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LG Velvet coming to North America and elsewhere in the coming weeks
The company told everyone pretty much everything about this phone well before launch
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As we're used to for the past several years now, LG leaves very few secrets on the table about the phones it's going to launch. Indeed, the new Velvet phone was teased quite early on as the successor to the longstanding G-series. Tomorrow, it goes on pre-sale in South Korea and we're now getting a clearer look at what we can expect out of the phone.
Continuing its expansion across the globe, YouTube's paid Premium membership is making its way to my neck of the woods. The service is now available in eight new countries in the Middle East, most of which are in the GCC area. If you live around here, you probably didn't expect Premium to come to us this "soon" after its international launch, so the news is a nice late-night surprise.
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- Spotify is now live for everyone in the countries mentioned above. Some users received emails telling them they can now sign up, but even if you didn't, you'll find the app on the Play Store in your country. Both the free service with ads and the Premium subscription are rolled out, with the latter costing approx. $5 in all countries. You can get the app and register directly from it, or go to spotify.com to get started. Thanks, Eduardo Andrade!
Earlier this year, it was rumored that Spotify would arrive in MENA (Middle East and North Africa) sometime in Q4 2018. It seems the speculation was true, as Spotify has now launched in a handful of MENA countries — but only to those with invites.
It's not a secret that Sony's phones haven't exactly experienced the degree of success or sales that the company's competitors have seen. For years its design language was stuck firmly in the past, and the high prices associated with its products kept it from competing at the same level as other OEMs. And according to Evan Blass/@evleaks, the company may even be pulling out of the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa entirely.
The news has been abuzz for a couple of days in the Middle Eastern region, but it has now been made official, press release and all: Amazon has reached an agreement to acquire SOUQ.com.For those of you who don't live in the Middle East and haven't heard of SOUQ (which means "market" in Arabic), you can think of it as India's Flipkart maybe or well, Amazon, but serving a few local countries in the region: UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and also shipping to Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar. It has made a name for itself as one of the leading online retailers for shopping for clothes, electronics, beauty products, home items, sports equipment, baby products, and more. It currently offers more than 8.4 million products and is visited over 45 million times per month.This acquisition looks like the perfect way for Amazon to set its foot in the Middle Eastern market where it still doesn't have any official presence. The press release is light on details: the price of the acquisition isn't disclosed though numbers around the $1 Billion were rumored earlier, there's no exact timeline but it says the deal should close in 2017, and there aren't specific details about what will happen to SOUQ.com after it's done. Will the site keep its brand and continue to operate independently or will it switch to a local Amazon site serving each country? I'd wager the second option, but that isn't clear yet.What is known though is that both parties seem excited about their synergistic combination of powers. Amazon SVP Russ Grandinetti said, "We're looking forward to both learning from and supporting them with Amazon technology and global resources. And together, we’ll work hard to provide the best possible service for millions of customers in the Middle East." And SOUQ's CEO Ronaldo Mouchawar shared the same enthusiasm, "By becoming part of the Amazon family, we'll be able to vastly expand our delivery capabilities and customer selection much faster, as well as continue Amazon's great track record of empowering sellers."If that means being able to purchase more products from Amazon in the region without having to ship them over from the other side of the world, color me excited.
It's always a happy day when one of Google Play's entities rolls out to new countries because it means more users will be able to benefit from the entertainment options that were available to others before them. But it's especially a happier day when one of said countries is Lebanon, because I live there and because we're usually one of the last countries to get anything from Google.
Two months ago (after no small amount of leaking) HTC announced the One X9, a variant phone with elements of its One line, exclusively for the vast Chinese market. Today in Barcelona the company has announced that it will expand the availability of said phone, bringing it to "North Asia" and the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) zone later this month. Specific countries and prices haven't been released, but in China it launched for 2399 yuan, about $370 USD.
People in eight countries across the Middle East can now subscribe to magazines in the Play Store. Google has updated its list of supported countries with eight additional names:
Android One devices have already come to Turkey and Egypt, but now they're making their way deeper into the Middle East. The Infinix Hot 2 is now available in the United Arab Emirates exclusively from Souq.com.
These 184 Carriers And Major Retailers Across The Globe Will Carry The HTC One
These 184 Carriers And Major Retailers Across The Globe Will Carry The HTC One
HTC this morning officially unveiled its new flagship for 2013: the HTC One. So far, we've posted the full specs, our hands-on, and the list of carriers in the U.S. and Canada, but if you live outside those territories, you might be wondering exactly which carriers and major retailers to visit to pick up the One when it becomes available in March.
Jelly Bean Updates Arrive To Unbranded Galaxy S IIIs In Nordic, Middle Eastern, And GME Countries
Jelly Bean Updates Arrive To Unbranded Galaxy S IIIs In Nordic, Middle Eastern, And GME Countries
Samsung is definitely on a roll with the Galaxy S III updates - not a day goes by without a massive rollout of Jelly Bean to devices all over Europe, and now the Middle East as well. The company began sending Android 4.1.1 OTAs to the following territories: