Category: Business

Lahore (NUT-DESK)
World famous messaging WhatsApp has announced the business directory to quickly find local businesses within WhatsApp. “This feature may not be available to you right now, but it will be rolled out for more people later,” WABetainfo wrote.

In order to bolster e-commerce on its services, a new test has been rolled out which allows users to find shops and services through a directory in the app.

“This could be…the primary way that people start a commerce process in WhatsApp,” Matt Idema, Facebook’s vice president of business messaging, said in an interview with Reuters this week.
WhatsApp, unlike Facebook and Instagram, does not run ads in its app. Idema said previously businesses were promoting their WhatsApp numbers on packaging or websites or using Facebook ads to bring users into chats on WhatsApp. The messaging service has increasingly courted business users, with a specialised app for small firms and an API, or type of software interface, for larger businesses to connect their systems, which generates revenue.

As online retail has continued to boom during the COVID-19 pandemic, Facebook has pushed in-app shopping features across its apps. In June, Zuckerberg announced Facebook’s Shops feature would expand to WhatsApp in several countries. In recent years, WhatsApp also has also launched shopping tools like product catalogues and shopping carts.

WhatsApp said the new test would include thousands of businesses in categories like food, retail and local services across certain São Paulo neighbourhoods. Idema said India and Indonesia were good next candidates to expand the feature.

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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.

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

The US dollar on Tuesday has hit an all-time high against the Pakistani rupee in the interbank market. According to details, the value of the greenback surged by 0.85 paisa today to trade at Rs168.95 in the interbank market, earlier the all-time highest was Rs168.58.

The value of the US dollar soared by Rs16.67 during the last four months. Yesterday, the trading of the greenback in the inter-bank market closed at Rs168.10 paisas.

Currency dealers, ex­­perts and analysts have many reasons for the steep fall in the local currency value against the US dollar, but they said there was no intervention from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to stop this devaluation to bring stability.

The Pakistani rupee had touched an all-time low of 168.43 against the greenback last year in August before recouping some losses to hit a 22-month high of Rs152.95 in April 2021.

The local unit rose by 6.2 percent or Rs10.51 against the US dollar in the currency market during the fiscal year 2020-21 that ended on June 30.

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Pakistan information technology and telecom sector witnessed a major milestone on September 9 when a globally renowned telecommunication equipment manufacturer, ZTE Corporation, and United Communications announced to join hands to manufacture SIM based 4G/5G mobile handsets and various mobile broadband products in Pakistan.

As per the press release issued by the ZTE here on Monday, an agreement signing ceremony was held in Islamabad, which was jointly hosted by ZTE and United Mobile, and Federal IT and Telecom Secretary Dr Muhammad Sohail Rajput was the chief guest.

Ministry officials, including Member (Telecom) Omar Malik, Member (Legal) Babur Suhail and Director (Wireless) Muhammad Jahanzeb were also present at the occasion. ZTE Pakistan CEO Li Guowen, Deputy CEO Mao Zhixia and CBO Rao Shahryar Sultan, and United Mobile CEO Faisal Motiwala, COO Hamza Rasheed and Hammad Hanif (Head of Development) were also present at the ceremony. Other officials from ZTE who attended the event were Jiang Duxin, Liu Shaofeng, Jiang Hao, Malik Khurrum, Shahzad, Saad Anis and Malik Taimoor.

Through this agreement, United Mobile will introduce the complete range of ZTE mobiles in Pakistan, on the basis of Mobile Device Manufacturing (MDM) Policy 2021. In addition to mobile phones, ZTE terminal end devices, along with ZTE IoT devices and accessories, will also be introduced in the local market in future as well.

Both the companies also shared that as part of this co-operation, they will try their best to achieve a short-term target of US$25 million by June 2022. Moreover, United Mobile announced to introduce ZTE’s premium handsets under CBU model immediately and will work with ZTE to make the globally successful 5G smartphones available in local market as soon as possible.

While addressing the ceremony, Federal IT and Telecom Secretary Dr Muhammad Sohail Rajput said that the incumbent government has an export oriented, technology based vision of the future, and that the Ministry has engaged all stake holders in the IT and telecom sector, and have introduced policies that encourage investment and exports.

While assuring ZTE’s commitment to Pakistan and also China-Pakistan friendship, ZTE Pakistan CEO Li Guowen shared ZTE’s vision and future expansion plans in Pakistan based on the massive opportunities available in the local market.

United Mobile CEO Faisal Motiwala during his address remarked that this collaboration marks another step towards the fulfilment of ‘Vision Digital Pakistan’, and yet another milestone achieved for the Pakistan technology industry towards localisation and self-sustainability. “Our collaboration with ZTE is aimed towards adding value to the supply chain of mobile phones and IT devices, and to be able to offer better value to consumers in Pakistan,” he added.