ABU DHABI // Drivers of silver taxis are crying foul over what they call unfair competition from unlicensed cabs offering cheaper fares. Taxi drivers are under immense pressure to meet their targets, often working 12 to 14 hours every day. They say the increasing number of uninsured and unregulated cabs has made it harder for the city’s 10,000 drivers to find customers. Owners of private vehicles are […]
Have you ever received an e-mail that sounds snarky and overreact because you’re reading the undertones between the lines? Or has anyone ever snapped at you for an offensive e-mail that you sent with the best of intentions? IBM is working to eliminate that problem with Watson Tone Analyzer. Big Blue is convinced a computer can accurately and automatically detect the tones conveyed in a message and […]
|By TAP Staff| The chief executive of Al Hilal Bank Mohamed Jamil Berro has resigned citing personal reasons. Berro was withe the bank for the past seven years. According to a bank statement, Sarie Asaad Arar has been appointed acting group chief executive. Arar, with 25 years of banking experience, currently holds the position of chief business officer at Al Hilal Bank. In January this year, Reuters […]
Redmond is acquiring field service management solutions provider FieldOne Systems to beef up its CRM business. Here’s the pitch in a nutshell: Consumers expect companies to engage with them in new, more convenient ways. That includes field service capabilities. Once it integrates FieldOne’s technology into Dynamics CRM, Microsoft is convinced that its clients can better manage and deliver service to customers in the field. “Field service management […]
Microsoft is touting the latest update to its operating system, due for release starting July 29, with the line, “It’s the Windows you know, only better.” Underscoring the distance that Microsoft wants to put between the new OS and the previous version is the fact that it’s named Windows 10 — there will be no “9” to succeed the less-than-beloved Windows 8. Windows 10 will also be […]
Google Inc’s (GOOGL.O) shares soared as much as 16.8 percent on Friday, crossing the $700 mark and adding nearly $68 billion to its market value, as strong growth in YouTube viewership allayed concerns about Facebook Inc’s (FB.O) push into video. The stock’s surge, which sent the Nasdaq composite index to a record intraday high, came a day after Google reported better-than-expected profit for the first time in […]
A logo of Toshiba Corp is seen next to an advertisement board for its Regza television in Tokyo, Japan, June 25, 2015. Reuters/Yuya Shino TOKYO A panel investigating an accounting scandal at Toshiba Corp has found that top executives were involved in improper practices, confirming the institutional nature of the abuses, a person directly involved in the investigation said on Friday. Improper accounting, extended across virtually all […]
INTERNATIONAL. Global investors have raised their holdings of cash significantly in response to a weaker global economic outlook, particularly in China, according to the BofA Merrill Lynch Fund Manager Survey for July. Overall, equity allocations are unaffected by the higher risk aversion, however. • Confidence in the global economy falls sharply: 42percent of investors expect strengthening over next year, down from 55 percent a month ago.• China heads concerns: […]
UAE. Retailers in the UAE experience some of the best conditions in the world in which to operate in, benefitting from a strong quality of infrastructure and a robust economic environment, says Arcadis in its Retail Operation Index. The UAE ranks eighth place in the overall rankings and first place in the Middle East, while quality of transportation and ease of getting up-and-running is holding many other […]
DUBAI // For decades, Dubai Creek has been a hub of activity as traders bring in goods and sell their wares at the bustling markets nearby. Even today, laden dhows can be seen unloading items to be sold at the Spice Market, on the Deira side of the saltwater Creek, and other souqs around the city. Most of these dhows’ captains are Bangladeshis and Pakistanis but, in […]
A man looks at a smartphone at the Intel booth during the 2015 Computex exhibition at the TWTC Nangang exhibition hall in Taipei, Taiwan, June 2, 2015. Reuters/Pichi Chuang Intel Corp (INTC.O) reported better-than-expected quarterly results on Wednesday as growth in its data centres and Internet-of-Things businesses helped offset weak demand for personal computers that use the company’s chips. Shares of the world’s largest chipmaker, which also […]
TEHRAN — “Happy nuclear deal” said Cyrus Razzaghi, a business consultant here, when he picked up the phone on Wednesday. Mr. Razzaghi has been trying to make a business of organizing seminars and meetings for European and American companies interested in Iran, but it had been a bit slow until now. Even though, technically, many of them could have done business here despite the sanctions, they feared […]
