Retail News CRM

Author: Mei Ling Tan

  • Porsche Introduces 2 New e-Bikes

    Porsche Introduces 2 New e-Bikes

    We all knew Porsche as the carmaker but now the company is expanding its range of e-mobility products by introducing 2 new ebikes. Available in Europe for now, the Porsche eBike Sport and the Porsche eBike Cross are the first e-bikes from the carmaker. The full-suspension carbon frame featuring an organic shape inspired by the lines of the Porsche Taycan, the powerful, latest-generation Shimano motor and the Magura high-performance brakes are just three of the features that ensure top performance. Both models were developed in collaboration with eBike expert Rotwild and are manufactured in Dieburg, Germany.

    The Porsche eBike Sport is perfect for daily rides, whether in the city or countryside, on the way to work or enjoying some free time. The new, powerful and ultra-compact Shimano EP8 motor, which provides motor support up to 25 kmph, and Shimano electronic gear shifting system guarantee optimum performance.

    Thanks to the Magura high-performance brakes that are integrated into the handlebars, the Porsche eBike Sport has a clean and compact cockpit. The elegant and puristic design is emphasized by M99 LED lights from lighting specialist Supernova, which are embedded in the handlebar stem and aerodynamic seat post. In addition, high-quality suspension components such as the Magura upside-down suspension fork and the Fox rear shock absorber, in combination with smooth-running tires, provide a sporty and balanced ride on asphalt or gentle terrain.

    The Porsche eBike Cross is at home in the countryside, off the beaten path and away from roads. The powerful motor, newly developed by Shimano, demonstrates its full ability in difficult terrain and delivers maximum performance while maintaining a natural riding sensation. The Magura-MT Trail high-performance brakes have extra-large, heat-resistant brake discs that ensure optimum deceleration, while the mechanical Shimano XT 12-fold shifting system enables fast gear changes according to the rider’s needs and the terrain.

    The hydraulically adjustable Crankbrothers Highline seat post ensures the seat can be quickly adjusted to varying degrees in order to find the perfect position. The ergonomically designed handlebars guarantee full control at all times. They feature the Shimano color display, which shows not only speed but also distance and range in real-time. The clean design is rounded out by a full-suspension carbon frame, which perfectly combines the spirit of adventure with style.

    Both models were inspired by the sporty character of the Porsche Taycan. The wheels draw inspiration from the naturally shaped carbon frame of the vehicle’s fly line. The elaborate design, developed by Studio F. A. Porsche, ensures optimum reflection of light.

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  • India’s Flipkart mulls US listing

    India’s Flipkart mulls US listing

    Walmart Inc.’s Flipkart is exploring going public in the U.S. through a merger with a blank-check company as it seeks to quicken its listing process, according to people familiar with the matter.

    The Bengaluru-based online retailer has been weighing a U.S. initial public offering and it’s now also looking at other options, the people said. Flipkart’s advisers have approached several SPACs, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is not public. Flipkart could seek a valuation of at least $35 billion in a blank-check transaction, the people said.

    Deliberations are at an early stage and Flipkart could still explore other options, the people said. A representative for Flipkart had no immediate comment.

    The e-commerce firm is joining other Indian firms like online grocer Grofers in exploring a U.S. listing through SPAC deals. ReNew Power last week agreed to merge with a U.S.-listed special purpose acquisition company in a deal that will give India’s biggest renewable power producer an enterprise value of $8 billion.

    Merging with SPACs, which are shell companies that raise money from public investors intending to acquire a business within two years, will allow Walmart to take its India unit to market at a faster pace than the usual IPO route. As many as 10 Indian companies could go public through SPAC deals before the end of the year, Utpal Oza, head of investment banking for India at Nomura Holdings Inc., said in an interview.

    Flipkart, which is battling with e-commerce arch-rival Amazon.com Inc. and Mukesh Ambani’s retail venture for market share in India, started operations in 2007 and now sells 80 million products on its platforms. Walmart acquired a majority stake in Flipkart in a $16 billion deal in 2018.

