within the industry, where incumbent entities maintain their stronghold. The high entry barriers could be attributed to the matured market conditions, substantial capital requirements, or technological complexities.
5 Promising Automotive Startups
Moreover, automotive startups are propelling innovation at an unprecedented rate, unveiling revolutionary solutions that are transforming the facets of vehicle design, manufacturing, and operation. These startups are pioneering advancements in areas such as electric powertrains, autonomous driving technologies, connected car systems, and sustainable materials. With this, they are addressing some of the most pressing challenges in the industry. Let’s delve into the top five automotive startups established in the last five years that are making significant strides in shaping the future of transportation.
- CARIAD is an automotive software company that creates digital features for vehicles, including ADAS solutions, infotainment platforms, and software for powertrains and charging technology.
- TruTrak provides vehicle tracking & GPS tracking systems for individual vehicles to small and large fleets.
- Carnomaly develops blockchain solutions for the automotive industry, specifically for buying, selling, and owning cars.
- EV Electra is an electric automotive manufacturing and distribution company that is engaged in the R&D of electric vehicles.
- Linkbycar builds a platform for connected vehicle intelligence, collecting, processing, and aggregating data from a variety of vehicles.
Automotive Industry Investment Trends
The financial support for innovations and advancements in the automotive sector places it in the top 5% of all 20K+ trends and technologies covered by TrendFeedr.
In the past five years, there has been a marginal decline in the annual growth of automotive funding, averaging 0.23%. This minor decrease suggests a phase of stability or strategic consolidation within the industry. It could be indicative of companies potentially redirecting their attention toward enhancing the efficiency of their existing investments and resources.
A Closer Look at the Financials
TrendFeedr data indicates that the automotive sector has received a substantial total investment of US$525.8 billion. This amount is distributed across various entities, with Detroit Electric emerging as the top beneficiary, securing a maximum of US$1.8 billion. On average, automotive organizations received around US$46.5 million. However, the median figure, which arguably provides a more accurate representation of the majority, is at US$1.7 million.
In terms of revenue, TrendFeedr estimates that the automotive industry has generated a total of approximately US$3 trillion. Leading the pack, Young Shine reported the highest revenue of US$2.5 billion. While the average revenue across companies is around US$23.3 million, the median revenue is US$3.5 million.
A noteworthy 6.39% of automotive companies have secured essential capital to drive their innovation and expansion. Out of all the funding types, early-stage VC/series A funding rounds have emerged as a cornerstone. It provides budding startups with the financial support they require during their formative stages of growth. Seed funding has served as the vital initial investment for emerging automotive ventures, laying the groundwork for future innovation. Debt financing has offered a dependable financial safety net, ensuring consistent cash flow and operational continuity. Venture rounds have proven to be catalysts in propelling growth, enabling automotive firms to scale swiftly. M&A activities have paved the way for strategic partnerships and acquisitions, promoting cooperation and amalgamation within the industry. Furthermore, grants have left a significant imprint, with 1,869 grants awarded, benefiting 0.76% of automotive firms. This highlights the importance of public and private backing in nurturing automotive innovation.
Prominent Investors in the Automotive Industry
Warburg Pincus, a distinguished investment firm, is at the forefront of this investment movement. It has shown a strong commitment to the sector, with a substantial investment of US$2.2 billion distributed across 19 ventures. Their significant investment in Tata Technologies of US$360 million is particularly noteworthy.
Goldman Sachs has also made substantial contributions to the automotive industry. It has invested US$1.5 billion in 19 different automotive enterprises, with major stakes in Rimac at US$268.4 million and Northvolt at US$251 million. These investments reflect their confidence in the future of electric mobility and advanced automotive technologies.
The SoftBank Vision Fund, renowned in the tech investment sphere, has allocated a considerable US$1.4 billion to 8 selected projects within the automotive sector. Its top investment includes US$360 million in Carro.
In the public sector, investments have been more diverse but equally impactful. A staggering US$23.3 billion has been committed to 424 companies. Notable recipients include Longsys with US$345.7 million.
Further, the automotive industry’s immense potential is evident in the impressive number of unique investors it attracts, placing it among the top 5% of all global trends.
Mapping the Geographical Activity of Automotive Companies
The global landscape of the automotive industry presents a dynamic distribution, demonstrating a diverse dispersion across various continents while underscoring regions of intense activity. The heatmap below encapsulates over 176,000 entities within the automotive sector.
Interested in exploring all 176K+ automotive companies?
The United States continues to lead the global automotive sector, a testament to its long-standing history of automotive innovation and its array of esteemed car manufacturers. Germany closely follows, globally acclaimed for its luxury car manufacturers and remarkable engineering achievements. India has firmly established itself as a key player in the global arena, thanks to its expanding consumer base and thriving automotive hubs. The United Kingdom, with its iconic brands and pioneering automotive tech startups, continues to shape the industry. Canada rounds out the top tier of influential regions with its focus on sustainable automotive solutions.
Bangalore, known as India’s tech hub, has become a hotbed for automotive startups, positioning it as a nucleus of automotive innovation. London, in contrast, skillfully integrates its traditional automotive businesses with modern tech firms, securing its place on the global automotive landscape. Further, New York City and Mumbai have recently seen modest growth in this sector. Melbourne, with its rich history in car manufacturing, continues to contribute to the automotive industry.
Media Coverage of the Automotive Industry Sees a Yearly Uptick of 0.85% over the Last 5 Years
In the past five years, the automotive industry has demonstrated a consistent growth trajectory with an annual rate of 0.85%. This steady progression underscores the ongoing engagement and expanding discourse around automotive trends, technological breakthroughs, and innovative practices.
The surge in media attention for automotive industry trends is indeed noteworthy, earning it a place in the top 5% of all trends. The number of articles dedicated to this subject from 2005 to 2023 is an impressive 495,932, situating it within the top 5% of all global trends.
What is the Future of the Automotive Industry?
The automotive industry, brimming with innovative advancements and technological amalgamations, is poised for a paradigm shift in the forthcoming years. Based on the current landscape and data-driven insights, here’s the automotive industry outlook:
Sustainability beyond Electrification
While EVs persist in their stride toward market supremacy, the automotive industry’s approach to sustainability will diversify. We can anticipate an intensified effort towards fabricating vehicles with recyclable materials and adopting eco-friendly manufacturing procedures. The focus will be on a vehicle’s entire lifecycle, striving to minimize its carbon footprint from production to disposal.
Seamless Integration with Smart Cities
With the metamorphosis of urban areas into smart cities, vehicles will become an integral component of the urban ecosystem. We can anticipate automobiles interacting with traffic signals, parking lots, and even buildings, enhancing traffic management, alleviating congestion, and promoting efficient infrastructure utilization.
Digital transformation equips automotive manufacturers with the ability to automate production processes, streamline supply chain management, and reduce costs. Leveraging Internet of Things (IoT) devices, AI, and machine learning (ML), manufacturers will monitor production lines in real-time and identify potential issues before they lead to downtime.
Automakers develop self-driving cars that operate without human intervention. Autonomous vehicles have the potential to revolutionize transportation by reducing accidents, traffic congestion, and emissions. In the future, many urban commutes will be in self-navigating vehicles. This shift will not only change the way we travel but will also reshape urban infrastructure, insurance sectors, and traffic management systems.
Evolving Retail Models
The automotive industry is moving away from traditional showrooms and embracing digital showrooms. The traditional car dealership model will transform. With augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), consumers might experience and customize their vehicles from the comfort of their homes. Direct-to-consumer sales models will also see growth.
Automotive Trends: Navigating the Future of Transportation
As we wrap up the automotive report, it is clear that we are moving through a rapidly changing landscape. The pace of discoveries is fast, and the range of possibilities seems endless. Keeping up with these changing trends is very important. It allows you to anticipate changes, take advantage of new opportunities, and stay ahead. But how do you do that?
Connect with automotive enthusiasts, industry leaders, and innovative creators; their insights can provide valuable perspectives and open up opportunities for collaboration. Dive into reports specific to the sector, attend automotive-focused seminars and conferences, and participate in online automotive communities. Also use trend-tracking tools like TrendFeedr that meticulously track up to 207 sub-trends, offering a comprehensive view of the evolving automotive industry landscape.


