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To take on Amazon, Flipkart & Myntra to merge this week
By Jim Hollen | May 21, 2014
Motive appears to be need to take on Amazon and like competition; likely to remain distinct entities after formal combination
The details are not known but Myntra could be valued at $300 million (Rs 1,800 crore) at least, say sources. The two companies have been negotiating to remain separate entities after a merger.
This will be the country's first major consolidation in e-commerce, a market estimated at $2 billion (Rs 12,000 crore) of the organised retail pie of $40 billion (Rs 2.4 lakh crore) and a total sector size of $600 billion (Rs 36 lakh crore). E-commerce could cross $20 billion a year in India over the next three to four years, say analysts.
Flipkart and Myntra, both based in Bangalore, expect to together give competition to Amazon, the American online retailer that is yet to complete a year in this country. Flipkart just hit $1 billion (Rs 6,000 crore) in gross merchandise value (GMV). In a recent interview to Business Standard, Myntra's chief executive, Mukesh Bansal, said his company, an online fashion entity, was targeting a GMV or annual revenue of Rs 20,000 crore by 2020, up from Rs 1,200 crore now.
With Flipkart big in electronics and books, a pact with Myntra is likely to grow its fashion business and market share. The overall fashion business in India is estimated at $60 billion (Rs 3.6 lakh crore), and Myntra claims it is already half the size of the largest offline fashion store, referring to Shoppers Stop. It is learnt Flipkart and Myntra would remain separate entities even after merger. Both Flipkart CEO Sachin Bansal and Myntra's Mukesh Bansal have often downplayed the significance of profitability as "growth is more importantâ€. Launched in 2007, neither has broken even yet.
In an interview to this newspaper last week, Amit Agarwal, vice-president and country manager, Amazon India, said, "We don't get distracted by competition,â€ citing about 20 years of global experience. This was in reply to a question on his view on Indian e-commerce companies consolidating to compete with Amazon, which has 15 million products across 24 categories in only 11 months. Flipkart has a similar assortment size and about 70 categories.
Flipkart's Sachin Bansal had earlier dismissed any talk around competition, saying the company's focus was on creating the best online shopping experience for the customer.
Amazon is not the only competition Flipkart is guarding itself against. Even the largest retailer of the world, US-based Walmart, is planning to launch online services soon, starting with its cash and carry or wholesale business. Another American e-commerce giant, eBay, is already operating in India. Then, there are others such as home-grown Snapdeal, present across 500-odd categories and 100,000 sellers. All of them are competing for buyers, while offering one-day delivery, along with almost matching product ranges and discounts.
With the new government likely to allow foreign direct investment in e-commerce, competition is only expected to grow and this could prompt further consolidation. In such a scenario, will Amazon look at any acquisition in India? Without denying that, Agarwal said, "We are excited by the current focus. Anything outside of that, we don't want to speculate on." The two Bansals of Flipkart and Myntra have maintained they are open to strategic partnerships and acquisitions whenever there's opportunity.


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Success is in the bag: Texas designer's handbags featured on top new TV shows
When the new television series The Crazy Ones and The Michael J. Fox Show debuted last week, Bobby Schandra had a good reason to tune in. And it wasn't just be to see what Sarah Michelle Gellar looks like these days.
“I don’t watch TV, so I didn’t even know she had a new show coming out,” Schandra says. In fact, the first he heard of the The Crazy Ones, which also stars Robin Williams, was when one of the show’s producers called and asked to use some of the handbags and jewelry Schandra designs.
“They had to tell me what the show was about,” the Dallas designer says with a laugh. “I had no idea.”
“Everyone knows everybody in that business, so when you’re in with one show, you start getting contacted by others,” Schandra says.
He also had no idea that Michael J. Fox had a new show airing, but Schandra soon got a call from them as well, asking to feature some of his handbags. “Everyone knows everybody in that business, so when you’re in with one show, you start getting contacted by others.”
The Dallas-born Schandra says he has “always been into fashion,” but it wasn’t until he was laid off from his job as a pharmaceutical rep about 15 years ago that he toyed with making a career out of it. Working with his parents, who opened the wholesale store Schandra at Dallas Market Center, he started creating and selling belts. The product offering just grew from there.
In 2010, eager to do higher-fashion items at reasonable prices, he launched the Bobby Schandra line. His selection of Italian bags, cross-body bags, Swarovski crystal clutches and signature “Rockstar” bags have sold well and landed on the fashion pages of local and regional publications.
The Rockstar bags also opened the door to television after they were discovered by a producer at HBO’s hit show Entourage. Almost immediately, Schandra’s bags also appeared on The Vampire Diaries, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Jane by Design.
The TBS series Are We There Yet? even aired “The Expensive Purse Episode” in 2012, in which the entire plot revolved around one of the characters trying to buy a Bobby Schandra purse.
“It’s great because a show will call and say, ‘We want something for this character’ and describe the character to me,” he says. “I put together some handbags and jewelry and send it off to them. Most of the time, they use it.”
Shortly after learning his bags would appear on The Crazy Ones and The Michael J. Fox Show, Schandra met with producers from TNT’s Dallas, who took some of his pieces for use later this season, including his antelope and blue python bags.
“It’s really pretty humbling,” he says. “They have people like David Yurman and Versace and Louis Vuitton sending them stuff to use. That’s my competition.
“To just be this one guy in Dallas who’s making this stuff that they want to use — it’s pretty amazing. I’m glad they think it’s a good fit.”

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Insurtech company YuLife has raised $120m (£100m) in Series C funding to ramp up global expansion and scale its product range.
Through its app, YuLife customers are rewarded with YuCoins, a digital token, for taking part in wellness activities. These coins can then be spent on gifts, donating to charity or planting trees.
Sammy Rubin, CEO and co-founder, YuLife said: “Insurance has the potential to achieve tremendous social good. Unusually for financial services, our product creates a deep alignment of interests between the insurer, the company and the individual.”
Founded in 2016, the London-headquartered company provides approximately £40bn of cover to some 500,000 policyholders at businesses large and small.
The YuLife Series C funding was led by Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company and brings the total funding to $206m (£172m).
Previous backers of YuLife counts the likes of LocalGlobe, Target Global, Latitude, Notion and MMC.
“YuLife shares our ethos of harnessing the latest trends in technology to make a genuine difference to the lives of those using financial products,” said Toshiaki Sumino, director and managing executive officer, Dai-ichi Life Holdings, Inc.
The funding follows on from the company’s $70m (£58.4m) Series B last July.
This week saw fellow insurtech Konsileo raise £4.7m in its Series A funding round, led by Committed Capital.


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As might be expected following our listing on the ASX in November, we’ve seen significantly increased interest from the Australian business media in how Xero is going in the lucky country.
In this recent example, our Australian Managing Director Chris Ridd appeared on Sky Business, where the focus was on Xero’s strategy in the Australian market and where the presenter challenged him to explain the cloud in language a broad audience can understand.
The interview started off in classic Australian straight-up style – “What makes you think you can win business and customers here, when MYOB for a start is a pretty entrenched market product?”
Chris was able to bring in the bigger picture of the cloud as a critical incoming technology, and benefits that arise from a software company having had a fresh start rather than trying to “bolt on” cloud or cloud-enable a desktop product.
“We’ve come in with a very different way of doing things and that is the ability for small business owners and accountants to connect by the cloud – putting financial data into the cloud means they are able to work more efficiently together.”
He was also able to bring in the benefits of being pure cloud, with the single ledger, where the data does not exist in duplicate. “It means for the small business owner they don’t have to manage software and … the fact you can get access to all of the applications from any device – anywhere, anytime. You can have multiple people accessing that application. You can open it up to other developers to connect in.”
The video has more about the benefits of Xero and the cloud and how we are taking on a market dominated by desktop software providers – how customers want innovation and simplicity and how Xero is delivering it.


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The rich to propel EVs
Luxury car owners will be the first and fastest adapters of electric vehicles, said Charles Frump, managing director of Volvo Cars India, on Tuesday in Mumbai.
“Luxury cars can lead the way to EV adoption. On an average, customers will drive 40 km a day. For long drives customers will drive their second car, which is either an internal combustion engine (ICE) or diesel powertrains,” said Frump.
Electrification gives Volvo the chance to boost volumes and market share, feels Frump. He was speaking at the launch of the XC90 Excellence Lounge Limited Edition.
The Swedish original equipment manufacturer has been the least hit by the current slowdown in the industry, posting an 11 per cent growth in the first half of 2019.
“We have been affected by the downturn in the sense that we could have seen better growth,” said Frump. Calling for an early resolution of the GST issue, Frump said: “Let the government quickly decide whether it is going to lower the GST or not. Even if it decides not to lower GST, the uncertainty and confusion in the market will stop.”
The company, which hopes to garner 10 per cent of the market share by 2020, currently has a 6.4 per cent share, having sold 1,159 units in the first-half of 2019 compared with 1,044 units a year ago.
On the XC90 Excellence Lounge, Frump said: “India is the first country to get this exclusive luxury edition. Right now we have shipped 15 units of the car.” The limited edition three-seater will cost Rs 1.42 crore in India.