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  • All-New Suzuki Hayabusa Teased For India, Launch Soon

    All-New Suzuki Hayabusa Teased For India, Launch Soon

    The all-new Suzuki Hayabusa finally broke cover last month and it turns out the new offering will come to India sooner than we were expecting. Suzuki Motorcycle India has released a teaser video on its social media handles for the new Hayabusa with the caption, “The ultimate superbike, coming soon.” It is likely that the all-new superbike will arrive in India in the next quarter of the year, and will be one of the first markets outside Japan to get the offering. It needs to be noted that India was one of the last markets globally where the second generation Hayabusa was sold before the model had to be pulled off the shelves with the transition to BS6 emission norms.

    The third-generation Suzuki Hayabusa has seen a comprehensive overhaul over its predecessor. The model gets a revised twin-spar aluminum frame and swingarm. The design language is an evolution over the older model and makes it instantly recognizable. There are plenty of changes including the new LED position lights on either side of the headlamp, new DRLs and air intakes on the side. The fairing has been completely revised and gets larger air scoops, while the LED taillight is all-new as well.

    Power on the 2021 Suzuki Hayabusa comes from the 1340 cc, liquid-cooled, DOHC, 16-valve, in-line four-cylinder engine. The motor has been thoroughly updated for Euro5 compliance. There are new internal components including an exhaust header pipe, optimized cam profiles, 1 mm education in throttle body inner diameter and a 12 mm extension in the overall intake pipe. While Suzuki says that the engine’s performance has been improved, power figures have seen a reduction with the model now producing 187 bhp at 9700 rpm and 150 Nm of peak torque at 7000 rpm. The motor is paired with a 6-speed gearbox. Compared to the second-gen model, the new Hayabusa is lighter by 4 kg but still tips the scales at 264 kg (kerb).

  • UBS Lifts Ex-CEO Sergio Ermotti’s Pay in Final Year

    UBS Lifts Ex-CEO Sergio Ermotti’s Pay in Final Year

    Swiss bank UBS lifted pay for outgoing CEO Sergio Ermotti by nearly 14 percent and granted its new CEO Ralph Hamers a $3.3 million bonus for four months of work.

    Zurich-based UBS paid Sergio Ermotti 14.2 million Swiss francs ($15.4 million) last year, according to its annual report disclosed on Friday, from 12.5 million francs last year. The Swiss banker ran the bank from 2011 until October 31.

    The board of directors recognizes that Sergio Ermotti successfully led UBS through a very challenging year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic,» UBS said in an excerpt of his performance assessment included in the report.

    Ralph Hamers, who took over as CEO of the Swiss wealth manager four months ago, was paid 4.5 million francs, according to the report. At ING, Hamers earned 2.6 million euros ($3.1 million) in 2019, his last full year running the Dutch bank.

    It is common knowledge that Switzerland pays better than wider Europe: Even after a big cut in 2019, Ermotti’s payday made him the top-earning CEO of a listed European bank. Hamers’ UBS bonus last year – 3 million francs – alone is larger than his entire 2019 salary from ING.

    Ralph Hamers has launched a number of strategic initiatives, all with the aim of ensuring the continued long-term success of UBS,» the bank said.

    The unexpected reopening of a criminal investigation into Hamers in the Netherlands puts the Swiss bank on the back foot: it desperately needs its new CEO’s know-how to revitalize, but not with those plans effectively captive to the Dutch legal process, nor at the cost to its reputation.

    UBS had to pay a modest 164,000 francs to «make whole» Hamers – or to compensate him for ING instruments and awards he abandoned to join the Swiss bank. By contrast, it paid Iqbal Khan 8.1 million francs to replace Credit Suisse awards when UBS poached him as private bank co-head in 2019.

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  • Vietnam women’s e-commerce leadership ratio second highest in Southeast Asia

    Vietnam women’s e-commerce leadership ratio second highest in Southeast Asia

    Forty-six percent of e-commerce business leaders in Vietnam are women, the second-highest in Southeast Asia, according to a survey.

    The survey has been conducted in Hong Kong and six Southeast Asia countries by market research company iPrice Group.

    This figure was lower than that of Hong Kong (55 percent) but higher than that of Thailand (44 percent), the Philippines (39 percent) and three other Southeast Asian countries, showed the survey.

    Vietnam’s figure has improved from 37 percent in 2018.

    In Southeast Asia, however, there is still a gender gap in top positions. Only 31 percent of women have C-level roles – executive levels such as CEO or chief financial officer (CFO).

    In the vice president position, just 38 percent are women.

    Overall, there is a 40-60 disparity between women and men when it comes to being in positions of power.

    “Given centuries of gender inequality and women taking time off for child-rearing, the disparity isn’t as wide as we may have assumed,” the iPrice report said.

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  • Affiliate Marketing Tracking: Tools Overview

    Affiliate Marketing Tracking: Tools Overview

    Affiliate marketing is how a person, business, or organization can sell their products with different companies(affiliates) or persons for a commission. Affiliate marketing comes from Affinity marketing, which is gradually becoming a significant revenue source for various brands. Used by businesses to manage, track, and optimize their marketing activities, it involves sales monitoring, conversions, and clicks from affiliated websites to follow their affiliate’s performance. However, managing and tracking affiliates can be a nightmare for businesses. For utilizing the potential that affiliates bring, businesses must find reliable ways to track and channelize activities to the right channel.

    Fashion is the most popular affiliate marketing category.

    Affiliate marketing tracking software is a tool that manages and optimizes tracking for affiliates. Depending on different business models, affiliate marketing tracking software manages, tracks, and promotes marketing activities accurately and timely. Affiliate marketing software is responsible for tracking the number of clicks, source of origination of URL, time and location of clicks, calculating cost accordingly and much more. Some of the essential features of tracking software are:

    • Real-Time Insights: A kind of dashboard that presents you with an accurate picture of clicks, sales, and leads coming from affiliates with granular tracking. From creating personalized alerts to a personal dashboard, you see what you want to see.
    • Seamless integration: With online activities getting into the limelight, seamless integration to various websites and apps play a crucial role. Performance centric APIs for both web and mobile should be capable enough of extracting data with accuracy.
    • Monitor and Management: Both organizations or individuals and their affiliates should be able to track campaign activities, including purchases and click made from affiliate links.
    • Precisely accurate: With a lot happening on GUI, especially in a small mobile screen, software should be capable of Optimizing traffic sources precisely identifying potential leads with quality to generate the highest revenue in real-time. AI integrated software provides comprehensive insights, the discovery of new affiliates, and increased scalability.
    • Safeguarding against Fraud: Quickly flagging abnormal behavior and checking fraud clicks/traffics in real-time, software should have a high-security standard to protect against fraud.

    Tracing Made Easy: Finding a suitable program for an organization can be a tricky task, and with an abundance of available tools providing similar functionalities, it’s like extracting droplets from the sea. However, based on the criteria, below are a few affiliating marketing tracking tools aiming to succeed soon.

    • EverFlow:Amplifying marketing performance, it’s a tool capable of transforming data into actions. With niche UI and effective data analyzing, it tracks partners the right way your business needs.
    • Voluum:A one-stop solution for all your marketing activities, it tracks everything in a single place. Voluum is an add tracker controlling different ad formats and your campaigns for optimization.
    • Post Affiliate Pro: A globally popular tool recognized as the face of affiliating marketing tracking. Known for accurate tracking and intuitive dashboards, it’s a tool managing commissions and campaigns with 170+ CMS & Payment gateways.
    • Cake: A multichannel marketing tool presenting a holistic view by collects, validates, and distributes leads in real-time. With a global presence in 50+ countries and 500+ advertisers, accurate measurement, data security, and excellent customer support are critical features of cake.
    • iDevAffiliate is one of the most user-friendly cloud-based software or self-hosted software available where people can create their affiliate programs and customize them. Mastering the art of tracking, feature-rich iDevAffiliate designed for both expert and novice users. It incorporates a built-in onboarding guide providing you a step by step guild alongside video tutorials. Becoming more and more popular every year, it has a bunch of features described below
    • Dashboard using graphs and color scheme to provide insights on lead tracking, reports, top affiliates, and commission.
    • Affiliated can integrate multiple social media accounts like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest to build their social media presence.
    • Each product/service has a different commission, making it an outstanding tool for managing different profit margins or rewarding higher commissions on specific items.
    • With more than 175+ integration of built-in shopping carts, eCommerce platforms, direct payment providers, WordPress plugins, subscription systems, and lead or landing pages, you get everything set up for you in just a single click.
    • Unique coupon code tracking that allots affiliates their unique coupons to use in their marketing campaigns.

    iDevAffiliate

    Depending on your business model and program, one marketing affiliating tracking tool is perfect for your needs. However, easy of using software, accurate tracking, available features make one software more suitable for you. iDevAffiliates is one of the software that has many features on top of core features like SEO linking, localization tools, tier recruiting, fraud protection, etc., which make it value-added software for managing and streamlining your affiliate programs.