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Microsoft cloud org chart: Meet 30 execs who run the $1.8 trillion tech titan's crucial cloud business under CEO Satya Nadella
Microsoft's official internal organizational chart reveals the top 30 executives who run the company's cloud business under Satya Nadella.
This is why one of Microsoft's top execs has worn a red polo shirt to almost every single important event for over a decade
If Microsoft cloud boss Scott Guthrie is foolish enough not to wear his signature look, he's know he'll hear about it.
The man in the red polo: Meet Scott Guthrie, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's front-line general in the cloud wars with Amazon and Google
Meet Microsoft Executive VP Scott Guthrie, the long-time Microsoft insider who's leading the company's cloud wars with Amazon and Google.
Microsoft Azure is a multi-billion cloud business today. But if Microsoft hadn't radically changed its culture, it might have been a major failure.
Microsoft has gone on record saying that Salesforce's fears will not come to fruition.
Microsoft announced a big deal on Monday that nabbed away HP from Salesforce as its CRM software customer.

domain: news


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- "As much as I like this story, I think you can be patient," CNBC's Jim Cramer said about buying shares of CIIG Merger, the American SPAC planning to take British electric-vehicle maker Arrival public in 2021.
- "But given how much this one already pulled back this week, I'm giving you my blessing to start picking at it tomorrow," the "Mad Money" host said.
- "If it comes down below $17.50, you can buy it hand over fist, because this one has the best claim to be the son of Tesla — or daughter, to break the tyranny of that awful cliche," he said.
CNBC's Jim Cramer on Thursday endorsed CIIG Merger, the U.S. blank-check company set to take U.K. electric-vehicle maker Arrival public next year, as a speculative stock for investors to play.
"As much as I like this story, I think you can be patient," the "Mad Money" host said. "But given how much this one already pulled back this week, I'm giving you my blessing to start picking at it tomorrow. Then I want you to wait for maybe a better pitch."
CIIG shares are down from a late-November peak, when the stock more than tripled in value in a matter of six trading days. The stock is down about 20% to $23.74 since Nov. 24.
Cramer said he would be more bullish on the stock if it comes down roughly $6 from its current level, likening Arrival to the hottest electric-car name on Wall Street.
"If it comes down below $17.50, you can buy it hand over fist, because this one has the best claim to be the son of Tesla — or daughter, to break the tyranny of that awful cliche," he said.
Arrival, which reportedly had a $5.4 billion valuation in November, is the latest of a surge in special purpose acquisition companies taking private business public this year. SPACs raise money to fund an acquisition, taking the target firm to public markets.
American businessman Peter Cuneo, former CEO of Remington Products and Marvel Comics, set up CIIG Merger. Denis Sverdlov, who founded Arrival, will stay on as CEO of the carmaker.
Arrival plans to manufacture electrified buses and vans, rivaling the likes of Rivian.
"We're still in the early innings of this story, but it's much more compelling than some of these other small-time electric-vehicle start-ups," Cramer said.
Cramer likes that Arrival, which plans to start production in the fourth quarter of 2021, aims to reinvent the manufacturing process with what the company calls "microfactories." These plants can be built in existing warehouses, a fraction of the size of traditional auto plants, the company said.
Arrival has backing from UPS, Hyundai and BlackRock.
"They're revolutionizing the entire auto industry, and they own a ton of intellectual property," Cramer said. "They make all their own components, they'll be cost-competitive with gasoline and diesel, and that's why Arrival got that $5 billion valuation from the get-go."
Arrival expects to produce $1 billion in revenue in 2022, $5.1 billion in 2023 and more than $14 billion in 2024.
"The whole microfactory concept could revolutionize manufacturing, not just the auto industry, assuming it works as intended," Cramer said. "If they can make an electric van or truck with a lower cost of ownership than the fossil fuel-powered alternatives, that's a whole new ballgame."
Questions for Cramer?
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Capacity used to manufacture OLED and LCD panels will decline in 2023 for the first time in the history of flat panel displays (FPDs), according to Omdia’s recently released OLED and LCD Supply Demand and Equipment Tracker. Even though the 2023 decline is small, it is significant considering that FPD capacity expanded continuously at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.6% between 2000 and 2022.
“As panel supply shifted from being extremely tight between 2H20-1H21 at the height of the pandemic-driven demand surge, to unprecedented oversupply in 2H22, FPD prices and panel maker profitability have cycled from record highs to record lows,” commented Charles Annis, Omdia’s Display Research Practice Leader.
With the FPD industry continuing to suffer from excess capacity, panel makers are now accelerating the consolidation of under-utilized legacy factories, as well as delaying new factory ramp-ups, and pushing out future investment plans in order to reduce operating costs and conserve cash.
Slowing capacity growth can cause trouble for FPD supply chain companies that rely on new factory construction for business, but at the same time, it enables the industry to self-correct to a healthy balance between panel supply and demand with more stable pricing and profitability.
“Area demand for active-matrix OLEDs, LCDs, and EPDs will increase by almost 61 million square meters from 2022 through 2027, a CAGR of 4.5%. This growth will be driven primarily by a continuous shift to larger display devices, particularly televisions. Over the same period, manufacturing capacity is forecast to increase by approximately 22 million square meters or a CAGR of 1.1%.”


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Mt. Juliet’s Breeden’s Orchard sold to Zanies co-owners
A longtime popular peach and apple orchard in Mt. Juliet owned and operated by a couple has been sold to new ownership that plans to continue and enhance the operation as an orchard.
Breeden’s Orchard was owned by Tommy and Marynell Breeden for more than 40 years where they allowed people to pick peaches and apples from hundreds of trees with little red wagons and operated an old country store on the grounds.
Husband and wife Andrew and Aimee Dorfman of Mt. Juliet have bought the approximate 11.5 acres on Beckwith Road with plans to resume using the property as an orchard with enhancements in mind as well.
The Dorfmans are part-owners of Zanies Comedy Night Club in Nashville that also includes Andrew’s brother Brian Dorfman and his wife Wendy Dorfman, who will also be part of the Breeden’s Orchard ownership, Andrew Dorfman said.
Tommy Breeden, 76, and Marynell Breeden, 75, Breedens purchased the property in 1974. It operated as an orchard through 2016; they did not operate the orchard or store this year.
“Our plan is to bring back the store and orchard and we are more than interested in growing it even more,” Andrew Dorfman, 52, said. “We saw this as an opportunity to do this together for the rest of our lives.”
Long-term possibilities for the orchard the Dorfmans will consider include wine tastings, use as a wedding venue and a petting zoo, Andrew Dorfman said. Utilizing a pond on the property for youth fishing, resuming school tours the Breedens formerly offered and setup of a year-round farmers market will also be considered.
The home on the property is expected to be available for family, Andrew Dorfman said. Building additional smaller homes to operate a bed and breakfast may be considered as well, but not immediately, Dorfman said.
The Breeden’s Orchard name will remain.
The Breedens purchased the property in 1974 and gradually increased its operation as an orchard through 2016.
“I’ve cried for a week,” Marynell Breeden said. “We're very happy ... they are going to continue the orchard and get it back up and running.”
The Dorfmans hope to reopen the orchard and store in 2018 and plan to prune and trim trees around February. He expects some trees will need to be replaced.
Reach Andy Humbles at email@example.com or 615-726-5939 and on Twitter @ AndyHumbles.


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Folks experiencing problems with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound in the Netflix app on Apple TV will be happy to hear that the streaming video giant is aware of the audio issue, and is currently working on fix.
The bug, 9to5Mac reports, stems from the Apple TV 6.1 update seeded in March. Following the release, a number of users with 5.1-capable systems reported they could only get stereo output from the Netflix app…
Here’s more from the 9to5Mac post:
We’ve reached out to Netflix several times since the release of the Apple TV update and this morning the company acknowledged it’s aware of the problem and working to roll out a fix: “We are aware of the issue and are working to deploy a fix.”
It’s not providing any additional info or an ETA on when you can expect the fix, but at least you now have confirmation a fix is finally on the way three months after initial reports.
Apple released Apple TV 6.1 alongside iOS 7.1 on March 10, with just a handful of new features including the ability to quickly hide apps and a new AirPlay option. We’ll let you know when the Netflix audio fix hits.