UAE. Dubai continued to see steady supply growth during the first six months of the year, as performance within the residential and hospitality markets began to soften after a three year period of sustained growth, according to the Q2 2015 Dubai MarketView by global property consulting firm CBRE. According to the CBRE report, Dubai’s rental market continues to outperform the transactional market in 2015, although residential leasing […]
UAE. KPMG’s third annual ‘Top of Mind’ consumer survey, in conjunction with the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), has found that growth and top-line expansion, consumer trust and a sound omni-channel strategy are the top priorities for consumer company executives – both globally and in the UAE. KPMG and CGF surveyed close to 550 senior consumer, manufacturing and retail executives globally to gain insight into the economy, the […]
|By Matein Khalid| Last week was a roller coaster and the Nikkei Dow closed at 19,800. Abenomics has had a seismic impact on Japan’s economy, financial markets and banking system. The yen has fallen from 76 on the eve of the election in 2012 to 122 against the US dollar. Corporate profits have exploded. Land price rises, job growth, bonuses, capex and consumer spending have lifted Japan […]
A Blackberry sign is seen in front of their offices on the day of their annual general meeting for shareholders in Waterloo, Canada June 23, 2015. Reuters/Mark Blinch/Files TORONTO BlackBerry Ltd named Carl Wiese as head of global sales on Monday, an appointment that comes at a critical juncture for the smartphone industry pioneer, which needs to spur top-line growth in order for its turnaround efforts to […]
A worker works on a Samsung outdoor advertisement installed atop an office building in central Seoul March 23, 2015. Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji/Files SEOUL With four days to go in a landmark proxy battle, a Samsung firm is going all out to coax a legion of undeclared investors into backing an $8 billion merger with a sister company that is key to the future of the country’s biggest family-run […]
M&A values reached during Q2 is belowits median level of the last six years. Mena M&A market hits three-year low in Q2 DUBAI, 12 hours, 18 minutes ago The Mena M&A market markedly regressed during the second quarter (Q2) of 2015, well behind its prolonged three-year revived activity, with the total value reaching only $3 billion, a report said. With the total number of completed deals on […]
Prices for German luxury cars in China are tumbling as the country’s stock market sell-off and worries about broader economic growth chill demand for auto brands that once commanded price premiums from affluent Chinese consumers. At Mercedes-Benz stores operated by a dealer group with nearly 200 multiple brand outlets, customer traffic at showrooms has dwindled markedly since mid-June, when a stock market slide that saw indexes plunge by […]
An updated version of Microsoft’s Power BI service will be released July 24, the company announced Friday. The goal of the updated service is to enable business users to benefit from business intelligence and analytics without requiring sophisticated help from analysts, data scientists, or other tech staff. The new set of business-intelligence tools will replace Microsoft’s current Power BI for Office 365 service. Also available on July […]
|By Matein Khald| During the 2008 post-Lehman financial meltdown, home prices in Dubai fell by 60-70 per cent and a generation of offplan flippers and leveraged investors/buyers (a mortgage, by definition, is a highly leveraged and speculative financial product. There is a reason the word “mortgage” derives from the French “mort” or death!) were wiped out. However, the Arab Spring, global liquidity and the successful debt restructuring […]
An employee stands in front of the Apple flagship store on 5th Avenue in New York April 22, 2015. Reuters/Brendan McDermid/Files WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO U.S. government antitrust regulators are looking into claims about whether Apple’s treatment of rival streaming music apps is illegal under antitrust law, according to three industry sources. Apple recently launched a new music streaming service, Apple Music. It also provides the App Store platform […]
UAE. Core Savills, the largest commercial lease transaction and one of the leading international real estate companies in the UAE, is optimistic on the outlook for the Dubai real estate market. Research released today by the firm has suggested declining apartment and villas prices in the emirate since the market peaked late last year will stabilize during 2016 and return to growth later in the year or […]
UAE. Private sector businesses in Dubai signalled further strong increases in business activity and new orders in June, though the rates of expansion moderated to 27- and 53-month lows, respectively. Despite softer increases in activity and new work, Dubai private sector companies were increasingly optimistic towards the year-ahead, with the degree of positive sentiment reaching a 19-month high. Furthermore, increased confidence towards the business outlook underpinned the […]
