Author: Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Apple has phased out some of its older iPhone models after it announced new iPhone 13 on September 14. Apple revealed the iPhone 13 alongside an upgraded iPad, a revamped iPad mini, and a refresh to the Apple Watch. Among other updates, the new iPhones have an A15 Bionic processor, longer battery life, and an improved camera designed for cinematic videos.

Preorders for the iPhone 13 will be available starting September 17, and the device will be officially released on September 24. Though Apple customers now have several new phones to choose from, visitors to Apple’s online store no longer have the option to purchase select models from last year.

Discontinued Apple iPhone models

After the iPhone 13 launch event, Apple removed the iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max, and iPhone XR from its online store. These models join the iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus which were all discontinued last year.

Although Apple no longer sells these older iPhones through its online store, you may still be able to purchase them from select phone carriers or third party retailers.

iPhone models currently available for purchase

The iPhone models that are currently available to buy or preorder on the Apple store include:

• iPhone 13 Pro Max
• iPhone 13 Pro
• iPhone 13
• iPhone 13 mini
• iPhone 12
• iPhone 12 mini
• iPhone SE
• iPhone 11

The new iPhone 13 models range in price from $700 to $1,100, but budget-friendly options are available if you choose to purchase iPhones from an older generation.

For example, the iPhone SE starts at $400, and the iPhone 11 starts at $500. Customers who purchase an iPhone 11 from Best Buy with a new Verizon account or line activation can even snag the device for a deal price of $150.

 

LAHOR(NUT-DESK)

The member company of Pakistan-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) Ecommerce Gateway (Pvt) Limited has entered into the partnership deed with Alibaba.com. S M Naveed, President PCJCCI felicitated the members for this agreement and hoped that it will help local SMEs to penetrate in Chinese market through Alibaba’s platform.

While addressing a gathering he said that this agreement will further help Pakistan-based small and medium-sized businesses to bolster their digital presence and expand their sales internationally.

He further added that it will overcome the constraints brought by the Covid-19 pandemic. The meeting held to acknowledge the services of Ecommerce Gateway, attended by S M Naveed, President PCJCCI, Daud Ahmed, Senior Vice President, Khalid Raffique Choudhry, Vice President, and Salahuddin Hanif, Secretary General and Uzair Nizaam, Co-Founder Ecommerce Gateway.

Daud Ahmed, Senior Vice President said that Ecommerce Pvt Ltd will become Alibaba’s official channel partner in Pakistan, helping Pakistani exporters / sellers to gain access to the 150 million buyers from over 200 countries and regions on the platform.

On this occasion, President of Pak China Joint Chamber of Commerce & Industry (PCJCCI), S M Naveed said that the outbreak of Covid-19 has had a severe impact on businesses in the export sector, especially SMEs, many of which lack an online presence and are still largely reliant on physically attending tradeshows to showcase their products.

Daud Ahmed, Senior Vice President PCJCCI said that the ongoing pandemic has caused many events scaled down, rescheduled, or even cancelled, the Ecommerce Pvt Ltd and Alibaba partnership aims to help Pakistani small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) reach customers and business partners around the world in an efficient and cost-effective way.”

Muhammad Uzair Nizam, Co-founder Ecommerce Pvt Ltd shared his views by saying that “As Alibaba’s official channel partner, Ecommerce Gateway (Pvt) Ltd will help these SMEs assess how Alibaba can benefit them and assist them in navigating the platform’s variety of services, including everything from registration, setting up and running their online stores, to conducting online marketing campaigns together with certified Alibaba partners.

Salahuddin Hanif, Secretary General PCJCCI said that Ecommerce Gateway (Pvt) Ltd is one of the leading Web & IT Service providers in the region. Since its establishment in 2018 Ecommerce (Pvt) Ltd has entered into various national, international, and government based ventures and completed them successfully. Ecommerce Private Limited is the sister concern of Ecommerce Gateway Pakistan Private Limited (since 2000) the largest Trade Fair Owners & Organizers, Group & U.S Publishers Private Limited the owners of Jamal’s Yellow Pages of Pakistan the official Yellow Pages of Pakistan (since 1983). The group brings combined experience of 39 years of facilitating B2B Exporters & Importers through various services.

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Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Provincial Minister for Industries and Trade Mian Aslam Iqbal said on Tuesday that investment opportunities in Punjab would be highlighted through Dubai Expo and the government would also showcase its cultural and trade activities in the mega trade event to be held in November this year. He was presiding over a meeting of steering committee regarding Dubai Expo arrangements here at Civil Secretariat.

The meeting reviewed arrangements and budget proposals for participation in Dubai Expo. On this occasion, CEO Punjab Investment Board Dr Erfa Iqbal briefed about the arrangements of Punjab participation in Dubai Expo. The Minister directed all the relevant departments to finalize their arrangements for Dubai Expo. He said that investment, conference, seminars, panel discussions and other events would be organised in Dubai Expo.

Provincial Minister Finance Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakhat said that state-of-the-art documentaries would be prepared for exploring the investment opportunities in different areas of Punjab.

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Kia Lucky Motors has confirmed that it will be launching its subcompact SUV Kia Stonic late next month but demurred from sharing the price range due to the currency exchange rate volatility.

“We don’t want to predict the price,” said a company official. “You never know where the dollar would go next month.” Just yesterday, the dollar hit a record high in Pakistan at Rs168.94.

There is a reason for Kia Lucky’s reluctance to talk prices given the dollar-rupee dance. Pakistan’s auto industry is heavily dependent on imported car parts, especially new entrants such as Kia, which have not localized car parts much. So, when the dollar rate goes up, their cost of production goes up and vice versa. According to some estimates, some cars are made of 70% imported parts, called CKDs (completely knocked down units).

Nevertheless, given what is available in the market and of what they know of the industry, experts were ready to speculate on the price. Auto sector expert Usman Ansari said that he expects the SUV Stonic price to be kept in the range of Rs2.8 million and Rs3.3 million to ensure it competes with the sedan car segment of Honda City, Toyota Yaris, Changan Alsvin and Proton Saga.

“But there’s no direct competition to Kia Stonic in Pakistan,” said Ansari. “It’s just a bit bigger than the Suzuki Swift but smaller than the Nissan Juke subcompact SUV,” he explained. “It will be a unique segment car in Pakistan. It may be that its USP (Unique Selling Proposition) will help it sell.”

The Stonic comes in petrol engine sizes of 1000cc, 1200cc and 1400cc and a diesel engine option is offered in the 1600cc.

In addition to the Stonic, Kia Lucky is slated to launch its Peugeot 2008 (pronounced as poojauw) in December this year. It is a car made by French PSA Group with petrol variants coming in 1200cc and 1600cc size engines and diesel variants in 1400cc and 1600cc. Expectations are that both petrol variants will be launched and most likely the lower one for Stonic and higher of Peugeot 2008 to keep the market separate for each vehicle.  “Peugeot 2008 is a bit of a bigger compact SUV than Stonic, but slightly smaller than the Kia Sportage,” Ansari said.

“The Peugeot 2008 price may be between Rs3.6 and Rs4.1 million,” thinks Ansari. “The company would not want its own cars to compete between themselves especially on the price factor.”

According to reports, the 2000cc Sportage is Kia’s top selling car in Pakistan despite catering to the high-end segment. The car has been the first crossover SUV in Pakistan. But the segment has now seen mushroom growth as Hyundai, MG Motors, Sazgar Group, Regal Automobiles and Proton have all launched crossovers in the category.