  • Nathan’s Famous opening in Southeast Asia

    Nathan’s Famous opening in Southeast Asia

    Nathan’s Famous, Inc., the American tradition serving New York favorites for more than 100 years, today announces the expansion of their products to Mexico City, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. The brand will also introduce its new virtual kitchen concept, Wings of New York, in all locations, with the exception of Brazil. Nathan’s Famous and Wings of New York will be available in a multitude of ways, including brick and mortar locations, ghost kitchens or retail, depending on the market.

    “This is an exciting time for Nathan’s Famous and Wings of New York,” said James Walker, SVP, Restaurants. “We are embarking on a new chapter in our company as we continue to grow the brand’s presence all across the globe. In some areas, new locations will build upon a current customer base, while other locations will be the first time consumers can experience the true flavor of New York and we look forward to the opportunity to reach these new customers.”

    Nathan’s and Wings of New York expansion includes the following countries:

    • Mexico – Through its partnership with VIRKO, Nathan’s Famous will open two locations in Mexico City by the end of March. The brand has plans for a total of four locations, including Wings of New York.
    • Canada – Nathan’s Famous continues its partnership with Ghost Kitchen Brands to bring six locations in Toronto and Alberta by this Spring, with a total of 10 locations across both brands.
    • Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore – Through a partnership with Intelligent Kitchens, Nathan’s Famous will bring both its flagship brand and Wings of New York to the three countries, with plans to open more than three locations starting in February.
    • Brazil – Nathan’s Famous Brazil will begin to offer Nathan’s Famous products through retail and foodservice in late April via three to five kiosks, with the possibility of Ghost Kitchens across San Paulo in 2021.

    This continued expansion through brick-and-mortar stores, ghost kitchens and retail makes Nathan’s Famous available in 16 countries around the world. The Nathan’s Famous menu will include the brand’s signature hot dogs and crinkle cut fries, as well as premium beef burgers, crispy and grilled chicken sandwiches, premium milkshakes and much more. The Wings of New York menu will include tenders a la carte, wings and French fry combos and Harlem-style chicken and waffles.

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  • Disney closing North American stores to focus on e-commerce

    Disney closing North American stores to focus on e-commerce

    Walt Disney Co will close at least 60 Disney retail stores in North America this year, about 20 per cent of its worldwide total, as it revamps its digital shopping platforms to focus on e-commerce.

    The media and entertainment company also is evaluating a significant reduction of stores in Europe, a spokesperson said, adding that locations in Japan and China will not be affected. Disney currently operates roughly 300 Disney stores around the globe.

    In November, Disney launched digital marketplaces in Australia, New Zealand and India.

    The company did not say how many people would lose their jobs as a result of the closures.

    Consumers have been moving to digital shopping over physical locations, and chains including Walmart and Macy’s have shuttered brick-and-mortar stores. The global coronavirus pandemic accelerated that change when people were forced to stay home.

    “While consumer behaviour has shifted toward online shopping, the global pandemic has changed what consumers expect from a retailer,” said Stephanie Young, president of Disney’s consumer products, games and publishing.

    Over the past few years, Disney has expanded its shops inside other retailers such as Target in the US and Alshaya Group stores in the Middle East. Those locations will continue to operate, as well as stores inside Disney parks. Disney-licensed products also will remain widely available through third-party retailers.

    Disney will overhaul its shopDisney apps and websites over the next year.

    “We now plan to create a more flexible, interconnected ecommerce experience that gives consumers easy access to unique, high-quality products across all our franchises,” Young said.

    Digital shopping gives Disney a chance to offer a much broader selection and include higher-end products from all of its Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars brands.

    New products will include adult apparel, artist collaborations, premium home products and collectibles, the company said. It recently unveiled streetwear featuring Grogu, the “Star Wars” character popularly known as Baby Yoda.