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Microsoft might have quietly admitted that there is a problem with the battery life with several of its Lumia smartphones, and seems to be working on a fix. The handsets in question are the Lumia 930, 830, and Lumia 1520 (above), three smartphones that were made by Nokia before Microsoft purchased the Lumia division two years ago.
However, this battery life problem is not of Nokia's making and seems to have been caused by Windows 10 Mobile. The Lumia 930, 820, and 1520 have all been upgraded to the latest full mobile build in recent months and the problem has emerged since that update.
Insiders were the first to flag the issue and they know that Windows 10 Mobile has proved to be problematic for smartphone battery life. On the Microsoft Answers community forum, the company acknowledged the issue and said it is now working on a fix to be released soon.
“We're aware and investigating reports of users saying battery life consumption is much higher than expected on the following phone models: Lumia Icon, 930, 830, and 1520.”
The company says it wants more information, so is encouraging users to send in more logs if they have this problem. If you are experiencing problems with your Windows 10 Mobile packing Lumia 930, 820, or 1520, leave feedback on Microsoft's page.
While a fix is incoming, the company says it already knows what is causing the problem. The SoC 8974 chipsets powering the three devices are overheating, seemingly because of Windows 10 Mobile. Microsoft says that customers sending feedback need to run through some steps to create a log of the issue to send.
You can check out the step at Microsoft's official forum page.


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Respawn Entertainment Job Posting Points Towards a New IP
Respawn Entertainment is adding more to its plate alongside Apex Legends and Jedi: Fallen Order
Respawn Entertainment, the massive developer behind Jedi: Fallen Order, Apex Legends, and Titanfall, is apparently working on yet another new IP.
Because three massive successes clearly aren’t enough, the developer is currently in the early stages of working on this new title. At least, that’s what can be gleaned from a recent job posting. On Respawn Entertainment’s site, a listing for a generalist software engineer is available. While the role itself isn’t extremely notable, what does stand out is that it’s explicitly for a new IP. Whoever ends up landing the position will have “ground floor involvement in developing a brand new IP.”
For an added bonus, whoever gets this position won’t have to worry about unsavory development practices. In the job’s details, Respawn promises that it has a “hard-zero policy against crunch and overtime.”
Of course, there aren’t any details on what this new IP from Respawn Entertainment could be. The job listing is extremely vague and doesn’t hint at what a potential setting could be. If anything, this posting shows that this new IP is likely in its extremely early stages, being worked on by a bare-bones team.
In case it wasn’t already clear, Respawn already has some other work on its hands with its other games. While there isn’t word of another Titanfall game in the works (sadly), Jedi: Fallen Order will be growing into a full franchise. Likewise, Respawn is continuing support for its massively successful battle royale title, Apex Legends.
Most recently, Respawn developed a new entry in the Medal of Honor franchise, Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond. In our review for it, Ricky Frech found the game to be a worthwhile adventure through World War II in VR.


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Apple has seeded the fourth beta of OS X 10.10.4 to developers and public beta testers. The new beta comes just over two weeks after the third beta.
OS X News
While previous versions of iOS and OS X have introduced several new features, a new report says Apple’s focus for both operating systems this year will be on improved stability and performance, as well as new security features and interface tweaks.
Users are experiencing issues with a number of iCloud-related services. The services have had issues since around 1:30AM Central Time.
Apple is reported to be planning to use the new San Francisco system font designed for the Apple Watch to refresh the look of iOS 9 “Monarch” and OS X 10.11 “Gala.”
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Leica has informed buyers of its new Monochrom Typ 246 digital camera that the DNG files created by the black & white camera are incompatible with Apple’s new Photos for OS X app. Using the Photos to import shots from the camera could result in the Photos library becoming corrupted.
A group of anonymous developers who have successfully infected Nvidia GPU cards with malware on both the Windows and Linux platforms claim they can do the same thing on a Mac equipped with a Nvidia GPU.
Apple on Monday seeded OS X 10.10.4 Beta 3 to developers and public beta testers, coming approximately two weeks following the release of OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 Beta 2.
Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference 2015 (WWDC 2015) is a little over four weeks away, and the company is sending out scholarship notifications to winning applicants.
Apple on Wednesday released Safari 8.0.6 for OS X Yosemite. The update brings new security fixes to the default OS X browser. Also released were Safari 7.1.6 for Mavericks users, and Safari 6.2.6 for Mountain Lion users.
Apple has added 20 new Flyover locations to the Apple Maps app, adding cities in the United States, Australia, France, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa and Spain.
Big Apple-related news out of the Microsoft BUILD conference for developers today, as Microsoft has unveiled Visual Studio Code for the Mac, a cross-platform code editor for OS X.
Apple on Monday seeded the second beta of OS X 10.10.4 to developers. The new seed, comes about a week and half after the first beta. Apple also released the first public beta version of the operating system.
Apple on Thursday released an iMac Graphics Update to fix an issue that caused recent models of the computer to freeze up after viewing very large JPEG files.
Tuesday saw Apple update a number of their iOS and OS X apps. Most apps simply received bug fixes and performance improvements, with the exception of Keynote, which gained support for the Keynote Remote Apple Watch app.
A Forbes report claims the “Rootpipe” vulnerability in OS X remains present, even though it was reportedly fixed in the recent OS X 10.10.3 update.


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- Siri teases 'big announcement' as Apple sets date for new iPhones
- Universal search for Apple TV and a new iPad Pro among rumours
Once upon a time Apple Inc. was Apple Computer Inc., and it was famous for the Apple Macintosh, the edgy alternative to IBM and other mainstream PCs.
Now, Apple is a smartphone company to its very core (pardon the pun).
Ahead of this week's Apple announcement, at which it is expected to unveil the latest iteration of its iconic iPhone, we trawled through several years' worth of the company's financial results to illustrate just how much Apple relies on its iPhone today.
The kilometres-long lines of people camped outside Apple stores to get their hands on freshly minted iPhones each time a new model is launched have become something of legend in recent years.
The months preceding a launch will see images of hardware components circulating the web and the rumour mills in full swing as Apple devotees speculate on what new features will be added to the next edition iPhone.
This doesn't happen with any other phone from any other manufacturer, and it does not happen with any other Apple product.
And as you can see in the above graph, the hype is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
For the last few years, each time an new iPhone is released, Apple has received a massive bump to its bottom line.
The September 2014 release of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus saw the tech giant clock up record sales, with iPhone sales alone topping $US51.2bn ($A73.8bn) in the three months to December 2014.
Analysts are tipping a smaller sales spike with this month's new iPhone, however, as the technical upgrades are expected to be incremental rather than radical. iPhone owners also tend to upgrade every other model or so, meaning they're likely to still be getting good mileage out of the iPhone 6.
If there's one graph that shows how fundamental the iPhone is to Apple's business, it's this one. It shows total iPhone sales for the year ending June 2015, which includes the most recently published financial results.
For half that year - October 2014 to March 2015 - iPhone sales accounted for a whopping 69 per cent of Apple's takings.
In that record-breaking first quarter of 2015 (Apple's corporate calendar begins in October), Apple shifted 74.6 million iPhones. That's 34,000 phones sold every hour. Jeebus!
In the year all up, Apple sold a total of 222.4 million iPhones – or 9.3 iPhones for every Australian. If you laid that many iPhone 6's end to end, they could easily loop around the entire Australian coastline.
All up, from the first generation iPhone right through to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Apple has sold 772.6 million phones – enough for an iPhone each for 10 per cent of the world's population.
Now let's see the spectacular rise of the iPhone – and the cannibalisation of its simpler cousin, the iPod – in a little more detail.
A little over seven years ago, the first generation iPhone came into the world. It was but a small blip on Apple's 2008 balance sheet – less than 10 per cent of total sales. Desktop and portable Macs, and the ground-breaking iPod MP3 portable music player, drove most of the company's revenue.
But in July 2008, along came the iPhone 3G, and it was game on. In just over a year, Apple's new smartphone had eclipsed sales of the once ubiquitous iPod. Now, iFans could load tunes directly onto their smartphones – no need for two devices.
Six months later, iPhone sales had also surpassed those of desktop and portable Macs combined. In the three months to December 2009, iPhone sales accounted for $US5.6 billion in revenue – well over a third of Apple's total sales in the quarter.
While Apple had historically itemised sales of desktop Macs, portable Macs and iPods separately in its financial statements, in September 2012 it quietly began rolling Mac sales into the one category to beef up dwindling figures.
But it wasn't until the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in September 2014 that it finally relegated its much-loved iPod into the "other" category, as sales continued to plummet below 1 per cent.
The iPhone may be a big deal to Apple, but how does it stack up compared to, say, various Australian industry sectors? Very well indeed.
In fact, based on annual iPhone sales alone, if the iPhone were an Australian industry it would be our sixth largest, according to 2013-14 industry income figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
iPhone sales in the year to June 27 were $US146.5bn, or $A211.3bn. That's 13 per cent of Australia's gross domestic product.
It's also more than twice the size of our entire electricity, gas, water and waste sector (utilities), or the accommodation and food services sector.
And it's nearly three times the size of Australia's information media and telecommunications sector.


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- New car to compete with Nexon EV
- Demand for affordable electric cars in India
- Updated ZS EV coming with better battery range
New MG ZS EV Electric Car Launch India: MG Motors, which has given a great option to the Indian customer with its electric car MG ZS EV, is preparing to launch 2 new electric cars in India this year, in which one is the updated MG ZS EV and a competition to the Tata Nexon EV. There may be an affordable electric car to deliver. While the 2022 MG ZS EV’s testing has also started in India, the company has not made any specific information public about the new electric car, but with the kind of positive environment that is being created about electric cars, MG Motors too. Looks excited about this car segment.
Will get a range of up to 480 km
According to media reports, the updated MG ZS EV can be launched next month in February 2022, which will see changes in the exterior and interior, as well as its battery range will also be much better. MG is expected to offer the new ZS EV with a bigger battery than the current model, which will be 51kWh and can run up to 480 kms on a full charge. Currently, the MG ZS EV model packs a 44.5kWh battery and has a range of up to 419km on a single charge.
New MG car will come to compete with Nexon EV
MG Motor India had recently announced that in the financial year 2022-23, the company can launch a new electric car in the market. Since then, speculations started that by the end of this year or before March 2023, MG’s new electric car will come, which will cost between Rs 10 to 15 lakh. Actually, it will be a compact crossover EV, which will compete directly with the best selling Tata Nexon EV in the segment. It is believed that MG’s upcoming compact electric SUV will be able to run up to 300 km on a single charge. Along with this, there will also be a plethora of features in it.


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A web portal which provides the best source of tech news in Arab for Arab geeks. You can find daily coverage of the most interesting tech news. The site provides news about new smart phones, applications, e-commerce and more.
Index constantly checks hot and trending companies for their latest activity. We haven't gotten to this company yet, but if you follow it you'll be the the first to know when Taqnia24 makes some noise.


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Oregon tire chain peals out to 11 stores since '97
What's In Store
- Kelly Johnson
It's been two years since Les Schwab Tire Co. came into our area from its Prineville, Ore., home, putting a store in Woodland. Since then the big tire retailer opened another on Madison Avenue in Sacramento and another in Citrus Heights.
Now the main course begins. In early December, Les Schwab plans to open in Rosemont at Bradshaw and Old Placerville roads. In January, it aims to open on East Bidwell Street in Folsom in front of the Lowe's home improvement store. Sometime in the next 60 to 90 days, it plans to open in Grass Valley.
Then next spring, Les Schwab plans to set up shop near the Elk Grove Auto Mall at Elk Grove Boulevard near Highway 99; in Rancho Cordova at the Home Depot site on Sunrise Boulevard south of Highway 50; in Orangevale on Madison near Main Avenue; and in Vacaville in April or May.
Next comes the same city every other retailer wants: Roseville. This month Les Schwab sent Roseville a request for the various approvals it needs to build a 15,922-square-foot tire store at 9095 Fairway Drive. Most Les Schwab stores are 13,000 to 15,000 square feet and employ between 10 and 15 workers.
The local activity adds up to 11 stores opened over a few years, but Les Schwab says it's not done. "We're constantly looking at the Sacramento market," a representative says. "These fill some good holes."
The company sees more holes in Davis and Dixon, around Sunrise and Madison, anywhere along Sunrise, spots between Rosemont and Elk Grove, and elsewhere in Roseville and north of Interstate 80.
Founded in 1952, the company has more than 300 stores in California and six other Western states, and plans to open about 15 to 20 new stores a year. It ranked 310th on Forbes' list of the 500 largest private companies, with 1999 sales estimated at $800 million.
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We’re Open Green Country: Mandy’s Beauty Supply
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TULSA, Okla. — A beauty supply store is happy to be back open for curbside service after previously being closed because of COVID-19.
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The nation's lenders will be banned from airing their television, movie and radio advertisements for cash-advance cards, as the financial regulator decides to use stricter regulations to govern the popular consumer banking product.
Taking effect on May 1, the new rules will also prohibit the cash-card advertisements to be shown on outdoor billboards, the Financial Supervisory Commission said. In addition, any applicant who already owns five cash cards will be required to present salary or financial statements when applying for an additional one.
The commission came up with the new rules with the Bankers Association (
A Consumers' Foundation (
"This is belated justice as the cash-card business has already created negative effects, especially on young people, for years," said Terry Huang (
"But the rules saying cardholders with more than five cash cards or a total credit line exceeding NT$1 million will be supervised still fall short of our expectations. Every card application should be carefully monitored," Huang added.
Cash cards, which first appeared in the Taiwan market after Cosmos Bank Taiwan (
The three largest cash-card issuing banks control more than 50 percent of the market: Cosmos Bank, Taishin International Bank (台新銀行) and Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託).
The eligibility requirements for cash cards are significantly lower than those for other types of consumer debt including credit cards, with some banks even issuing cards to prospective applicants with no steady income. Consequently, the abuse of cash cards by young users has forced the financial regulator to demand local lenders equip themselves with sophisticated monitoring and collection systems, as well as comprehensive credit policies to control credit risk.
A Taishin public-relations official said the new restrictions on cash card advertisements will not create a marked impact on business because other marketing methods are still available, such as ads in newspapers, magazines and on the Internet.
"Our investment in TV commercials does not constitute a major proportion of this. However, we think these regulations might deal a big blow to the largest issuer, Cosmos Bank, or the small competitors who rely much on TV commercials for image publicity," the official said.
Just a few years ago, the millennial generation — generally defined as those born from the early 1980s through the mid-1990s — was synonymous with youthful rebellion. However, now, as the millennials ease into early middle age, they are finding their path out of their parents’ basement to be a lot harder than it was for earlier generations. The fundamental problem is that millennials are not building wealth. The wealth of the median US household headed by someone 35 or younger has actually shrunk in inflation-adjusted terms since the mid-2000s, even as the wealth of older Americans has continued to grow. An
‘LITTLE CHOICE’: The airline said it expected only about 8,000 of its 29,000 employees to be working by next month, but hoped to have 21,000 in the next two years Qantas Airways Ltd plans to cut at least 6,000 jobs and keep 15,000 more workers on extended furloughs as Australia’s largest airline tries to survive the coronavirus pandemic. Qantas yesterday announced a plan to reduce costs by billions of dollars and raise fresh capital. The plan includes grounding 100 planes for a year or more and immediately retiring its six remaining Boeing Co 747 planes. Chief executive Alan Joyce said the airline has to become smaller as it braces for several years of much lower revenues. He said the furloughed workers faced a long interruption to their airline careers. “The actions that we’re taking
Apple Inc’s decision to stop using Intel Corp processors in its Mac computers and switching to its own chips might benefit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and boost Taiwan’s high-tech exports, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) said in a note on Tuesday. The US tech giant announced the “Apple silicon” initiative at its annual Worldwide Developers’ Conference, which started on Monday. The company said the first Mac powered by its own chips would debut by the end of this year and all product lines might shift to the new architecture in the next two years. TSMC is likely to
EXPERIMENTAL DRUG: While news about a COVID-19 vaccine is more eye-catching, developing a treatment would be more viable, the Senhwa boss said Senhwa Biosciences Inc (生華科) aims to raise NT$1.5 billion (US$50.57 million) by issuing 15 million new common shares in the third quarter of this year to fund the research of new drugs, including the experimental drug Silmitasertib for the treatment of COVID-19, the company said on Monday. That would be the firm’s largest fundraising effort after it raised more than NT$1.4 billion from an initial public offering on the Taipei Exchange (TPEX) in April 2017, chief financial officer Sarah Chang (張小萍) told the Taipei Times by telephone. The price of the new shares would depend on the firm’s average share price


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Navajo legend ready for 2023 Santa Fe Indian Market
WINDOW ROCK – Dine painter Shonto Begay is a legend among legends in the world of Native American art.
Like many other Native American artists, he is preparing for the 101st Santa Fe Indian Market, scheduled from Aug. 19-20.
“I’ll be at the Free Indian Market over on Federal Park. That’s where I’m usually at, next to other legends,” he said. “Bahe Whitethorne. Redwing Nez. Amando Pena. Those legends. I graduated up there, so now I can be in their company.”
Begay is working on smaller pieces this year for the sake of mobility. He anticipates finishing a dozen or so pieces that he says are “manageable.” He will be set up at the Free Indian Market, hosted by Greg and Angie Schaaf.
Last year, the Free Indian Market had about 600 artists, 10 percent of which were Indigenous artists from Canada, Central America, Mexico, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, and South America.
On July 7, Begay celebrated the successful opening of his exhibit, “Shonto Moon,” at the West of the Moon Gallery in downtown Flagstaff. He said the gallery had represented his work for the past 20 years.
Read the full story in the Aug. 17 edition of the Navajo Times.


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Revealed: Top ten most valuable logistics brands in the world
UPS remains the world’s most valuable logistics brand, according to the latest Brand Finance Logistics 25 report, despite 1% year-on-year decrease in brand value to $22bn.
The company’s profits decreased by 7% as did its forecast revenue growth by 10%. Nevertheless, UPS remains at the top of the table as it continues to lead the way in technological advances.
The company recently invested $3bn to revamp its network and completed the first phase of the ORION project, a navigation system offering the most up-to-date routes for drivers, generating around $400mn in savings.
The top six brands collectively had a stagnant year, with aggregate brand value growth of just 0.2% between them, despite increased online retailing and consequent demand for delivery services.
In effect, it appears that the big logistics brands are being squeezed on both ends, by both customers and competitors. This is because local delivery brands are providing increased competition, and the large online retailers are able to demand lower prices.
Richard Haigh, Managing Director of Brand Finance, commented: “There is no doubt that forging a distinct brand helps a business to build resilience. As Amazon prepares to launch ‘Shipping with Amazon’, having a strong brand can help protect incumbents from this new competition.
“Powerful brands alone will not be enough to prevent Amazon from gaining a foothold in the industry, however they will allow breathing room for the existing brands to riposte and limit their loss of market share.”
Meanwhile, FedEx (up 6% to US$18.2bn) retained second place supported by its acquisition of TNT Express. With this purchase, FedEx is taking steps to create a truly global network, and the first phase is complete as TNT Express packages can now be handled by FedEx drivers and enquiries to one platform can be solved from both.
However, the TNT acquisition has also caused problems for FedEx as the Petya cyber-attack created a loss of revenue due to decreased volumes at TNT Express as well as incremental costs associated with contingency plans and amending affected systems.
Although TNT services have been substantially restored, the economic consequences for future brand value could be considerable.
Top 10 in full (brand value):
- UPS - $22bn
- FedEx - $18.17bn
- Japan Railways Group - $11.1bn
- DHL - $10.7bn
- Union Pacific - $7.87bn
- McLane Company - $4.88bn
- Poste Italiane - $4.84bn
- CN- $4.41bn
- Deutsche Post – $4.25bn
- CSX - $4bn
FedEx is Reshaping Last Mile with Autonomous Vehicles
FedEx is embarking on an expanded test of autonomous, driver-less delivery vehicles to develop its last-mile logistics.
The US logistics firm piloted autonomous vehicles from Nuro in April this year, and the pair will now explore that further in a multi-year partnership. Cosimo Leipold, Nuro’s head of partnerships, said the collaboration "will enable innovative, industry-first product offerings that will better everyday life and help make communities safer and greener".
FedEx will explore a variety of on-road use cases for the autonomous fleet, including multi-stop and appointment-based deliveries, going beyond more traditional applications of the technology in single-route movement of goods from A-B. Exponential growth in ecommerce is spurring its broader experimentation in new autonomy solutions, Fed-Ex says, both in-warehouse and on-road.
“FedEx was built on innovation, and it continues to be an integral part of our culture and business strategy,” said Rebecca Yeung, Vice President, Advanced Technology and Innovation, FedEx Corporation. “We are excited to collaborate with an industry leader like Nuro as we continue to explore the use of autonomous technologies within our operations.”
The changing role of couriers
Unlike structured delivery networks, operating under long-term partnerships and contracts, agility is where couriers deliver true value - and their ability to deftly solve last-mile fulfilment has most acutely been felt during the pandemic. For the billions of people around the world forced to stay at home to protect themselves and their communities from the spreading COVID-19 virus, couriers have been a constant. They may have been the only knock at the door some people experienced for weeks or months at a time.
But the last-mile has been uprooted by a boom in ecommerce, a shift that has been most apparent in the UK, US, China and Japan, according to the Global Parcel Delivery Market Insight Report 2021 by Apex Insight. These are markets with dominant economies and populations used to running their lives with a tap of a screen or double-click of a mouse.
“Getting last mile delivery right has long been a challenge for retailers,” says Kees Jacobs, Vice President, Consumer Goods and Retail at Capgemini. “In 2019, 97% of retail organisations felt their last-mile delivery models were not sustainable for full-scale implementation across all locations. Despite increasing demand from customers, companies were struggling to make the last mile profitable and efficient.”
Jacobs says that the pandemic alleviated some of these stresses in the short term. With no other option, consumers were understanding and tolerant, if not entirely happy, with longer delivery times and less transparent tracking. “But, as extremely high delivery demand continues to be normal, customers will expect brands to contract their delivery times,” he adds.
Last mile's role in ESG
Demand and volume weren’t the only things that have changed during the pandemic - businesses looked closer to home and as a result became more sustainable. Bricks and mortar stores were transformed from mini-showrooms to quasi-fulfilment centres. Online retailers and other businesses sought local solutions to ship more faster. In densely populated London, UK alone, Accenture found that delivery van emissions dropped by 17%, while Chicago, USA and Sydney, Australia saw similar emissions savings.


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People must eat. Considering Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs, food, water, warmth, rest, security and safety are the basic needs of humans that require fulfilment. Money is ordinarily made when a need and a solution meet each other and the acquiring party values the solution enough to transfer cash for it.
Food, as opposed to water, is not a public good in SA and is produced according to market principles. It is a big industry. In terms of Stats SA’s basket to measure the consumer price index, food is the second-largest component after housing (another base need), comprising 15.48%.
And food prices have been accelerating locally. In December last year, the rate at which food prices (at the consumer level) increased reached double the speed of headline inflation, 6.2% compared with 3.1%. Since March this year, consumer-level food price inflation has remained above 6% annually (see graph 1). Worryingly, food price inflation at the farm gate has remained elevated above 6% per year since October last year.


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It has been said that the Apple has been testing two of Apple's three new iPhones which will be during the past several days.
When we compare the screens of the iPhone XS and XR, it is obvious that the XS has better visuals.
Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) decision to kick off its iPhone release schedule with pricier models forms part of a calculated strategy to squeeze more money from customers, the The Wall Street Journal reported. The new iPhone XS models actually have a OLED display with a resolution of 2436×1125 and a ppi of 458. This factor combined with the slightly larger battery in the XS Max is also likely the cause of the added 90 minutes of usage over last year's X. For comparison's sake, last year's biggest iPhone - the iPhone 8 Plus - had a 2,691mAh battery.
Looking at the Xs Max's camera specs, it looks as though they're largely identical to those on the iPhone X - a pair of 12-megapixel lenses on the back (a wide-angle f/1.8 and a telephoto f/2.4).
4GB of RAM, while being sort of the norm in the world of Android smartphones, is a big leap for the iPhone. Also, in another report, Apple is said to be unlikely to include the lightning-to-headphone jack converter in 2018 iPhone models.
If you have to have one, iStore offers a payment plan with FNB, which allows you to pay off iPhones at a reduced interest rate via your FNB credit card.
Fast charging is a speed upgrade over the regular charging you get with the iPhone.
iPhone Xr comes with a colossal 6.1-inch display that boasts a resolution of 828x1792.
Do you think the iPhone XR will eventually turn out to be better than the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max? After all, there are many people who would like to have a feel of iPhone. This means the same phone costs R7,600 more in South Africa than in the United States, not a great deal more than a return flight to NY.
Apple's new iPhone X $999 price tag only looks expensive, according to Apple chief Tim Cook.


