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Lenovo targets consumer market
PC manufacturer Lenovo plans to launch notebooks aimed at the consumer segment for the first time, in a bid to regain lost market share in the region, according to Emirates Business. Lenovo's executive director and regional general manager Khaled Kamel said that the company wants to be number four in Saudi Arabia within two years. Qatar, Oman and Kuwait are important markets too, he said. 'The important point is that quality and specifications have to meet the demand. Prices will be based on supply and demand conditions in the market,' Kamel said.
Injazat Data Systems inks service deal with Microsoft Gulf
Injazat Data Systems, a joint venture between Mubadala Development and Electronic Data Systems (EDS), has signed a Service Provider Licensing Agreement with Microsoft Gulf that will enable it to provide an expanded range of software and services offerings including e-email, corporate instant messaging, workspace collaboration and customer relationship management (CRM). The expanded line of services will be released to the market in stages within the next 12 months, Injazat said.
CMCS-Qatar formed
Qatar's Nasser Bin Nawaf and Partners Holdings has partnered with Dubai-based Collaboration, Management and Control Solutions (CMCS) to form CMCS-Qatar. The new company will offer the Qatari market all activities offered by its sister company in Dubai, the company said.
Batelco bundles broadband, console deal
Bahrain's Batelco has announced it is expanding its portfolio of broadband value-added bundles to include video game consoles (PS3 and Nintendo Wii), in addition to laptops. The new deal of high speed broadband with laptops and video game consoles is available on an interest-free instalment basis over 12 or 18 months, with prices starting from BD7 per month, the company said.
Cisco contact center opens in Egypt
Egypt-based Xceed and the Information Technology Industry Development Agency have inaugurated an international contact center for Cisco customer service and support. The new contact center is now serving Cisco's customers in the Europe, Middle East, Africa, and emerging markets in seven languages - Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese.
HP to test social network
Hewlett Packard (HP) is in the process of testing a social network, dubbed 'Friendlee', which it plans to unveil in September. The programme analyses calls and messages to collate a user's closest correspondents, which it then prioritises. Researchers studied social networking sites including Twitter and Facebook to build up a picture of common usage patterns. The application will run on windows mobile, Google Android and Blackberry handsets.
Apple unveils new Mac operating system
Apple has unveiled a new version of its operating system and updated its aluminum unibody MacBook series of laptops. Mac OS X Snow Leopard includes a number of refinements, new core technologies, out of the box support for Microsoft Exchange and new accessibility features, said Apple. The operating system will ship as an upgrade for Mac OS X Leopard in September.
Google unveils Arabic translating tool
Google has unveiled a translation kit to convert text to Arabic. The Google Translator Toolkit helps translators to create Arabic versions of English web pages. The tool provides an automatically translated version of a web page which can then be corrected or improved by a translator with help from the search engine's online dictionary.
Microsoft to unveil anti-virus software
A Microsoft spokesman has said that the software giant is getting ready to unveil its long-anticipated free PC anti-virus service, code-named 'Morro'. Microsoft is to make a trial version, or product beta, available via its website, but has not provided a specific date. The company said that Morro will provide protection from several types of malicious software including viruses, spyware, rootkits and trojans.
Saudi Al Falak to invest in acquisition
Saudi Arabian IT service provider, Al Falak Electronic Equipment and Supplies, has said that it is looking for opportunities to invest in and acquire companies in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Egypt, Emirates Business has reported. The company's president Ahmed Ashadawi said that the group is looking to grow through acquisitions. 'The new investments and acquisitions will be completed in the 2009-2010 period,' he said.
Du launches 24Mbps broadband in UAE
UAE-based telecom provider Du has announced the launch of new broadband speeds up to 24Mbps, the highest in the Middle East. The new broadband speeds will be available to all Du customers availing home services. Du also announced that customers who have subscribed to 4 Mbps broadband will get double the broadband speed of 8 Mbps at the same earlier price, 8 Mbps broadband customers will get 16 Mbps at a lower price and 12 Mbps broadband customers will be upgraded to 24 Mbps at the same earlier price.
Google launches new tool for Microsoft business users
Google Inc. has introduced 'Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook' software to make it easier for businesses using Microsoft Corp's Outlook/Exchange server to switch to its cloud-based online service. The new product will be available immediately as part of the existing Premier version of Google apps, which costs $50 per business user but is also available to educational and non-profit customers for free.
Adope opens regional office in Dubai
Adobe Systems has opened an office in Dubai for its Middle East operations, the company said. The office, headed by Abdallah Saqqa as general manager of Adobe Middle East, will support partners and customers in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and several other countries in the region.
Mobily launches Connect Plus modem
The Mobily telecommunications company has launched its new Connect Plus modem, which in addition to providing Internet access also enables users to make telephone calls and send SMS text messages. The new modem also features an MP3 player, an internal memory and Bluetooth connectivity.
Raqmiyat WPS software launched
Raqmiyat, a UAE-based systems integrator, has launched a solution designed to work with the UAE Central Bank's 'Wages Protection System,' (WPS) a joint initiative by the Ministry of Labour and the Central Bank of UAE, the Khaleej Times reported. The new software provides an interface for banks and exchange houses to connect to the Central Bank's WPS system based on stipulated file formats to facilitate automation across all WPS cycles. The system also enables the Ministry of Labour to monitor the payment of wages and creates a complete database of the labour workforce.
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