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  • Foot Locker Celebrates Youth and Sneaker Culture in Hong Kong with new Store

    Foot Locker Celebrates Youth and Sneaker Culture in Hong Kong with new Store

    Foot Locker, the leading global destination for speciality athletic-lifestyle footwear, apparel and accessories, has opened a new Power Store in Hong Kong.

    The new store, located in Gala Place, Mong Kok offers visitors a unique single level destination. This is the retailer’s 6th location to open in Hong Kong –– set to bring an engaging retail experience with premium product and elevated in-store presentations to enhance customer experience. The design celebrates basketball culture with a signature multi-branded basketball collection and area dedicated to the game. The store boasts dedicated women’s and kids areas and a studio and events space, to host brand partners and local influencers (pending COVID-19 restrictions).

    With impressive footwear and apparel collections from global brand partners, including Nike, Jordan, adidas, Puma, Converse, New Balance, Under Armour and streetwear brands including Chinatown Market and Carrots, customers can expect immersive experiences and elevated product storytelling for every occasion. The store will also provide men, women and kids lines for the sneaker obsessed and provide access to the largest selection of Nike Air Max Plus (TN’s) available in market.

    Mong Kok is a neighbourhood known for its vibrant sneaker scene and is a melting pot of cultures, a place where young Hong Kong people pursue their passion and express themselves. The store features specially commissioned artworks –by four local artists Way Fung @digiway, Stanley Wong @Sneakerconcept, Brian Liu @824Hachi and Zoie Lam @Zlism, inspired by Mong Kok and its relationship to sneaker and basketball culture. It also sets the tone for how Foot Locker will tailor the store to the local community.

    Commenting on the new store, Tomas Petersson, GM and VP, Foot Locker Asia, said, “We couldn’t be more excited for our store opening in Mong Kok. This has been a dream come true to have a store in this area where sneaker-style is so inspired and alive in the streets and really around every corner. This is our 6th store opening in Hong Kong – first in Kowloon and now in this store – we can’t wait to get to know our consumers and celebrate sneaker culture together.”

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  • Xiaomi appears to be on the verge of announcing an affordable flagship

    Xiaomi appears to be on the verge of announcing an affordable flagship

    Xiaomi’s Mi 10 lineup is about to get bigger and even more confusing. The range currently comprises eight models: Mi 10 5G, Mi 10 Pro 5G, Mi 10 Ultra, Mi 10T 5G, Mi 10T Pro 5G, Mi 10 Lite 5G, Mi 10T Lite 5G, and Mi 10i 5G.

    The platform implies that at least one variant will have 8GB of RAM and the phone will run Android 11.

    The phone has previously also been seen on TENAA, and according to the website, it will feature a quad-camera array.

    Save for the new chip, the Mi 10 5G is expected to have the same design and specs as last year’s Mi 10. Thus, it will likely have a 6.67-inches FHD+ AMOLED panel with a refresh rate of 90Hz, and a 4,780mAh battery with 30W fast charging support. The Mi 10 packs one 108MP camera, a 13MP wide-angle unit, a 2MP macro module, and a 2MP depth sensor. The front camera is 20MP.

    The new model will reportedly cost around CNY3,500 (~$541). The launch date remains a mystery but the phone’s visit to Geekbench and TEENA suggests an announcement is not far off.

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  • Optimizing Potential of Digital Advertising, Indosat Ooredoo Launches iAds Service Based on Augmented Reality

    Optimizing Potential of Digital Advertising, Indosat Ooredoo Launches iAds Service Based on Augmented Reality

    The COVID-19 pandemic, which has been going on for over a year, has increased our reliance on digital in our daily lives. This has an impact on the business sector, where enterprises are “forced” to adapt to focus on digital marketing strategies as consumer behavior shifts to digital and online. Therefore, the strategy of running promotions through digital advertising is becoming attractive to enterprise in order to increase brand and product awareness, targeting the right consumers, and increase sales of product.

    As an experienced trusted digital partner, Indosat Ooredoo Business presents an innovative service “iAds” at the 4th Connex Webinar today to answer the promotional needs of these enterprise. iAds is a digital ad platform that is designed by utilizing Augmented Reality (AR), interactive messaging, and mobile video. iAds offers the excitement of advertising and the convenience of using innovative telecommunication media.

    Chief Business Officer of Indosat Ooredoo, Bayu Hanantasena said, “Indosat Ooredoo Business is committed to support the growth of Indonesia’s business sector by utilizing digital technology. Today we launched iAds to support the promotional needs of enterprise to be more innovative through social media and relevant to the current situation. We hope that through the 3 iAds services that we launched today, it will help enterprise not only survive, but also growing rapidly so that they can compete in both local and global markets, as well as supports Indonesia’s digital economy.”

    Through iAds, promotional activities can be more varied and attractive because Indosat Ooredoo Business offers several choices of digital promotion mediums, namely iAds, iAds Biz, and iAds MGram.

    • iAds

    Augmented Reality (AR) technology.

    • iAds Biz

    A broadcast and interactive SMS service solution that responds more precisely to promotional needs for target customers and is easily controlled through a dashboard by enterprise. Regular SMS, Premium SMS, and Interactive SMS are all promotional options provided by iAds Biz.

    • Ads MGram

    Consumers can engage with interactive promotion and digital transformation solutions through images and videos that can be viewed on a variety of mobile phones, feature phone or smartphone. The other benefit of iAds MGram is that it does not require a specific application and can be accessed without internet connection or data packages. Thus, it unlocks vast reach, customer engagement and business possibilities.

    iAds can target more than hundreds of thousands of large and medium-sized companies in Indonesia to inform their products to millions of mobile users as potential targeted consumers. This service is also in line with Indosat Ooredoo’s vision as the Indonesia’s leading digital telecommunication company that encourages a more rapid and effective growth of the digital economy.

    Indosat Ooredoo Connex: Maximizing the Potential of Digital Advertising and Innovation Augmented Reality

    This time, Indosat Ooredoo Company conducted a Connex Webinar with the theme “Maximizing the Potential of Digital Ads and Innovation in Augmented Reality,” continuing the previous series of Connex (Creating Innovation with Expert)

    In addition to presented Bayu Hanantasena (Chief Business Officer Indosat Ooredoo) and Linggajaya Budiman (SVP-Head of Marketing & Channel Management), this webinar also featured a Digital Marketing Specialist who has successfully elevated brand-it’s to the forefront of every industry field, including Levita Ginting (Chair of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce’s Standing Committee on Franchising, Licensing, & Partnerships), R. Andi Kartiko Utomo (Digital Specialist, former Vice President of QNB Indonesia), and Irawan Soemardjo (Senior Partner of PINC Group).

    The speakers offered insight and addressed the effect of the pandemic on the business sector, shifts in consumer behavior, how Digital Advertising can optimize marketing strategies, the potential for Virtual Reality to improve consumer interaction, and iAds solutions to address consumer needs of promotion for enterprise and marketers during the panel discussion.

    “Hopefully today‘s Connex Webinar can provide a lot of positive information so that we all remain optimistic to survive and grow together in the future even in difficult situations,” Bayu concluded.

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  • Hong Kong Home Posts Record-High Rent

    Hong Kong Home Posts Record-High Rent

    Hong Kong’s luxury property market continues to post record numbers with the latest leasing contract.

    A 10,804 square foot home in the city’s wealthiest district was rented out for HK$1.35 million per month, according to a statement from local developer Wharf Holdings.

    This is a record figure, according to a Bloomberg report citing real estate agency Centaline.

    The house overlooks the Victoria Harbor and comes with a private garage, garden and internal elevator. Wharf has seven of these units in the area with plans to sell four and lease the rest.

    The unnamed tenant marks the second anonymous record-setter in weeks for Hong Kong’s property market.

    Last month, a 3,378 square foot home in the same district sold for a record figure of nearly $60 million.

    Despite political uncertainty and an ongoing pandemic, Hong Kong continues to top rankings as the most expensive property market. According to a recent think tank report, the city’s homes were the least affordable worldwide for the 11th consecutive year.

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  • Samsung introduces ISOCELL 2.0 for new killer cameras

    Samsung introduces ISOCELL 2.0 for new killer cameras

    Samsung just released a Youtube video announcing its implementation of a new ISOCELL 2.0 technology on upcoming phones sporting its 0.7-micron-pixel camera sensors. These will allow the cameras to continue performing excellently despite the challenges brought by decreasing pixel sizes. Samsung claims this new technology will further enhance the wall structure between cells, resulting in added light sensitivity of up to 12 percent compared to the current ISOCELL Plus technology.

    In order to enhance both light sensitivity and color fidelity in upcoming Samsung models, ISOCELL Plus technology “isolates each pixel with a physical barrier to reduce light crosstalk between pixels”—which is what happens when some of the light that is supposed to hit a specific photodiode leaks to neighboring photodiodes, causing noise in the final image.

    Although ISOCELL Plus enables higher-color-fidelity image production, the metallic grid between color filters absorbs some of the incoming light, resuting in some optical loss. ISOCELL Plus first improved on this issue by replacing the metallic grid between color filters with a new material. However, in this next phase of innovation in ISOCELL 2.0, the lower portion of the barrier is being upgraded with even more reflective material.

    Samsung boasts that these upgrades “minimize optical loss and significantly improve light sensitivity for more vivid pictures with reduced noise. With enhanced light sensitivity, ISOCELL 2.0 empowers even smaller pixels to absorb more light. As a result, image sensors can pack in more pixels to produce finer details without compromising vivid color reproduction.”

    We are already aware of the possibility of future cameras sporting several-hundred-megapixel sensors, with both Samsung’s flagship S21 Ultra and S20 Ultra boasting 108MP—way ahead of Apple’s iPhone 12 Pro in terms of sheer megapixel count. Only Xiaomi and a single Motorola model currently offer similar cameras on the smartphone market. For the coming future, ISOCELL’s 2.0 innovation could offer a whole new horizon of image-capturing possibilities in varying light conditions. Although smartphones with their compact technology will never truly be able to rival professional DSLR cameras, Samsung has already come a long way in providing the most bang for your buck in the phone photography department.

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  • Indonesia’s Payfazz and Singapore’s Xfers Join Forces

    Indonesia’s Payfazz and Singapore’s Xfers Join Forces

    Both companies will be part of a newly formed financial entity that aims to provide inclusion through financial services across Southeast Asia.

    Singapore’s Xfers has received a strategic investment of $30 million from Payfazz, which operates the largest agent-driven banking network in Indonesia, to form Fazz Financial Group (FFG), according to a statement on Thursday.

    With this investment, Xfers will serve as the designated business-to-business arm of FFG, focused on connecting external merchants to the payment infrastructure and user network amassed by FFG as a group.

    FFG will be led by CEO Hendra Kwik, Payfazz co-founder and CEO, and deputy CEO Tianwei Liu, co-founder and CEO of Xfers. The two will continue as CEOs of their respective companies. The group also appointed Robert Polana, former-CFO of Tiket.com as chief financial officer.

    With more resources on hand, we are also looking forward to helping more brands enter Southeast Asia. Especially for businesses looking to access the underserved consumer segment in Indonesia, Liu said.

    Payfazz and Xfers are both graduates of the Y Combinator accelerator programme.

    Payfazz recently announced a $53 million Series B fundraise, led by B Capital and Insignia Ventures Partners, with participation from Tiger Global, Y Combinator, ACE & Company and BRI Ventures.

    Founded in 2015, Xfers allows individuals to make and receive payments online and helps merchants set up their e-wallet services.

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  • Twitter is testing a Shop button that will let you buy items more easily

    Twitter is testing a Shop button that will let you buy items more easily

    Twitter is planning to introduce a new shopping feature similar to what other social media like Facebook and Instagram offer. According to social media consultant Matt Navarra’s recent tweet, the social media giant is testing a new card designed to appear in tweets containing a shopping link. Key elements in the card include the item’s price and a huge, easy-to-tap “Shop” button.

    The introduction of the new Twitter shopping card would be great news for online stores and influencers alike. Selling products on social media can be a challenge, but the card’s design would make a product harder to miss while a potential buyer is scrolling down their feed.

    It is worth pointing out that this isn’t a new ad format. Twitter’s new shopping card is just a prettier way for shopping links to be visualized on the platform. Though we’re sure Twitter won’t mind if such tweets get promoted for a nominal fee.

    Twitter’s push to make its platform more shopping-friendly is not an unexpected one, as some rivals like Facebook have featured options for selling products for a couple of years now. From a business point of view, it is a smart move on the company’s hand to expand its sources of income. Time will tell if users like the new feature or if they are put off from the social giant in the aftermath of its new shop buttons.