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John McAfee, known for the anti-virus software bearing his surname, has finally settled the legal action with technology giant ‘Intel’ over the commercial use of his name.
Last year, John McAfee sued Intel over the right to use his name for commercial purposes, six years after he sold his anti-virus company to the chip-maker. In 2010, Intel bought Mr. McAfee’s former company, McAfee Associates, for $7.7 billion, when the mobile device era was still in its infancy. Although Intel owns the McAfee trademark, it no longer develops antivirus software under that name.
John McAfee wanted to rename his current company MGT Capital Investments to “John McAfee Global Technologies”. However, Intel also filed a counter case against renaming his current company, arguing it as trademark infringements and unfair competition.
The legal action has now been settled after U.S. District Judge Paul Oetken has dismissed the McAfee’s 2016 lawsuit and a countersuit filed by Intel on Wednesday, five days after a settlement agreement was signed.
The two parties have settled upon a mutual agreement which allows John Mcafee to use his name for advertising, promotions, and presentations. However, he can’t link his name to any product or service related to cyber security and security. This means he won’t trademark the phrases “John McAfee Privacy Phone” or “John McAfee Captial Investments” or “John McAfee Global Technologies.”


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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - BULLS HEAD - Borough residents no longer need to hop on a bridge to visit Fortunoff.
The company's Backyard Furniture Store opened its first on-Island store last week at a site already well-known for selling patio furnishings and outdoor gadgets.
The location at 2075 Richmond Ave. – formerly Montalbano's Pool and Patio – caters to those looking to decorate their yards with furniture, bar stools, table umbrellas, lounge chairs, outdoor storage, rockers, benches, grills and other accessories. Seasonal holiday decorations will also be sold.
"Staten Islanders could expect to have a broad assortment of outdoor furniture products," said CEO Bernie Sensale. "The customer will be able to choose from all shapes, sizes and fabric choices on these sets."
The store currently has more than 65 groupings in its showroom. And the 6,000-square-foot Backyard Store will be expanded by 50 percent by the middle of March, said Sensale.
"It's going to be beautiful. Plus, it's already beautiful on the inside," he said.
Sensale said the selection allows customers to express themselves and their decorating bent in the great outdoors.
The Backyard Store is the 11th of its type to open in the New York/New Jersey area since 2010.
Sensale noted that Staten Islanders often visit the Fortunoff Backyard Store in the Menlo Park Mall in Edison, N.J. And before that, borough residents would shop at the former Fortunoff location at the Woodbridge Center Mall (N.J.).
SOMETHING FOR ALL
"A customer that comes into the store looking for outdoor furniture is sure to find what they're looking for because we have a larger assortment than anyone in the business," said Sensale. "We're all about choice."
Huguenot resident Laraine Shultz was excited to see the Fortunoff brand come to Staten Island.
"We always loved Fortunoff," she said. "It's No. 1."
She was greeted by sales associate Roseann Fitzsimmons, but was only interested in browsing. Ms. Fitzsimmons nodded and smiled, letting the customer search the store herself.
"Customer service, the big smile," said Ms. Shultz. "It's so important."
Roger Atiles of Great Kills visited with Irma Morales. The two were impressed when they arrived.
"No one on Staten Island has anything like this," said Ms. Morales. "It's very pretty."
The space was leased to the Backyard Store when the Montalbanos decided to focus more on the pool and spa end of their business at its existing locations in Dongan Hills and Travis.
Sensale said the Montalbanos were very successful for a long time.
"Our model is a little different," he explained. "We're a multi-store business. We have a brand that we need to protect and enhance. The Staten Island store does that, and it will do that even more once the outdoor patio area is built out."
Fortunoff Backyard Store hours are Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, visit www.fortunoffbys.com or call 718-761-7200.


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cinch presents Creamfields North recently unleashed its phase one line up for their edition next summer. The dance music festival is aiming to pull out all the stops for their 25-year celebrations which return next August Bank Holiday, and the line-up includes David Guetta, Tiësto, Armin van Burren, Martin Garrix, Camelphat, Carl Cox, Nina Kraviz and Above & Beyond.
With the festival apparently selling out in record time, many missed out on tickets when the 70,000 capacity festival went on sale back in September. However, Cream HQ recently announced that due to a number of failed deposit payments a very limited number of resale tickets are now available to purchase on their website.
This forthcoming 25-year edition aims to raise the benchmark and coincides with the launch of their brand new 50,000 capacity sister festival Creamfields South which takes place at Hylands Park in Chelmsford on Jubilee Bank Holiday (2-4 June 2022).


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Recently, we’ve learned that 3 big companies inked a deal that will impact the sports gambling industry across America. Indeed, earlier last week, Roar Digital, the GVC and MGM venture behind BetMGM and playMGM agreed to join forces with a new partner, Yahoo!, the iconic portal. Under the terms, Roar Digital will offer their odds on Yahoo Sports. And Yahoo!, on the other hand, will become the company’s official digital media partner.
At the moment, the trio has not revealed any numbers or details on this one-of-a-kind transaction. And in the same fashion, they’ve yet to confirm when the new product will go live. However, we do know that the integration begins this November. And it mostly involves enabling transactions from the Yahoo sports app via the BetMGM platform.
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Yahoo! still got it
Without a doubt, the Yahoo! and Roar Digital deal completely shook up the industry when it surfaced. In fact, it shows that Yahoo! who was once a top search engine still has the means to stay relevant for internet users. And this for other things than checking emails and reading entertainment news.
And this didn’t escape Adam Silver the NBA Commissioner who commented to the press after the deal went public and said. “By working together, MGM Resorts and Yahoo Sports will offer fans unprecedented ways to engage with our games.”
A landmark moment with big ramification
According to rumors, the deal could well see Yahoo venturing into a new direction. And one that its long term rivals, Google and Bing, aren’t in yet. After all, the Yahoo! and Roar Digital deal gives the company much room to grow since it’s a multi-year agreement.
And the changes the deal bring are already felt on Yahoo! too.
Certainly, if you use the portal, you would have noticed the new logo. Plus, it seems that Yahoo! is also putting more emphases on sports-related news nowadays. And perhaps to educate its readers and convert them into punters at a later stage?
Well, it’s fair to assume it could be the case. But until the new product goes live, speculations must substitute facts. They’re much anticipation as of what Yahoo! could bring to the table next. And if more big portals will follow too.


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BOSTON (CBS) – If you didn’t get enough shopping done over the weekend, or if you just don’t like malls or people, then Cyber Monday is your day.
One of the first things you’ll notice when you go online is that Cyber Monday has actually become a week-long event.
Check: Cyber Monday Shopping Tips
Just like Black Friday, retailers are stretching out the deals to make the most of the four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Many of those deals are in electronics and toys. WalMart, for example, is offering an iPad mini for $279 or a 46-inch TV for $478.
Amazon has huge deals on toys with 50-percent off on Barbie, Fisher-Price and Mattel.
A Barbie town home is going for $92.
Retailers like Target are offering a buy one, get one 50-percent off on clothes and shoes.
Last year, Cyber Monday brought in about $1.5 billion in sales and some analysts say this year could be even bigger.
MORE LOCAL NEWS FROM CBS BOSTON


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Tourism Sarnia-Lambton (TSL) is set to move its offices early in the new year.
The local tourism marketing agency funded by Lambton County announced it's leaving its currently location at the Sarnia-Lambton Chamber of Commerce building on Christine Street in January to move into vacant space at the Douglas G. Keddy building on Venetian Boulevard in Point Edward.
That site is owned by Blue Water Bridge Canada and is also home to the Ontario Travel Information Centre.
John Elliott, chief operating officer with the bridge, said it is "very pleased to have TSL in that location."
Tourism Sarnia-Lambton officials said the new location will provide space for offices, enhanced visitor services, a possible retail area and a meeting room.
"The board recognizes that a greater visibility for TSL to those travelling through Lambton County will result in more visitor traffic for all of the county's tourism partners," said Ken Hoare, chairperson of the agency's board.
The move was announced at the agency's annual general meeting held earlier this week at the Lambton Heritage Museum in Lambton Shores.
"That we're going in there makes just such good sense," said Marlene Wood, general manager of TSL.
"They have that traffic coming right off the bridge."
The amount of money the agency will spend leasing space at the new location is comparable to when it has spent in the past, she said.
"The intent is, down the road, we'll have retail space there for souvenirs, and such," Wood said.
"It's going to be great."
The move comes as TSL's current lease with the Chamber was ending.
"It has been a great relationship here for years with the Chamber of Commerce," Wood said.
"We intend for that collaboration and partnership to continue."


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Time: 7:30 am - 10:00 am
Place: Mission Bay Conference Center - Fisher Banquet Room
Pocket Gems struts in competitive mobile gaming arena
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San Francisco has produced another digital gaming phenom.
Pocket Gems, a mobile game developer founded in 2009, said Monday it drove home $82 million in revenue in 2013, up 32 percent over 2012.
And, unlike many other venture backed companies, the 175-person firm has been profitable almost since launch, according to CEO Ben Liu.
“We’re really what I consider the best in the business at running ‘live games,’ “ said Liu, using the term the company favors to describe games that a developer changes over time based on player patterns and input. The company issued nearly 200 updates last year to its stable of titles, which include “Tap Paradise Cove” and “Animal Voyage: Island Adventure.”
Liu distinguished Pocket Gems from other game powerhouses, like Kabam and Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA), by highlighting the company’s sole focus on producing original content for use on mobile phones and tablets, rather than publishing the games of others or targeting other mediums.
Pocket Gems has been a champion of free-to-play mobile games, with revenue coming from purchases of game tools and features. That approach, very popular in Asia, has become a lucrative mainstay of the mobile gaming industry.
So far, Pocket Gems has launched about 25 games, which it said have been downloaded more than 150 million times on both iOS and Android devices. The amount of play is about equal on tablets and phones in the United States, but more heavily weighted to phones internationally, Liu said.
Patrick covers technology.
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OMGPOP's new app, Draw Something, has successfully hit the 20 million downloads mark - not bad considering it launched just five weeks prior to this milestone.
You know you've made it when your app has been named as Android's number one free app - but then again, nothing beats the feeling of knowing your app's also the number one free and paid iOS app. Kudos, Draw Something.
Considering Instagram's happy news of their photo-sharing app scoring an incredible 27 million registered users, it seems that mobile users are really feeling the love when it comes to apps.
CEO Dan Porter revealed to Business Insider that the company is making a tidy six figure sum each day, making in just five weeks what the rest of OMGPOP’s games produced in one entire year! Not to mention the fact that out of those 20 million users - 12 million known to currently be active - have created a total of one billion sketches (that's 3,000 drawings per second).
As the world's most loved app (number one in 79 countries - and counting), it will be interesting to see what else OMGPOP has to offer - as well as see how long it takes for the company to achieve world domination.


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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked commercial banks not to treat ATM transactions failing for technical reasons as well as non-cash withdrawal transactions – such as balance enquiries or cheque book requests – as part of the free transactions available to customers every month. Currently, transactions failed due to technical reasons or non-availability of cash in ATMs are counted as valid transactions.
This means such transactions are treated as normal transactions, and lead to charges as soon as the customer exhausts the maximum number of free transactions in a month. These transactions “shall not be counted as valid ATM transactions for the customer”, the central bank said in a communication to banks issued on Wednesday.
Here are 10 things to know:
- The central bank directed the lenders not to count transactions failing on account of technical reasons such as hardware, software or communication issues and non-availability of currency notes in the ATM for the customer.
- All scheduled commercial banks – including regional rural banks, urban/state/district central co-operative banks, small finance banks and payment banks – as well as white label ATM operators have also been directed not to treat transactions failing due to reasons such as invalid PIN and validation among the free transactions allowed to a customer in a month.
- Non-cash withdrawal transactions – such as balance enquiry, cheque book request, payment of taxes and funds transfer – will also not be part of the number of free ATM transactions, according to the RBI.
- “Consequently, no charges will be levied on these failed transactions,” the RBI added.
- According to existing rules, banks provide a certain number of transactions free of cost every month to the customer. The number of such transactions allowed to the customer every month varies, depending on factors such as type – whether the ATM is part of the home bank’s ATM – and location of the ATM – whether it is located in a metro city.
- For transactions at the ATMs in the network of the same bank as the account, the lenders offer a minimum of five free transactions in a month.
- For transactions at ATMs outside the home bank’s network but in one of six metros – Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, they offer a minimum of three free transactions in a month.
- For any transactions at ATMs of other banks outside these cities, a minimum of five transactions are provided to the customer free of cost, according to current rules.
- Customers are charged for transactions at ATMs over and above the mandated number of free transactions. The charges applicable in case of any transactions above the monthly threshold vary from bank to bank.
- Currently, these charges cannot exceed a maximum of Rs. 20 per transaction (plus applicable taxes, if any) by banks, according to the RBI.


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By Roc Harry
Digital transformation and the store of the future are only achievable with the support of advanced data networks. 5G, with its impending rollout, will become a game-changer in supporting the next generation of retail services and in-store innovations. Faster and more reliable than anything that has come before, 5G networks will enable people to communicate, consume entertainment, and shop at unprecedented speeds.
It is predicted that 5G will contribute US$900 billion to Asia’s economy over the next 15 years, with 24 Asia-Pacific markets expected to launch 5G services by 2025 (GSMA). In June 2019, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued several commercial licenses for 5G (CGTN). Four major telecom carriers – China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Broadcasting Network received the first batch.
With one of the highest mobile phone penetration rates globally, China is set to become the world’s largest 5G market by 2025, with 460 million users, according to a forecast by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA). The four telecom carriers have already built more than 250,000 5G base stations across China, and the number is expected to reach 600,000 by the end of 2020, covering all prefecture-level cities (RCR Wireless). This investment allows China to lead in the early adoption of 5G – it is estimated that China will account for 70% of all global 5G connections in 2020.
Since the establishment of the Xiong’an New Area near Beijing, China Mobile has been dedicated to building a new smart territory. It has led initiatives in the digitization process of Xiong’an that will promote new industry technologies and innovations. China Mobile has completed 5G testing and launched gigabyte broadband and narrowband-internet of things (NB-IoT), showing its ambition to reshape the area into a fully digitalized, ‘future city’ in China.
Retail and ecommerce players in China with overseas growth ambitions should be paying close attention to the arrival of 5G in other markets. The high-speed connectivity it offers will transform the way people shop. It both signals the next significant retail evolution and presents new challenges and opportunities for brands.
5G will supercharge retail innovations not fully implementable in the past
The technology will support a variety of retail innovations that were not fully implementable in the past, from use cases for Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) to scaling existing adoptions of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT).
Imagine being able to experience the best elements of brick-and-mortar shopping without ever setting foot in a store. You would not be merely scrolling through a website but actually looking at the shelves of a fashion retailer or supermarket via AR on your mobile phone, as well as exploring new offerings, hunting for discounts and deals, and even using a virtual fitting room to ‘try on’ outfits – all from the comfort of your home sofa.
The possibilities introduced by 5G are not limited to digital retail. 5G is also set to rapidly enhance and accelerate omnichannel commerce, blurring the lines between the physical and digital. Brick-and-mortar stores can connect to shoppers via their mobile devices–you might walk into a shop and receive personalized SMS communications with a special deal just for you, based on your browsing history. Through facial recognition tools, retailers can soon track the in-store products you spend the longest time looking at, then send you a digital offer to encourage an online purchase after you leave the store.
Frictionless payments key to getting sales conversions over the line in the 5G era
As retailers consider how to innovate in the era of 5G, it will be paramount to provide the right payment experience–one that feels fast and frictionless, to match the overall 5G shopping journey. It means exploring the possibilities of innovative payment systems, such as social payments, invisible payments, and facial recognition authentication.
When expanding into other markets, Chinese merchants must understand local consumers’ preferences to offer the most tailor-made and customized mix of payment methods. Asia, for example, is home to eight of the world’s top 10 markets for mobile payments, so offering Alipay, WeChat Pay or other popular local options can be vital to driving conversions, especially as the decreased network latency from 5G makes these seamless one-click payments even easier to use (PwC).
As 5G is currently only available in a limited number of modern cities around the world, Chinese merchants must become fully aware of their target markets’ cadence for evolving their network infrastructure and determine which are most compatible with 5G-enabled offerings.
Ecommerce in Asia is growing at speed, and the impending arrival of 5G is set to turbocharge this innovative landscape. Retailers must now start assessing what opportunities 5G can unlock for their businesses–whether that is new VR and AR shopping experiences, tailored omni-channel offerings, or enabling quick and seamless payment choices.
All this will become the norm in the foreseeable future.
About the Author
Roc is the Head of Global Enterprise Ecommerce – Merchant Solutions at FIS. He brings more than 12 years of global payments, fintech, and finance experience to his current role and has demonstrated global success in designing and initiating innovative, strategic, and effective business solutions that increase revenues for large, complex services businesses.