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In its latest performance report, OpenSea, an Ethereum-based NFT marketplace, announced that creators made over $1.1 billion on the platform in 2022. Meanwhile, over 80% of the revenue came from NFT collections outside the top ten.
OpenSea promised to keep partnering with creators to ensure they earn money for their work. The latest news from OpenSea reveals a new dawn for NFT creators in the NFT marketplace.
Also, it highlights the importance of creators’ royalties to NFT creators. However, it also shows the amount NFT collectors spent buying NFTs on OpenSea.
Although the market conditions this year have been turbulent, individuals continue to buy NFTs. Meanwhile, the $1.1 billion excludes grants, sponsorship income, and engagement incentives.
In a blog post by Shiva Rajaraman, OpenSea’s VP, the revenue is from January 1st till November 23rd and only encompasses creators’ fees. The income astounded many individuals in the crypto community.
Market analysts at OpenSea were also surprised at the huge revenue. This is a huge sum compared to creators’ rewards on other platforms.
According to reports, creators on Facebook and Instagram made over $1 billion from July 2021 to December 2022. Hence, the DeFi platform is doing better than the conventional Web2 platforms.
Similarly, TikTok, another social media network, promised to pay creators over $1 billion between 2020 and 2022. Furthermore, Snapchat paid some of its top creators $1 million daily. This totals about $365 million in a year.
However, it is still far from what OpenSea NFT creators made in 2022. Patron, a platform that provides tools for content creators, paid creators about $3.5 billion in nine years of operation.
OpenSea Continues To Support NFT Creators
On November 7th, OpenSea announced the introduction of an on-chain tool. This tool would allow creators to launch new NFT collections on the NFT marketplace.
It would also allow creators to enforce on-chain royalties on their NFTs. Furthermore, the smart contract code in the on-chain tool restricts NFTs sales to only markets which enforce creator royalties.
In 2022, several NFT marketplaces have taken a different approach toward creators’ royalties. While some have made royalties compulsory, others have made them optional for their user community.
Creator royalties are a beneficial Web3 invention that allows NFT creators to earn more from their work. Creators receive some amount when their NFTs are resold.
OpenSea stated that it wants to create an NFT ecosystem where creators have total control over their work. Also, the Ethereum-based NFT marketplace is ready to launch more tools and services to help creators generate more revenue streams.
Although the hype surrounding NFT has declined in 2022 owing to the ongoing crypto market crisis, different NFT-based projects continue to rise.
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1.4 million cars joined the roads in Latin America in the first quarter of 2018. In a region that struggles with automobile safety, the increase of motor vehicles on the road raises challenges for policymakers, auto manufacturers, and citizens. Over 115,000 people die every year from car accidents in Latin America. In 2000, 26.2 people per 100,000 died in car accidents and that number is expected to rise to 31 car-related deaths for every 100,000 people by 2020. In the US, the rate of accident deaths hovers around 11.4 per 100,000 people.
Managing Latin America’s growing automobile fleet is one of the most significant challenges that startups and governments will need to tackle as cities swell. Latin America is home to many auto producers, so manufacturers will also need to pay attention to new technology to stay competitive.
Opportunities in autotech in Latin America
Worldwide, startups and giant tech companies are tackling the conventional auto industry with solutions that include self-driving vehicles, electric cars, pay-per-mile insurance, and car-shares. Latin America is experiencing a wave of autotech startup launches, including a few that raised notable international investment rounds.
Much of this innovation remains concentrated in Latin America’s two largest markets: Brazil and Mexico. This disparity makes sense as 70% of vehicles on the road in Latin America are in these two countries. In Brazil, there is approximately one car per four inhabitants, while in Mexico, the ratio is one in three. Argentina, Colombia, and Chile trail far behind in quantity of vehicles but maintain similar ratios.


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UCSF doc's role in CVS decision to stop selling tobacco
CVS Caremark, one of the nation's largest pharmacy chains, says it will stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products by Oct. 1 at all of its 7,600 stores nationwide, including 848 in California and roughly 150 in the Bay Area.
The voluntary move is the first by a major U.S. pharmacy, CVS said early Wednesday, and could cost it up to $2 billion in annual sales. Since California accounts for 11 percent of CVS pharmacies nationwide, forgone sales in the Golden State could easily surpass $200 million.
Company officials couldn't immediately say how many CVS stores are located in the San Francisco Bay Area, but roughly 150 are listed on a company web site, including eight in Oakland, 10 in San Francisco and 20 in San Jose.
Smokers in California wrack up an estimated $18.1 billion annually in economic costs, and smoking costs nearly 37,000 Golden State residents their lives each year, a CVS spokeswoman told the Business Times on Wednesday.
"Ending the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products at CVS/pharmacy is the right thing for us to do for our customers and our company to help people on the path to better health," President and CEO Larry Merlo said in a Feb. 5 statement.
San Francisco and Boston have already banned the practice.
Merlo said the move "distinguishes us" and positions the company for further growth in a health care environment dominated by an emphasis on improving outcomes, fighting chronic diseases and controlling costs.
Chris covers health care, insurance, nonprofits and the wine industry.
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BMW will present the successor to the Z4 roadster in the summer, a source at the company said.
The Z4, which was developed with Toyota's Supra successor, will not be appearing at this week's Geneva auto show where Toyota is previewing its version as a concept.
The Z4 will return BMW to a two-seat cabrio segment after a two-year absence. Production of the last Z4 rolled off assembly lines in Regensburg, Germany, in 2016.
"The new car will be shown at the Paris motor show, too, but currently the plan is to show it at its own dedicated event before then," said the person familiar with the situation.
BMW unveiled a Z4 concept at the Monterey Car Week in Pebble Beach California last August.
Two-seat sports coupes and cabrios have lost much of their strategic importance to automakers, since demand for a specific model is often short-lived, the segment isn't growing and the cars tend not to be suitable for emerging markets or countries like China, where air pollution plagues major cities such as Beijing.
BMW partnered to share the development costs of the vehicle, pairing up with Toyota as part of an ongoing alliance first forged four years ago. This also included cooperations in the areas of fuel cells and lightweight construction.


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This Week in Imaging: Canon and Business Inkjet; HP Opens up MPS Accounts; More
In October 2018, Canon U.S.A. entered the A3 business-inkjet market with that WG7200 series, joining HP Inc. and Epson. Unlike HP Inc. and Epson, however, Canon made the announcement of its new A3 business inkjet line, which will be available in early 2019, with little fanfare. Canon has made and sold consumer and SOHO inkjets for decades, but these models, which can reach up to 80 ppm, and can print on up to 13″ x 19″ media, are its first A3 inkjet models for the office and enterprise.
While both HP and Epson have typically introduced their business inkjets with a great deal of fanfare – including on-the-road expos and demonstrations – that wasn’t the case with Canon. (The company, it seems, doesn’t often make a big deal of things – a few years ago, for instance, at Canon Expo, we found its first 3D printer tucked away in a quiet little niche.)
What Canon is doing is emphasizing business-inkjet advantages compared to laser, emphasizing a self-serviceable design with only one replaceable part (an ADF roller kit, and user-replaceable ink cartridge accessed from the front panel). It’s also addressed some potential inkjet challenges of the past with new inks formulated with an anti-curling solvent to prevent paper curling, which are also faster and highlighter-resistant.
Like HP Inc., Canon will now be selling both laser-based and business-inkjet for the office. Over the years, we’ve asked HP Inc. reps how both inkjet and laser can co-exist together, and the answer is that generally there’s no problem, with each said to appeal to different sets of customer’s needs – with inkjet, for instance, providing low-cost color printing. How far Canon will take its business inkjet and if the two can peacefully coexist remains to be seen.
According to projections made by IDC, the “business inkjet market will grow by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.2 percent over the period 2015 to 2020.” IDC also predicts that “inkjet is likely to surpass 60 percent of total shipments by 2020,” with most of that growth coming from color devices aimed at the workgroup. So the business-inkjet market opportunity does seem to be real – the question is how aggressive – or not – Canon will be.
This Week in Imaging:


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Despite the fact that Mexican antibacterial gel was banned in the United States, this same product continues to be sold in Mexico; This was confirmed by the Bloomberg agency.
According to information from the Bloomberg agency , antibacterial gel circulates in Mexico that is considered toxic and has already been banned in the United States.
The agency says that it is an antibacterial hand gel that causes concern among health experts since constant use could cause poisoning.
In fact, a few months ago we informed you about the alert issued by the United States government about antibacterial gel made in Mexico, the same one in which methanol was found.
It is known that 37 Mexican companies that imported the product were included in a “black list” of the United States and their imports were suspended.
In a journalistic exercise Bloomberg visited a pharmacy in Mexico City where he found at least five products that the FDA (United States Food and Drug Administration has prohibited.
WHAT IS METHANOL?
Methanol is a substance that is present in industrial products and in others such as cleaning products and some fuels.
Methanol is toxic in prolonged exposures and can seriously damage body organs if ingested, inhaled, or if it comes in contact with the skin.


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The Spirit Of Travel Is Alive And Well At The 2023 Agents’ Choice Awards Gala
It was the best of times for the best of Canada’s travel industry.
Baxter Media – along with its presenting and feature sponsor partners – celebrated the favourites of Canadian travel advisors from coast to coast to coast at the 2023 Agents’ Choice Awards Gala at Toronto’s Arcadian Court last night (June 15) and it was a dazzling affair.
And Baxter Media’s executive editor, Bob Mowat used the glittery event — that drew a sold-out crowd of close to 400 — to praise travel agents for the remarkable resilience they’ve shown through often challenging times.
“If I was to sum things up, I’d have to say that this is an industry that has experienced far more than its fair share of existential disasters, occasionally interrupted by some good times,” he said. “How on earth you’ve managed to survive, let alone thrive, beggars my imagination. But you seem to find joy in adversity.”
Mowat added: “While change always brings uncertainty, I am confident that whatever comes your way, you’ll be here next year and the year after that and the year after that.”
Baxter Media’s executive vice-president Wendy McClung in turn noted Baxter Media’s longevity in the industry, pointing out that its flagship publication, Canadian Travel Press, has been informing travel agents of industry developments for over half a century.
“From its very first issue, every significant event, every important news story, new company, bankruptcy, trend and a whole lot more has been featured in Canadian Travel Press. But the publication’s signature feature has been the pages and pages of pictures that has run of the people and events of the industry over the years – some of which you are seeing tonight on the screens,” she said while paying tribute to her parents — Bill and Edith Baxter — who founded the company.
“Tonight, is a celebration on many levels,” McClung continued. “23 years ago, we launched the first Agents Choice Awards survey, asking you who your favourites were in 7 categories. Names like Canada 3000, Sunquest, Fun Sun, Signature, and Regent made the list. Many are no longer around or have merged with others, possibly several times over. Fast forward to 2023. This year, the Agents’ Choice Awards survey featured over 40 supplier categories and 6,551 travel advisors — a record number of voters — had their say in recognizing you.”
Coming To A Screen Near You
The sold-out crowd was also the first in the industry to learn about a new project that Baxter Media is currently working on. In 2013, the company released Voices of Travel, Stories from the pages of Canadian Travel Press – a history of the Canadian travel industry — told by more than 40 industry icons – now, work is underway on a Voices of Travel documentary that will offer the Canadian travel industry a chance to listen to some new Voices.
Those attending the 2023 Gala got a sneak preview of what the project is all about.
Stay tuned, Voices of Travel is slated to be released in the Fall of 2023.
A Special Award
The evening also saw G Adventures founder Bruce Poon Tip presented with the W.H. Baxter Lifetime Achievement Award and he used the occasion to thank Baxter Media for having always been ‘so supportive’ of his company. [Click here for the full story]
Poon Tip observed that his company was once located near Baxter Media’s Toronto office, on Dupont Street, which helped forge ties between the two companies.
Bringing The Industry Together
During the award presentations, Porter Airlines’ Michael Curmi observed of the event that it is one he looks forward to each year, observing that “Baxter Media brings us all together in style,” and considering the year that Porter has been having as it makes sure its passengers ‘actually enjoy economy,” Curmi certainly knows something about style.
Among those attending the gala was Laura Di Nardo of Celebrity Cruises, who said the evening was “amazing. It’s so wonderful to see so many industry friends. The spirit of travel is alive and well.”
Goway founder and president Bruce Hodge, himself a former winner of the W.H. Baxter Lifetime Achievement Award, declared the gala “pretty awesome.”
Goway was chosen favourite tour operator for Asia, the South Pacific and Hawaii, and Hodge said the tour operator will use the award in its promotions.
Travel industry veteran Rick McCauley labelled the gala ‘wonderful,’ praising the attendees, the music provided by the live band and the food.
“A great time was had by all,” McCauley added.
Lisa Lau of Okushu Tours welcomed the opportunity to reconnect with people after the pandemic.
“It was great to see everyone get together and celebrate the success of the industry,” she said.
Thanks To Our Sponsors
Baxter Media also wants to send a big shout out and thank you to all of our sponsor partners for the 2023 Agents’ Choice Awards Gala.
Presenting sponsors of the event were Air Canada, G Adventures, Manulife, Porter, Sandals, Voyzant and WestJet.
Feature sponsors were Collette, Jamaica, Mondee Canada, Transat, TravelBrands, The Travel Corporation, Trees4Travel and WestJet.
Thanks to all of you … we’ll see you next year at the 2024 Agents’ Choice Awards Gala …
Check out the Results
The 2023 Agents’ Choice Readership survey is being released today and if you want to check out the favourites, just CLICK HERE.


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Two businesses open on Solano Avenue
Monday, April 11, 2011
Category: News > City > Business
Despite the opening of two businesses on Solano Avenue, the number of empty storefronts on the commercial strip remains the same, as the new businesses take over two adjacent lots previously occupied by Sarber's Cameras photography store, which relocated earlier this month to a larger space on the west end of the avenue.
The opening of the new shops next month will prevent any additional storefront vacancies, which have become all too common on Solano in the past, according to Allen Cain, executive director and events manager of Solano Avenue Association and Stroll. He said he has noticed that east end vacancies in Berkeley far outweigh vacancies on Albany's west end of the avenue.
"Solano should hold no bar, we just need businesses, period," Cain said. "The vacancy situation is highly volatile. Vacancies are like viruses - if you don't treat them they will spread."
One of the new stores, Bay Area's Spiritual Shop, is set to open later this month, according to Mike Irwin, son of the prospective owner. He said the retail store will sell supplies to help customers meditate, such as candles, books, bath oils and scented crystals. The spiritual healing shop will also provide space for meditation and meditation education, he added.
"We'll offer different things to help people relax and be more calm about life, and how to deal with everyday stress," Irwin said.
Irwin and his mother have previously owned similar stores on University Avenue, with their most recent shop closing in 2009 after four years of business, according to Irwin. His mother's health forced them to close, but the opening of the new shop follows her recovery.
The space for the shop was made available when Sarber's Cameras relocated to 1483 Solano Ave. in a move to gain a bigger space, according to owner Jessica Sarber. She added that the photography store had used its previous space at 1749 Solano Ave. as one storefront, converting two allocated spaces into one store. Its relocation now has allowed for Bay Area's Spiritual Shop to move in at 1749 Solano Ave., while Jacqueline's Boutique will open at the adjacent 1751 address.
Jacqueline Stuart will open the boutique next to the Bay Area's Spiritual Shop in one month, following construction on the site, according to Stuart. The boutique will sell vintage recycled clothing, jewelry, handbags and shoes along with collectible items.
For the last 20 years, Stuart has consistently provided merchandise through garage sales and the sale of wholesale clothes to local retail shops, she said.
"I see my stuff in other people's windows," Stuart added. "I'm really looking forward to having my own space."
According to Stuart, the boutique will have an area that she designates as her "healing garden," where customers can receive massages and undergo different methods of healing. She said she does not think these services will conflict with the spiritual shop opening next door.
"I'm going to do what I'm going to do, and I'm going to do what I was going to do before they came," she said. "I hope it works out for everybody."
Stuart added that she is not afraid of competition from the proposed Goodwill that may occupy a storefront two blocks away.
Cain said he feels serious changes are in store for Solano, in terms of the number of vacancies and the types of businesses attempting to fill empty spaces. He added that Solano is known for its diversity of store types and owners.
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Check out the East Coast's best geek-oriented spots.
Forget Windows 9. In an unexpected twist, Microsoft will be going straight to double digits from Windows 8 as it faces a challenging future for its operating system.
Amazon debuts two new e-ink readers for 2014: the high-end Voyage and the new entry-level touch-screen Kindle.
After the tech giant agrees to pay millions in the e-book price-fixing lawsuit, the presiding judge says, "I'm concerned about the terms of the settlement."
In a letter to readers and authors, the e-commerce giants asks people to email Hachette's CEO saying they want lower e-book prices.
The book publisher criticizes Amazon's negotiation tactics in their dispute over e-book prices.
Some of the literary world's biggest names sign a letter opposing the e-commerce company's muscle-flexing with book publisher Hachette.
As little as a penny nets you five solid reads. Anything over $12 adds some sci-fi legends to the mix, including Bear, Ellison, and Zahn.
In the battle to become the "Netflix of digital books," Scribd is taking its app to Amazon Kindle Fire tablets while updating its iOS and Android apps.
US District Court Judge Denise Cote originally took issue with the settlement because Apple could end up only paying $70 million.
The monthly subscription service that lets you read an unlimited number of e-books is now available on any desktop or mobile browser.


