Author: Akin Naphtal

Apple has announced it will be opening its first retail store in Mumbai, India in the near future, according to a short notice on the company’s website. The store, which will be situated at the Jio World Drive mall and span 22,000 square feet, follows a previous announcement made by CEO Tim Cook in 2020 that the company would be opening its inaugural Indian store in 2021. However, due to the pandemic, this was delayed and rescheduled for the first quarter of 2023.India has become an important market for Apple. It previously launched an online retail store in the world’s…

Kenya will today unveil its first operational satellite: April 10, 2023. The Taifa-1 will launch aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. According to the report, the satellite, entirely designed and developed by Kenyan engineers, is expected to provide critical data on agriculture, food security, and other areas to support the country’s budding space economy. The launch is a significant milestone for Kenya’s space program, and the country’s defence ministry and Kenya Space Agency have described it as an essential achievement for the nation. The satellite parts were manufactured and tested in collaboration with…

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced that ten autonomous taxis will be launched to serve the public in Jumeirah by the end of 2023. RTA plans to deploy more driverless taxis in Jumeirah in 2024 until gradually deploying 4,000 taxis in Dubai by 2030. Khaled Al Awadhi, Director of Transportation Systems, Public Transport Agency at RTA, confirmed this news. These driverless taxis can accommodate three passengers in the back seat and no passenger is allowed to sit in the front. The fares are expected to be similar to limo taxis, which are 30% higher than the fares for…

American Express Saudi Arabia has partnered with the Ehsan Platform, a digital charity and social welfare solution developed by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), to add it to its Membership Rewards catalog under the donation section. The Ehsan Platform is a data and AI-driven solution that maximizes the impact and sustainability of various charitable and developmental projects and services. READ ALSO:Global IT Spending on Slow Decline Due to Weakening Economy, says IDC Committee urges NITA-U to reduce cost of internet to enhance business activities in Uganda Shuttlers raises an additional $4 million in equity funding to accelerate…

International Data Corporation (IDC), a market research firm, has released a new report stating that global information technology (IT) spending is on a slow decline due to the weakening economy. IDC has projected a growth rate of 4.4% to $3.25 trillion for 2023, down from the previous forecast of 4.5%. This is the fifth consecutive month that IDC has lowered its 2023 forecast for global IT spending. IDC Vice President Stephen Minton stated that since the fourth quarter of 2021, there have been clear and measurable signs of a moderate pullback in some areas of IT spending. However, Minton emphasized…

The Committee on Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) and National Guidance in Uganda has called on the National Information Technology Authority Uganda (NITA-U) to reduce the cost of internet. Members of the committee said the high cost of internet offered by the authority is making it difficult to do business during their meeting with NITA-U officials on Wednesday, 05 April 2023. According to Hon. Moses Magogo, the Chairperson of the Committee, internet is one of the biggest drivers of socio-economic transformation and its inaccessibility affects all sectors of the economy. He also noted that private players are providing cheaper internet…

Shuttlers, a Nigerian tech-enabled, scheduled mass transit firm, has raised an additional $4 million in equity funding to expand its transportation solution. Founded in 2016, Shuttlers provides affordable and comfortable transportation along selected routes and users can book rides in advance over an extended period using its subscription feature. READ ALSO:South African earned wage access platform Paymenow secures ZAR250 million debt facility to fuel growth Saudi Arabian cities rank high in IMD Smart City Index 2023 Indian startups call for antitrust inquiry into Google’s in-app payment fees Following its $1.6 million seed round in November 2021, Shuttlers has raised a…

South African earned wage access platform, Paymenow, has secured a ZAR250m ($14m) debt facility through Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) to help finance its expansion plans. The platform, which allows workers to access a percentage of their earned wages before their payroll cycle ends, aims to offer affordable real-time cash access and build savings while improving financial wellness. Paymenow currently has over 200,000 employees on its books across industries including retail, mining, cleaning, security and facilities management and projects to double that figure in the next year. READ ALSO:Saudi Arabian cities rank high in IMD Smart City Index 2023 Indian startups…

Four cities in Saudi Arabia have been listed in the IMD Smart City Index for 2023, with Riyadh maintaining its position as the third smartest Arab city. The index is released by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) and assesses how residents perceive the efforts to make their cities smart. Riyadh was ranked 30th globally, Makkah 52nd, Jeddah 56th and Madinah 85th out of a total of 141 cities worldwide. Efforts from all sides, including the use of advanced technologies, have helped to improve the ranking of Saudi cities. One significant effort is the national platform for smart cities…

Top startups in India have urged the country’s competition watchdog, the Competition Commission of India (CCI), to investigate Google for allegedly sidestepping an antitrust directive by imposing a high service fee for in-app payments, according to a filing from the Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF). Google’s move to charge a service fee on third-party payment processor transactions has “detrimental consequences for users and app developers”, ADIF said in the 15-page complaint from March. Google, which declined to comment, has previously said the service fee funds investments in Google Play and Android. READ ALSO:Sudhir Hasbe appointed as Chief Product Officer…