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After 18 years of negotiations, Meatco was finally given the go ahead to start beef exports to the United States.
This comes after the meat processor meet all the requirements of the US Department of Agriculture and the US Food Safety and Inspection Services and was able to send its first shipment of 25 tons of chilled beef to Philadelphia on Wednesday.
“In 2002 and gain in 2005, the government of Namibia initiated negotiations on the export of meat (beef) products to the United States, with the intention to export boneless (not ground) raw beef products.
Today ,18 years later, we are able to finally export meet to the lucrative and big US market. I think this maybe one of the longest protocols ever that the Food Safety and Inspection Services of USA and the Namibian Directorate of Veterinary Services had taken to ensure that all technical areas are cleared and are in accordance with various established protocols,” Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah said
US Ambassador to Namibia, Lisa Johnson said the beef export by Meatco will create more opportunities for the country and the beef sector.
“Meatco has submitted itself to rigorous tests of its beef products and processes in order to gain access to the US market and is regularly audited. Namibia will benefit economically from tapping into the world’s largest consumer market with a purchasing power of US$13 trillion and US consumers will benefit from access to Namibia’s high-quality, free-range, grass-fed and hormone and antibiotic free beef,” Johnson said.
She said the company will be able to access the US market duty-free under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
“Since 2000, AGOA has served as the cornerstone of US economic engagement with Africa. AGOA has helped create hundreds of thousands of jobs and economic opportunities across the continent. Meatco is a trailblazer and is paving the way for more Namibian industries to take advantage of AGOA benefits,” Johnson said.
Meatco Vice -chairperson, Ronald Kubas said the opening of the Us market provided the company access of a lucrative market with a huge growth potential.
“It is indeed a big milestone for the Meatco Corporation of Namibia. Meatco is constantly looking to access lucrative markets in order to get maximum returns for producers,” he said.


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The COVID-19 outbreak has changed the world. It's torn though country after country, leaving devastation in its wake. While nobody is suggesting that Coronavirus is a good thing, there are some positives to creep their way through the darkness.
As economies struggle, a few businesses are seeing unparalleled growth and development. This infographic looks at the businesses growing under the COVID-19 outbreak.
infographic by: www.mintformations.co.uk


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Tech driven advertising and media agency Affinity has won the top advertising prize at the Prime Awards, the preeminent sales and marketing awards for the Australian healthcare industry.
The Sydney based independent won Best Single Advertisement for Mundipharma’s opiod analgesic patch Norspan, beating out four finalists to win the coveted award.
While advertising to doctors is regulated and predominately done via print, Affinity developed a first for the Australian healthcare industry – an expandable video banner that used patient testimonials to demonstrate to doctors the effects of chronic pain suffered by patients.
The Prime Awards judges said: “The video ads are engaging from the onset with the patient trying to distract the viewer. The use of a different media to combine a patient perspective and to turn the volume down for the voiceover, adds a creative element to deliver the message. With the click through to the site, it keeps the healthcare professional engaged to source further information. As delivery of the ad was critical in the campaign, it is nice to see they didn’t get defeated with the typical animated gif, which offers little interaction. The script and content is strong to deliver the message in a succinct manner.”
Luke Brown CEO said: “Our win legitimises digital as a core channel in a category still largely led by print based communication. The opportunity now lies with healthcare advertisers to break with tradition and ensure digital is a primary part of their media mix, just like Mundipharma have.”
The Prime Awards celebrate effective sales and marketing practices and highlights professional campaigns and individuals that promote the quality use of medicines to the Australian community.
The latest win for Affinity follows its MSiX award for Clever Use of Data. It is also has three finalists in the ADMA AC&E Awards and is shortlisted for the upcoming MFA Awards.
To view the full list of Prime Awards winners click here.
In his first post for 2021, B&T regular Robert Strohfeldt points his magnifying glass at digital media’s hype and argues it’s possibly not cracked up to all it purports to be… In the past few months, I have seen many CVs of young graduates seeking a career in marketing and/or advertising. I could fool myself […]
B2B marketing agency McCorkell has announced that it has been appointed an official Asia-Pacific partner of RainFocus, the next-generation event marketing and management platform. The collaboration will see both companies come together to shake up the end-to-end event service model across APJ. “As the only true integrated event marketing and management platform servicing everything from […]


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Google has announced a new ad campaign type within AdWords. The call-only ad type will make it easier for searchers to call the advertiser directly, rather than click-through to a landing page. This is huge for businesses where talking to a lead is far more valuable than filling out a form on a landing page.
Read the full article here:
Google Introduces Call-Only Campaigns – Here’s Why You Need Them


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After Boohoo promised to improve factory conditions, shares in the retailer rebounded over 27%.
The company said on Wednesday that they plan to invest £10m into improving the factories in Leicester, where almost half of their clothes are made.
Since the news of the poor working conditions of the factories broke, including suggestions from an undercover Sunday Times reporter employees were paid only £3.50 an hour, almost £2bn was wiped from the group’s value.
“This week a number of serious allegations have been made about the treatment of people working in the garment industry in Leicester,” said a spokesperson for Boohoo.
“As one of a number of retailers that source products in the area, boohoo wants to reiterate that it does not and will not condone any incidence of mistreatment of employees and of non-compliance with our strict supplier code of conduct.
“Boohoo remains committed to supporting UK manufacturing and is determined to drive up standards where this is required.
“Where help and support for improvement is required we have and will continue to provide it, to ensure that everyone working to produce clothing in Leicester is properly remunerated, at least the National Minimum Wage, fairly treated and safe at work.”
For many years, Boohoo has remained low on the supply chain transparency index of the world’s 250 largest fashion brands. Whilst 40% of clothing is made in Leicester, the remaining is in factories in Bangladesh and Morocco.
Despite a huge backlash on social media, many analysts do not think that the retailer’s profits are threatened.
John Stevenson at Peel Hunt said: “The company operates on a cost-plus model. If costs rise they will increase prices. If a £7 dress suddenly costs £8, will demand disappear? I doubt it.”
And despite Boohoo being removed from websites including Asos and Very.co.uk, the dent made to Boohoo is likely to remain minimal. Revenue from third-party sites accounted for 4% of the total figure last year.
Thursday saw shares rise to 286p, however, remaining lower than the prior Friday’s closing price of 390.5p.


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The first unboxing video for Google’s 6DOF controllers hit the Web as the first wave of developer kits appear to be shipping out.
VR and AR developer Alex Coulombe posted the following video showing the complete contents of the developer kit, including AAA batteries and a charger for them as well as the controllers, the “tracking faceplate” and a cord to connect it to the Lenovo Mirage Solo standalone VR headset. The USB-C connector on the controllers is for “flashing” them, not for charging, according to a paper in the unboxing video.
We’ll update this post as hands-on impressions start to show up.
If Google is developing a standalone VR headset with the same controller tracking technology built into the headband, it is possible the company could provide robust inside-out tracking in a next generation system. Google’s investments in VR so far suggest its efforts have been focused on the unique capabilities of 6DOF hand controllers, and I think this kit could be a hint that the company is doubling down on standalone VR in 2019.


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With its return to Portland, the Bakery Photographic Collective brings the art auction Photo A Go-Go back to Portland.
The 17th annual photography auction is from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday at the Bakery Collective’s new home at 630 Forest Ave. King Memphis will provide the music.
In addition to giving people a chance to buy original art at auction, this year’s Go-Go serves as a preview of the collective’s facilities. The dark rooms are almost finished, and the digital labs should be ready early in 2018. More information is available at bakeryphoto.com.


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We all know our neighbors to the north are a bit on the strange side, what with the strange bacon, interesting law enforcement uniforms and of course, the accent. But are they so different that their belief in online video advertising varies widely from us here in the States? The answer, apparently, is yes.
eMarketer took a look at digital ad spends up in the Great White North and estimated that it will top $2 billion this year, which is under ten percent of the US market value. It comes out to some $81 per Internet user up there, they say.
In a related study, IAB Canada said that it could be as much as $2.23B. But the IAB said that while online video advertising showed strong growth, 85%, it just isn’t all that popular up there and last year only accounted for $37 million. That’s just 2%, almost a third of what it accounts for here in the US (5.5%).
So what’s the deal?
Well, remember all the issues with the Netflix expansion up there? Internet users were concerned about hitting bandwidth limits because the broadband packages up there are mostly metered. Now some might say that is bullpuckey and video ads don’t take up all that much bandwidth and they might be right. But when you’re starting to use more and more online video, as Canadian Internet users are these days, and you’ve got a bandwidth cap to worry bout…well that could be a problem.
However, that doesn’t seem to be the crux of the issue, it seems that advertisers and clients just aren’t looking at it as a viable solution for them. But perhaps they should. Right now, with so little competition, you could probably get your brand in front of a lot of Canadian Internet users in short order and for probably both a good price and some premium placements easily enough.