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Happy weekend! As usual, we are back to give you the latest in African and World Technology. Are you ready? Let’s go.
12 Finalists to Pitch at 2019 Seedstars World Prize
We start with big news; Three African startups are listed among the 12 startups that will compete for the title of 2019 Seedstars Global Winner, with up to $500,000 for grabs in equity funding. They are Ghanaian agritech Cowtribe, Kenyan fintech Bluewave and Rwandan fintech Benefactors.
Volkswagen Rwanda Introduces Electric Cars in Ride Hailing App
We follow up with the news that, Volkswagen, one of the world’s biggest automotive companies, is testing the future of its global ride-hailing business in Rwanda as part of its expansion strategy in Africa. The ride-hailing application, “Move Rwanda” is a milestone project that would provide better mobility.
Nigerian Boys Win Bronze at International Festival of Engineering, Science and Technology
Four boys represented Nigeria in the International Festival of Engineering, Science and Technology in Tunisia and won Bronze Medals. They developed the ‘Adaptable Alternative Power Supply’, an electric inverter with a solar panel that absorbs energy from the sun, stores the energy and distributes it to households and offices.
Mastercard, Jumia Partners to Expand e-Commerce In Africa
On investments,Mastercard has invested in Jumia to form a strategic partnership that will grow e-commerce operations and support digital transformation in Africa. The company aims to bring its deep knowledge and expertise in payment solutions to spark innovation and spur development.
AfDB Approves €12.5 million Investment, Targeting SMEs in Francophone West Africa
Also, the Board of the AFDB has approved a €12.5 million equity investment in Adiwale Fund 1, a first-generation private equity fund targeted at high growth potential Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Francophone West Africa.
Frogfoot Launches Free Fibre in South African Schools
A South Africa-based Fiber company Frogfoot launched a free fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) coverage to schools with up to 1 GBPS. The launch is to bridge the digital divide and provide learners with access to information they would not ordinarily have.
Xente, Ugandan E-commerce Startup Expands to Nigeria
On expansion, Ugandan e-commerce startup Xente, which allows customers from all over the world buy products from merchants and pay in installments has expanded its services to Nigeria; its first market outside of Uganda.
Nigerian Medtech, MDaaS Global Secures $1m Equity Funding
Earlier in the week, Lagos-based medtech startup ‘MDaaS Global’ secured over $1 million equity funding. The startup listed on the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the total offering was $1,580,062 while the amount sold was $1,055,496 with about $524,566 left to be sold. Up to 12 investors were involved in the round.
Farmcrowdy Group Launches Farmgate Africa to Bridge Market Access Challenges
On innovation, the FarmCrowdy Group (FCG) officially launched FarmGate Africa. The technology focuses on providing major processors and international buyers the opportunity to purchase commodities directly from farming clusters through technology while optimizing market access to African farmers.
Nedbank Launches API Marketplace for Fintechs
Finally, Nedbank launched the Nedbank API Marketplace for technical partners to create innovative solutions for clients. They will be the first African bank to launch an API_Marketplace platform. Nedbank will launch the platform in two upcoming events in Johannesburg on the 8th of April and Cape Town on the 9th of April 2019. Interested? Register here.
There you have it for the Africa Tech News Round up. Do check our website www.techgistafrica.com for our interview session with the UP Nepa brothers and other specials.
Also, follow us on all our social media platforms @techgistafrica on twitter and instagram.
Have a great weekend!


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TRENDING ON ONEINDIA
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- Isha Ambani's Wedding: Beyonce, SRK And Aamir Steal The Show!
- GST Annual Return Filing Date Extended To March 31, 2019
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- Australia vs India Ist Test Day 5 — India Wins By 31 Runs
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- Deepika Padukone's Contemporary Red Sari Should Be Your Next Cocktail Party Wear
Oppo R17 Pro is in news for a long time, and recently an image has surfaced on the web claiming that the phone will feature triple rear cameras. Now the company has officially confirmed the new through a new video teaser. The 15-second video teaser shows that all the three camera sensors are placed vertically at the centre of the back panel along with an LED flash.
According to the video, it seems the company has also confirmed the gradient back with 3D glass, which shows an S-shaped curve when the light hits the rear panel. The smartphone also comes in the matte finish, just like the one of the OnePlus 6.
The video teaser revealed the design and cameras of the smartphone, but we still have to wait for the hardware specifications. There are many reports which claim that the Oppo R17 Pro will come with a 6.3-inch Full HD+ display with a resolution of 2280x1080 pixels. The display will come with an aspect ratio of 19:9 along with Corning Gorilla Glass 6 Protection and in-display fingerprint sensor.
Under the hood, the smartphone is expected to be powered by a Snapdragon 845 instead of Snapdragon 670/710 in the R17. The device is expected to arrive with Android 8.1 Oreo topped with Oppo's Color 5.1 OS out of the box.
Oppo has already confirmed that the cameras of the smartphone will feature F1.5/F2.4 Smart Aperture which will automatically switch the aperture according to the light. This feature is much similar to the Galaxy S9 smartphones.
During the daylight conditions it will shoot at f/2.4 and for the night it will automatically switch to f/1.5 for capturing brighter images. The company also claimed that the AI engine that enhances the quality of night shots by intelligently analyzing the scenes to enhance it.
Oppo has already confirmed that the R17 is going to be announced on August 23 during an event in Shanghai. However, there are still no hints when the company will introduce the Oppo R17 Pro.