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Xiaomi Mi Max 2, the successor to Xiaomi Mi Max is arriving on May 25 as confirmed by Xiaomi. The phone will first be unveiled in China and Xiaomi officially shared the launch date over Chinese social media site Weibo. While initially, the device was expected to arrive on May 23, the actual launch has been pushed back by 2 days. Xiaomi has already created a teaser site for the phone and is promoting the phone through a game on the website. Also Read - FEMA authority confirms India's highest seizure order of Rs 5551.27 crore against XiaomiAlso Read - Xiaomi 12T series confirmed to sport 200MP camera, launch on October 4: Check expected price, specs and more here
As always, there have been multiple leaks surrounding the device which have given a gist all the features and specifications. A transparent case for the smartphone also leaked sometime last month, leaking the design specifics. The smartphone is rumored to get a complete overhaul in terms of specifications and arrive with a host of improvements. The battery will be the highlight of the device. The phone, like the Mi Max will most likely be a budget option. Also Read - Amazon, Flipkart sale: Best deals on gaming phones under Rs 20,000
Xiaomi Mi Max 2 features, specifications
On the design front, Xiaomi Mi Max 2 will sport an all-metal body with the fingerprint sensor on the back of the device, mimicking Xiaomi Mi Max. Leaks suggest the phone will come with the 3.5mm headphone jack on the top and dual speaker grilles with USB-C type charging port on the bottom of the device. ALSO READ: Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 becomes the highest selling smartphone in Q1 2017: IDC
Mi Max 2 is rumored to come with a 6.4-inch FHD display. The device will be powered by Snapdragon 626 processor and will most likely be available in just the 128GB internal variant. However, the phone will come in two RAM versions – 4GB for the base version and 6GB for the advanced version. Mi Max too came in 3GB and 4GB RAM variants. On the camera front, the phone will sport a 12-megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash and a 4-megapixel front camera. The phone will upgrade the battery to 5000mAh from the 4850mAh in Mi Max.
There is no word on the launch date of the device in India though it is most likely expected to arrive in the coming weeks, post the China launch. The phone is expected to be priced around at RMB1,499 (approx. Rs. 14,000) and RMB1,699 (approx Rs. 15,900) in China. The original Mi Max was launched at Rs 14,999 in India for the base 3GB RAM variant. ALSO READ: Watch Xiaomi Mi 6 teardown video analyze splash proof capabilities of the smartphone
Xiaomi USB-C Earphones
Apart from the upcoming smartphone, Xiaomi launched the USB-C port earphones, which have been designed by Grammy Award-winner Luca Bignardi, a Spanish musician and sound engineer. Xiaomi ditched the 3.5mm headphone jack for its latest flagship, Xiaomi Mi 6 and the phone bundled without earphones. The latest launch is in support of the newest Mi flagship.
The earphones come in a sleek design with an in-built microphone and a module for active noise reduction. The earphones are available only in China for now and there is no word on whether the accessory will be launched globally. In China, the device is priced at RMB299 (approx. Rs 3000) and is available on Xiaomi’s online store.


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UK MOBILE OPERATORS have been quick to respond to Ofcom's latest proposals for the auction of the 4G spectrum, although they told The INQUIRER they were baffled by the telecoms regulator's 1,000 page report.
Ofcom's latest report, which was released earlier today, outlines the regulator's plans to begin auctioning the 4G spectrum later this year with an aim to finish in early 2013. This means, if all goes to plan, that UK consumers will be able to take advantage of next generation 4G connectivity by the end of next year.
O2 seemed satisfied with Ofcom's latest 4G proposals, although it told us it will need to read the regulator's lengthy report before commenting further.
A spokesperson said, "Ofcom's detailed rules for the auction represent a significant step towards 4G launch in the UK. While Ofcom has taken a number of our suggestions on board, they are combined with other changes to the previous proposals.
"We will need to study the package in detail before responding."
Vodafone also told us that it was still making its way through the 1,000 page report, but seemed pleased with Ofcom's decision to open up the spectrum to a fourth operator in order to ensure competition.
The network said, "A competitive market for the next generation of mobile internet services will bring substantial benefits to British consumers, businesses and the wider economy. Ofcom appears to have created a mechanism to deliver the spectrum needed to run competitive 4G services and we welcome the work it has done.
"We also support the regulator's desire to see 4G services delivered to as many people as possible. However, we will obviously need to study today's lengthy documents to make sure they deliver the fair and open auction that this country needs."
Everything Everywhere isn't quite as pleased as its rivals however, telling us that there are some parts of O2's proposal that it doesn't agree with.
A spokesperson said, "Today's publication of the 4G auction rules is a crucial step towards bringing the benefits of faster mobile speeds and better connectivity to Britain, as well as stimulating £5.5bn investment into the UK economy.
"While there are still some elements of today’s proposal which we don’t think are in the interests of competition or consumers, we are pleased that Ofcom is moving in the right direction and we recognise that we need to get this process moving now before the UK falls further behind the rest of the world.
"However the auction is only one step towards bringing 4G to Britain. Everything Everywhere is committed to bringing 4G to the UK this year, and the next milestone will be the regulator's response to our request to roll out 4G over our existing 1800MHz spectrum without further delay."
Three was keen to tell us that it wants to ensure its place as the market leader when it comes to data, suggesting it will ensure that it, and not Virgin Media, gets a slice of the 4G spectrum.
A Three spokesperson told us, "Ofcom's decision on the structure of the spectrum auction will have a lasting effect on the choice of services and value available to mobile consumers.
"We are working through the detail of this very substantial document to evaluate what it means for both consumers and competition in the UK mobile market." µ
Plus the cost of ambition as moonshots eat into the coffers
Spoiler alert: it's probably VeriSign
Did we say cuts off? We meant traps them inside their own home


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Samsung Plans to Launch Phones With 560ppi in 2014, 4K Phones in 2015
Recently, at Samsung's Analyst day, its CEO Kwon Oh Hyun, revealed that the company is working on foldable phones. The company also announced that these handsets would be seen in the market by 2015 or 2016.
However, foldable displays are not the only products that the company spoke about in the event. The more impressive announcement comes with regards to the AMOLED display panels that the company said would sport a jaw dropping pixel density of 560ppi. If Samsung is to be believed, the smartphone market would soon see a 560ppi display offering a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels as soon as 2014. The company has not mentioned any specific timing as to when the roll-out will begin.
Samsung's Analyst Day has also let out some of the company's ground plans for the future. The company said that the users will get to see the Ultra HD displays by 2015. The display is also popularly known as 4K which will be offering a screen resolution of a whopping 3840 x 2160 pixels.
Lately, Samsung has been offering a number of technological innovations in its smartphone category. The tech community has already seen the smartphone with a flexible displays called the Galaxy Round which features a side to side curved display. Apart from that there is also a Galaxy Gear, a smartwatch which comes as an innovative wearable device.
However, when it comes to curved display, Samsung doesn't stand alone, as LG's G Flex phablet with the similar curved body has also been launched recently.
But looking at the way Samsung's approach towards new technology and its implications to the company's smartphones, its fans can surely get the best out of the company in near future.


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BINGO for TeleMiracle 45
Normally the Kinsmen Club of Yorkton has a number of events going on throughout the month of February leading up to the annual Kinsmen TeleMiracle. Such events have including TeleMiracle Teddy canvasing the City of Yorkton, a hot lunch in Churchbridge with the Credit Union and Legacy Coop and the school, a Terrier Steak Night and Pass the Bucket and their ever famous Telemiracle trek in their go cart.
The Kinsmen and Kinettes go to the Telemiracle show each year to answer phones and take pledges in support of the show. This year will be very different.
Covid has created a scenario where clubs will be limited to attendance and participating along with events being very different looking or even not existent. With many people being forced to stay home or lack of gatherings, The Kinsmen Club of Yorkton this year will be donating $1 from Bingo card sales for the month of February to Telemiracle.
Yorkton Kinsmen Club Telemiracle co-chairs Elmer Hollinger and Gerald Ivanochko are excited about the opportunity to take advantage of the great support that the community is giving Radio Bingo. Barry Novak, president of the club says, "Its the game where everyone wins. Money will be donated to Telemiracle which is in turn donated to very great people in the province of Saskatchewan all while everyone has a great time playing and a chance to win the weekly prize of $2,000 or possibly even the Jumping Jackpot which could be worth $10,000 the weekend of Telemiracle on February 27th & 28th."
Tickets can be bought online or at local retailers throughout Yorkton and surrounding area.


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Chinese state-owned car rental company Shouqi Car Rental (China Car Experts) and French car rental company Europcar signed an agreement to carry out cooperation for Chinese tourists to enjoy overseas car rental service.
Europcar has 3,700 stations distributed around the world, with the business covering over 150 countries. Holding more than 200,000 vehicles, it boasts an annual income of over two billion euros. The company has around 19% share of the European car rental market, according to data from Nedrelid Corporate Advisory in January 2016.
Shouqi Car Rental boasts nearly 500 offline direct outlets in more than 70 Chinese cities with over 30,000 vehicles. The company raised RMB 2.15 billion in its series A+ and B rounds as of December 2016 and received RMB 800 million in its A round in October 2015.
Shouqi Car Rental advocates the concept of “Grand Travel”, characterized by barrier-free connection between transportation terminals such as airport, port and railway station. It tries to make the travel easier by providing better and more convenient services.
The cooperation with Europcar is an important strategic move of Shouqi Car Rental to explore the global car rental market.
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