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A consumer group filed a class action lawsuit Thursday against Volkswagen over its emissions scandal. File Photo by Brian Kersey/UPI | License Photo
Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Consumer advocates filed a class action lawsuit Thursday against Volkwagen over its emissions scandal, almost immediately after a new law took effect that permits such legal action.
Millions of Volkswagen owners could join the suit, which is the first of its kind in Germany's history.
The consumer group, VZBV, accuses the automaker of deliberately harming clients with software that makes the cars appear more environmentally friendly than they truly were.
"Volkswagen will remember this day as the moment the kid gloves of the politicians were replaced by the boxing gloves of consumer advocates," said VZBV head Klaus Mueller.
Investigations have determined Volkswagen installed "defeat devices" on certain diesel-powered vehicles. The equipment would cut emissions to legal levels during inspection, and then allow the engine to produce illegal levels once the car was back on the road.
The group seeks a judgement on whether Volkswagen should pay damages to owners. A new German law took effect Thursday that makes the lawsuit possible.
"The damage for every consumer can be several thousand euros and there is no sign of the car industry to compensate for the damage they have caused," VZBV spokeswoman Sarah Hoare told BBC News.
The suit will start small but could benefit 2 million owners who've been frustrated by the emissions cheating scandal that caused resale values to plummet. Some cities banned the affected vehicles on environmental grounds. Some owners are also angry at politicians in Berlin who they say have been slow to react.
"They have played us for fools. I wish they had been more honest from the start," said owner Christian Saefken.
Plaintiffs attorney Tobias Ulbrich said they were against a deadline to file the suit because the scandal was first reported three years ago. The law permitting the suit was supported by the Social Democratic Party as a condition of joining a coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union.
"For a lot of families this is a big problem -- even after returning the [affected diesel] car, they have to pay the financing on the old car, and then, if they want to get a new car, they have to pay the new financing as well," Ulbrich said.
Saefken and other owners could join the suit if judges determine it can go forward. It would be open to anyone who bought a Volkswagen with a diesel EA 189 engine manufactured after November 2008. The suit lets plaintiffs bundle the complaints, saving time.
Judges will decide whether the automaker should compensate drivers. It would then be up to individual owners to seek actual damages.
The so-called "dieselgate" scandal has already led to numerous lawsuits in Australia and Britain.


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Yahoo tunes up by buying Overture
Yahoo Inc., the Internet portal in Sunnyvale, flexed its growing muscle at rivals Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. by agreeing on Monday to buy online advertising giant Overture Services Inc. for $1.63 billion.
The deal, if finalized, would make Yahoo a runaway leader in the blossoming industry of search engine advertising. It would also mark another key step in the company's successful resurrection from the dot-com abyss.
"This is a direct shot over the bow for AOL, MSN and Google," said Timothy Hickernell, a vice president who oversees the Internet industry for META Group, a market research firm. "It puts many of those competitors on the defensive."
Overture, based in Pasadena, virtually created paid-search advertising. The ads appear as links within the search results on many of the biggest Web portals, including Yahoo and MSN.
Companies bid for top billing within the results for specific keywords such as "car" and "boomerang." Every time someone enters a query using that keyword, the ad appears, usually in a section labeled "sponsor results" or "sponsored sites."
Companies pay only when a user actually clicks on the link. Overture then splits the revenue with the Web site on which the ad appeared.
It can be a highly lucrative business. In 2002, Overture earned a profit of $73.1 million on $667.7 million in revenue.
The paid-search industry is expected to grow rapidly. Overall revenue will grow from $2 billion this year to $5 billion in 2006, according to a prediction by U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray.
"Spending on traditional online advertising like banners is decreasing, but spending on paid search has jumped tremendously," said David Hallerman, a senior analyst for EMarketer, a research firm that follows the online advertising industry.
Yahoo executives felt the benefits of paid search soon after they started working with Overture in 2001. The revenue helped reverse the company's streak of six straight money-losing quarters, a consequence of eroding spending on traditional banner ads.
Yahoo has since reported five consecutive profitable quarters, while simultaneously trying to diversify revenue by offering personal ads, job listings and broadband Internet access through a partnership with SBC.
In 2002, Yahoo's revenue from paid search was an estimated $140 million. That's about 20 percent of the Web portal's overall revenue.
Yahoo executives said that the Overture acquisition, which includes stock and $312 million in cash, will allow their company to avoid sharing revenue from paid search results. Owning Overture, they added, will finally allow Yahoo to offer clients the convenience of every kind of online advertising possible.
"This was just too big of an opportunity," Dan Rosensweig, Yahoo's chief operating officer, said in an interview.
Yahoo is paying a 15 percent premium on Overture's shares based on their closing price Friday.
Yahoo executives said they considered building their own Overture-style service, but they concluded that it would have taken years and been expensive.
Analysts offered a few other motives for Yahoo's acquisition of Overture, including self-protection. Yahoo needed to make sure that a big source of its revenue was safe from being bought by a rival such as Microsoft, they said.
Microsoft was considering entering the paid-search industry, analysts said. It must now decide whether to abandon Overture, build a similar service or buy one of Overture's much smaller competitors, such as FindWhat.com or ESpotting.
Analysts also said Yahoo's purchase of Overture is part of an effort to do battle with Google, the popular search engine based in Mountain View. Google has started its own paid-search listings within the past couple of years.
In addition to the Google Web site, those listings appear on America Online and Ask Jeeves.
Google has been slightly ahead, said Hickernell, because it owns both the search technology and the online ad technology.
In the United States, Google beats Overture in market share for paid listings. Google has 54 percent of the market, based on number of searches, compared with 45 percent for Overture, according to ComScore, an Internet measurement company.
In terms of advertisers, Google says it has nearly 100,000. Overture's total is 88,000.
Yahoo's acquisition of Overture also will rejuggle the traditional algorithmic search industry. Overture owns the search sites AltaVista and Fast Search & Transfer.
Rosensweig said Yahoo plans to combine those services with the search technology his company already owns. Yahoo bought search engine Inktomi of Foster City earlier this year and has already integrated it into parts of its Web portal alongside the traditional search services of Google.
Rosensweig said his company has no immediate plans to abandon Google, which was once Yahoo's sole search engine. But analysts believe Google's days are numbered as a Yahoo partner because it has become too competitive.
YAHOO'S SEARCH FOR MORE IS GETTING RESULTS Yahoo! Inc. has made three major acquisitions in the past two years in an effort to strengthen its position against competitors AOL Time Warner, Google and Microsoft. . YAHOO'S RECENT ACQUISITIONS December 2001 Succeeds in its unsolicited takeover bid of HotJobs Inc. December 2002 Announces it will buy struggling software maker Inktomi Corp. July 2003 Announces the acquisition of Overture Services Inc. for $1.6 billion. . MOST POPULAR SEARCH ENGINES Yahoo! 25% Google 32% AOL Time Warner 19% MSN-Microsoft 15% Other 9% . Sources: Associated Press; comScore qSearch Associated Press Graphic .


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On Sunday, Barnes and Noble (NYSE:BKS) chairman and major share holder, Leonard Riggio, announced that he is proposing to take the retail operations of Barnes and Nobles private. This news did not come as a huge surprise to most investors, but the effect of this news was surely not expected.
During pre-hours trading, BKS shares spiked 26.2% at one time to $16 and some change. Barnes and Nobles is a $809.3 million dollar company with EPS (TTM) of -1.17. In the past year, BKS has hit a high of $26.00 and a low of $10.45. BKS has 35.73 million shares in the public float, and 38.74% of those shares are sold short, creating a short ratio of 13.4. Compared to the 2.4 short ratio of its competitors, BKS is not a stock immersed in positive investor sentiment. (Data from Scottrade)
When Borders Bookstores filed for bankruptcy in early 2011, Barnes and Noble became the last remaining major bookstore retailers in the United States. Currently, Barnes and Noble's operates 689 retail stores down from 777 stores within the United States in May 2009. For Q2 FY2013, BKS reported $996 million in revenue from its retail division, 3% down from the same quarter a year ago, and the one year EPS growth rate for the past year is -7.89%. Compared with some of its competitors, such as Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), BKS cannot keep up with its retail, nook, and software sales. Amazon reported $2.9 billion in revenue for Q4 FY2012 and Apple reported $3.7 billion revenue from content sales alone in the first quarter of 2013.
With the possible split in Barnes and Noble's Operations:
After Barnes and Noble announced that the Strategic Committee is considering an offer from Riggio, investors have jumped into BKS hoping that this strategic move will improve the efficiency and profit margins of the remaining BKS (minus the retail division). If this split comes into fruition, BKS will focus its operations and revenue streams around the Nook e-reader, a direct competitor with the Amazon Kindle and Apple iPad.
In my opinion, taking the retail division private is a wise move as the demand for physical books and media has been in the decline and will soon fall into oblivion. However, I do not maintain positive sentiments for BKS's future, even with news that came out on Sunday. BKS has announced that on February 28, 2013, the company will release Q3 earnings and it has recently forecasted that 2013 Nook sales EBITDA will generate a greater loss in revenue than it did in 2012. Previously, the company had predicted that sales for 2013 would be approximate to that of 2012, but new data comes new expectations. Furthermore, an IHS iSuppli report demonstrated that the demand for e-readers is quickly decreasing as consumers are preferring to purchase multi-functional tablets such as the APPL iPad and the GOOG Nexus. According to the report, e-reader shipments have decreased by 36% in 2012 and will continue to fall by 27% in 2013.
The issue with Barnes and Noble is that the Nook has been heavily invested in towards the formation of a hardware product designated primarily for the reading of electronic books with other applications on the side. When compared to the power and versatility of other tablet hardware products, the Nook cannot compete in capturing consumer demand as consumers have realized that they can achieve the same enjoyment and quality in reading e-books with the iPad as the Nook, but at the same time they can play games, check their emails, text, watch movies, and use other applications that they cannot do on the Nook. Basically, I believe that BKS has set itself up for destruction, and it has veered off in the wrong direction early on, and it may be too late to come back in the race.
Looking at the multi-year trend line of BKS, it is clear that BKS shares have been on a downtrend and I expect this trend to continue until it hits single digit numbers. However, there could be a possibility of a short lived, positive correction catalyzed by news relating with the Riggio buy-out. As the shares of BKS have spiked, this is an excellent opportunity to sell BKS short as investor sentiment will turn quickly, realizing that BKS probably cannot be saved.
This week BKS will release Q3 earnings data and forward guidance numbers, and I expect that the market will react negatively to the news as earnings will be low and guidance will be dismal. Thus, the peak seen today in BKS shares will fall back to the same $13 dollar levels, if not lower. However, BKS is currently heavily shorted with 38.74% of the float held as loaned positions, and the spike today could actually be partly attributed to a short squeeze as cautious short squeezers went to cover out of fear. The bottom line is that BKS shares will not run an uptrend but conversely, shares will continue to fall in the long run.
Disclosure: I am short BKS. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.


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• Alphabet announces July stock split
• YouTube ad revenue disappoints analysts
• Short-lived challenges?
1 to 20 stock split
As part of the balance sheet presentation for the 2021 financial year, the internet giant Alphabet announced that it would split the high-priced Class A, B and C shares at a ratio of 1 to 20. This stock split is scheduled to take place on July 15 after the close of trading, giving each shareholder holding shares on the July 1 key date 19 additional shares. This could not only make it easier for small investors to get into an alphabet investment, according to “CNBC” the Google parent could also make the leap into the Dow Jones. So far, the search engine giant’s share price is too high to be included in the index.
But what does the upcoming reallocation of the shares mean for interested investors? Should the shares be bought ahead of the split, or could it be worth waiting until after the event?
Alphabet stock under pressure
The high price of the shares could speak against a purchase before the split. For example, Alphabet Class A shares last traded at $2,134.31 per share (closing price on June 14, 2022). However, the price of the paper has been under pressure since the beginning of the year: At the beginning of January, the A-titles had already fallen by 26.33 percent, after an increase of 65 percent was recorded in 2021 as a whole. The price development of the B and C shares is similar.
A and C shares are freely traded on the NASDAQ technology exchange. However, B shares, which grant shareholders ten times the voting rights of A shares, cannot be purchased publicly and are reserved for founding members and insiders. In contrast, C shareholders have no voting rights at all.
Although the stock market is currently in panic mode between the war in Ukraine, high inflation rates and the fear of a rapid tightening of monetary policy, the fall in the price of Alphabet titles is also likely to be linked to the Internet group’s latest quarterly results.
Alphabet falls short of expectations in the first quarter of 2022
While the Google group was still able to show significant growth in the last two Corona years, the pace of company expansion slowed down significantly in the first quarter of 2022. Although sales increased by 23 percent year-on-year to about 68 billion US dollars, as Alphabet announced in April, analysts had expected a significantly higher increase. This also has statistical reasons, as CFO Ruth Porat explained. After the Corona crash in spring 2020, sales initially collapsed radically, but quickly recovered. Therefore, the first quarter of 2021 was also comparatively strong. Naturally, this pace can no longer be maintained.
Earnings per share for the first quarter of 2022 were $24.62 per share, compared to $25.75 expected by experts. In the same quarter last year, the value was 26.29 US dollars.
Amazon and Microsoft could dispute Alphabet’s share of the cloud business
A closer look at the individual areas reveals that the cloud business benefited from increased demand in the past quarter. The division’s sales grew by almost 44 percent to 5.8 billion US dollars, while the operating loss shrank from 974 to 931 million US dollars. This reduced the cloud segment’s minus, but there is still a long way to go before profitability is reached. According to “Investor’s Business Daily”, the fact that the network giant wants to tighten the price screw for some products in October should help.
But the competition doesn’t sleep either: Alphabet has to assert itself against the top dogs Amazon and Microsoft. This could succeed with the help of former Oracle manager Thomas Kurian, who the group recently hired. In addition, Alphabet could expand its position in the cloud market through further acquisitions, according to IBD. The data analysis provider Looker, which offers tools for business intelligence and data visualization, migrated to the Google portfolio as early as 2019. The cybersecurity service provider Mandiant followed in March. According to the portal, further acquisitions are possible, which will allow Google to advance its cloud platform with a focus on security, open source software and data analysis – a combination that could please some bullish Alphabet shareholders. According to analysts at UBS, the office tools from Google Workplace should also drive the cloud division.
YouTube Ad Revenue Analysts Disappointed
But Alphabet’s advertising business should not be ignored with regard to the future development of the group. The tech group’s advertising sales rose about 22 percent to $54.66 billion in the past quarter. But here, too, competitor Amazon is dangerous for the company based in Mountain View, California. Especially in the area of Internet search advertising, the mail order company Google disputes shares, as IBD further reports. In order to counteract this, Alphabet is said to have made adjustments in relation to e-commerce offers and simplified the connection to the online shop provider Shopify. Support for third-party cookies in the Chrome browser has also been postponed to the end of 2023.
The video platform and Alphabet subsidiary YouTube also saw advertising revenue increase in the past quarter. Here the increase in the first quarter was 14 percent to 6.9 billion US dollars. However, analysts had expected $7.21 billion. And here, too, the competitive pressure is growing: As was the case with Facebook before, the Chinese social media app TikTok is now also contesting YouTube shares. According to the IBD, Google keeps to itself whether the platform is profitable. Bank of America analysts expect YouTube’s subscription business to generate $18 billion in revenue by 2025. For comparison: in 2020 this was 5 billion US dollars.
Growth also expected in the investment budget
In addition, Google’s capital expenditures are likely to increase significantly in the current year, as forecast by IBD. For example, data centers, artificial intelligence, YouTube and consumer products are among the Internet group’s major cost items. Alphabet management has also approved $70 billion worth of share buybacks. Alphabet repurchased $13 billion worth of stock in the first quarter. “After exhausting most of its prior approval, Google ramped up its buyback program in April with the board approving an additional $70 billion worth of buybacks,” Investor’s Business Daily quoted Deutsche Bank analysts as saying. “The new and additional $70 billion authorization exceeds the previous $50 billion authorization announced in April 2021 and thus represents a larger portion of the company’s current market capitalization when considering the current decline considered in the tech industry.” Although the current program corresponds to just under five percent of Alphabet’s market value, the share could climb to seven percent of market capitalization for the rest of the year and in 2023. This could be an indication of future buybacks.
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley see upside potential
So is it still worth getting into the paper at the moment or should investors be patient until after the share split? Experts at the US investment bank Goldman Sachs are already recommending buying Alphabet shares. Analyst Eric Sheridan recently lowered his forecast for the US tech sector due to expectations of a weaker economic environment, but the market observer did not shake the price target of USD 3,000 for the Google parent company. His industry colleague Brian Nowak from competitor Morgan Stanley also sees the paper at 3,000 US dollars in the long term, as the online magazines “Investing.com” and “Pulse 2.0” report, citing a study by the financial house. This would correspond to an increase of more than 40 percent compared to the current price level. Previously, the strategist thought a price of $3,270.00 was likely but now maintains his “Overweight” rating. However, Nowak’s downgrade also came as part of a sector re-rating that generally underperformed the internet industry. “Given the heightened uncertainty, we are taking a more pragmatic approach to our online advertising and e-commerce estimates. We now model ~13%/16% year-on-year growth for online advertising and ~8%/10% year-on-year for e-commerce in ’22/’23,” said the Morgan Stanley expert, according to Investing.com.
Although the share price could stumble in the coming months due to a weak economic environment and disappointing advertising sales on the video portal YouTube, tech expert Leo Sun from the market portal “The Motley Fool” also believes, but these are likely to be only short-term challenges. Sun predicts strong growth for the group within the next ten years. With regard to the imminent redistribution of the shares, the specialist gives the all-clear: He expects the price of Alphabet shares to benefit from the event, as the notes could increasingly become the focus of private investors and options traders. “Put simply, this tech titan remains a rock-solid investment in a turbulent market,” Sun said.
However, it remains to be seen whether the shares of the search engine group will be able to hold their ground in the currently weaker market environment in the long term and what consequences the stock split will have on the price of the title.
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Why Pop-Ups Are Seeing a Resurgence and What to Keep in Mind
Though they’re not exactly a new trend, pop-ups and pop-up experiences have been enjoying a definite resurgence over the past few months. And in a time when more and more consumers, especially younger generations, are seeking out experiences, it makes sense. Not only do pop-ups offer elevated versions of activities like shopping or a day at the museum, they cater to audiences who are ready to get back out there — albeit safely.
With that said, we’re taking a refreshed look at why pop-ups can offer a meaningful avenue to connect with audiences and deepen brand relationships in today’s landscape.
Why Pop-Ups are Seeing a Resurgence
When we think back to just a couple of years ago, we can remember a time when pop-up experiences were seemingly everywhere, showing up on almost everyone’s Instagram feed and grabbing headlines. From colorful, interactive museums to multi-sensory stores, what makes them so irresistible can likely be attributed to a number of factors -- they’re usually limited-time only, interactive, and tailor-made for sharing on social media. When you combine those three elements, it’s natural to see why they’re appealing, especially to modern audiences.
“What if a consumer could walk into a room and fully experience your brand with all their senses?” notes Hubspot. “Pop-up events offer just that -- the chance for consumers to get up close and personal with their favorite companies in a truly immersive setting.”
The opportunity to really experience a brand is something more and more people are seeking today, and for brands this kind of engagement can not only help deepen their relationships with consumers, but also tell their stories in new ways. The other important thing to keep in mind? The idea that pop-ups can offer audiences unique, one-of-a-kind moments with your brand that not all people may get to take in. This kind of exclusivity can make people feel a deeper connection with a brand, and make for a fun story to tell friends and family - both powerful ways to boost brand awareness.
“In a city increasingly homogenized by behemoth online retailers and shuttering local gems, popups give entrepreneurial types an economically viable way to find their audiences,” notes SeattleMet. “And they feed customers hungry to experience something unique, in real life, with other people.”
With that idea in mind, one of the more creative solutions being developed by several brands right now is utilizing available commercial real estate to house innovative brand activations. Aside from finding a way to repurpose closed retail spaces, this strategy can help reach audiences on a more local level, as well as find new and creative ways to reach prospective customers.
And this all comes at a time when the world continues to reopen and people are slowly and steadily getting back out there, which brings up another good point about pop-up experiences - their ability to reach people where they are, something more important than ever in a post-pandemic environment.
Helping to Authentically Connect With Audiences and Looking Forward
According to the latest statistics shared by Morning Consult, 50% of U.S. adults would feel comfortable going to a museum as of September 2021. And while those are encouraging numbers, it’s also important to consider that not all people might be ready to travel just yet to attend a show or event, making the idea of brands going to their audiences all the more valuable.
From mobile tours to smaller, more regional activations, brands are finding new ways to reach their customers and create moments of real, authentic connection. What’s more, because pop-ups can usually be transported to different locations, they offer up a great opportunity for brands to go directly to audiences. This is poignant because it means audiences don’t need to travel far or step out of their comfort zone, but still get that one-of-a-kind experience.
As BizBash notes, this is a time when the “experience economy” is reaching new heights. “Each experience is an event that needs to be thought about more carefully than ever and executed as if it’s the first time it’s happening—making it a transformative experience,” notes the publication.
And when we look to the future, it seems that at least for now, pop-up experiences are likely to continue to attract audiences. With the right health and safety protocols in place, pop-up and Instagram-worthy types of activations speak to what so many of today’s younger generations are looking for, which is to be part of the experience instead of a passive viewer.


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Swedish shipping company, Gotlandsbolaget has unveiled the ‘Gotland Hydrocat’ design concept.
This design is claimed to be the world’s first large-scale, high-speed catamaran ropax project powered by fossil-free hydrogen.
It is planned to have the ship operational from 2030, resulting in the crossing time between the Swedish island of Gotland and the mainland being reduced to under three hours.
The design will be the second in Gotlandsbolaget’s so called Horizon series.
Horizon is based on high-speed passenger and cargo vessels and was launched as a concept model in 2021 with the ‘Gotland Horizon’, which marked Sweden’s first project for large-scale, hydrogen-powered transport of passengers and cargo by sea.
Both deigns are being developed to minimise shipping emissions. The two ship concepts will be able to offer faster, more flexible and more sustainable trips to and from Gotland, the company said.
“We don’t think Gotland should have to choose between crossing time and climate benefits. That is why we are now developing the next generation of ships – the Horizon series – which, through new technology, will enable even better service and capacity while reducing emissions significantly,” Håkan Johansson, Gotlandsbolaget CEO, said.
“It feels very good that we now have two concept ships for our future fleet that bring Gotland even closer to the mainland while at the same time we can drastically reduce our emissions,” Marcus Risberg, CEO of Destination Gotland, added.
Gotlandsbolaget’s goal is for all of its ships to be climate-neutral by 2045.
The new ships are designed to be powered by fossil-free hydrogen whose primary emission is water vapour. However, both ships have a multi-fuel solution, which means that with a relatively simple conversion, they can be powered by other fossil-free fuels.
Development work is currently ongoing with the aim that Gotland Hydrocat could be ordered no later than 2025 and enter into service no later than 2030.
Gotland Hydrocat’s design was developed by Gotlandsbolaget in collaboration with Australian shipbuilder Austal.


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MUMBAI: a leading audio brand that reflects the amalgamation of music, fashion and action sports launched their new range of audio products - Stone 170 Portable Bluetooth Speakers, Airdopes 311V2 and SpinX Portable Wireless Speaker at the recently concluded Lakmé Fashion Week. The newly launched product range is targeted at Gen Z - the first generation of true digital natives. With a strong focus on consumer desires and aesthetics, the brand has developed these products that seamlessly integrate into an evolved consumer’s style statement. Breaking the norm, the models at LFW were seen sporting boAt accessories as a way to Relax and Rewind after Work.
Excited on the launch, Aman Gupta, Co-Founder boAt said, “Lakmé Fashion Week is one of the biggest fashion events in the country and as a lifestyle brand it becomes an ideal platform for us to partner and launch our new range of audio products. The launched products are high on tech, fashion, style, and performance making it refreshing, inspiring and completely in sync with the millennial and Gen Z today.”
In a sector dominated by established global brands, boAt has ramped up quickly in a short span of three years, through its core high-quality audio product line of smart, efficient, stylish and durable ‘hearables’. It has already created a community of over 2 million boAtheads (consumers) who want to be seen listening and wearing their boAt accessories to make a lifestyle statement.
In the past boAt had partnered with famed designers including Kunal Rawal and Urvashi Kaur to launch limited edition audio accessories at the Lakmé Fashion Week.