HOME Mobile growth continues in MEA markets
Research company Counterpoint reckons that mobile handset shipments in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region were up 16% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2016. Smartphones represented 80% of the handset shipments in the region. The MEA region accounted for 14% of total global shipments in the fourth quarter of 2016. In comparison, China and India combined accounted for 37% of global handset shipments, according to Counterpoint.
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Comet ‘buoyant’ on floating smartphone demand
Comet will showcase ‘the world’s first buoyant smartphone’ at this week’s DISTREE EMEA event in Monaco, bringing distributors from across the region up to speed on the product’s features and technology. Comet has been working on testing and manufacturing processes for the last 12 months and is now ready to build out its routes-to-market. A pre-order campaign resulted in orders from 42 countries and interest from distributors in Europe, Asia and North America. In total, Comet has already secured orders for 500,000 devices, according to the vendor.
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XTOUCH recognises Redington’s role
Consumer electronics brand XTOUCH has named Middle East and Africa distribution giant Redington as its best strategic partner of the year for 2016. XTOUCH recognised Redington for its outstanding contribution it has made towards the growth of XTOUCH brand in the region. Since 2013, the two companies have been working closely to build XTOUCH’s brand in the smartphone market and increase market share.
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Game, set and channel match for QLIPP
New smart tech products will take centre stage at this week’s DISTREE EMEA channel event in Monaco. Brands from around the world will hold pre-scheduled meetings with top distributors as they look to launch, build or manage routes-to-market across the region. Singapore-based QLIPP is hoping it will be game, set and channel match for its smart tennis dampener as it looks to recruit new channel partners.
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INTERVIEW: Soum Rakshit, MysteryVibe
Have you heard the saying sex sells? The crossover between sex toys and connected technologies has created a fast-growing sextech sector, that represents a significant growth opportunity for forward thinking distributors. Channel EMEA caught up with Soum Rakshit, CEO & Co-Founder, MysteryVibe, ahead of the company’s participation at this week’s DISTREE EMEA in Monaco, to find out more about the channel opportunity and market potential.
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CONTEXT identifies omnichannel opportunities
Research house CONTEXT will deliver a keynote speech as part of next week’s DISTREE EMEA regional channel event in Monaco. In the run-up to the event, CONTEXT has identified five key distributor opportunities in an omnichannel world. For today’s consumers, omnichannel is their ’new normal’, according to CONTEXT. They now shop and purchase anytime and everywhere. What this means for traditional retailers is that they must become more flexible and ‘seamless’.
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Panasonic Toughbook appoints European partner manager
Panasonic Toughbook has appointed Sylvaine Smith as its head of partner management for Europe to further expand its share of the rugged notebook, tablet and handheld markets with industry solution-focused partnerships. Panasonic claims to hold 66% share of European revenues for rugged notebooks and convertibles, and 59% revenue share for rugged tablets, meaning the Panasonic Toughbook and Toughpad range sold more devices across Europe than the rest of the rugged notebook and tablet competition combined.
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Kaymera launches secured Pixel smartphone
Kaymera, a leader in mobile security for enterprises and government organisations, has today announced the launch of the Kaymera Secured Pixel, a unique fully-hardened and secured version of Google’s flagship smartphone. Kaymera’s secured version of the Pixel phone uses the original Google device’s purpose-built hardware and retains all of the Pixel’s features and ergonomics, including the fingerprint scanner.
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HMD Global is new home of Nokia phones
Nokia has confirmed that the strategic agreement covering branding rights and intellectual property licensing with HMD Global Oy (HMD), originally announced on May 18, 2016 has come into force. HMD has today announced the completion of transactions between HMD, FIH Mobile Limited (a subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Industries trading as Foxconn Technology Group) and Microsoft, which means that HMD can begin operations as the new home of Nokia phones, under an exclusive global brand licence for the next ten years, excluding Japan.
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Vuzix to showcase iWear video headphones
Vuzix will showcase its iWear video headphones to consumer tech distributors at DISTREE EMEA 2017, which takes place from February 21-24th in Monaco. With 400-plus senior executives from the region’s top distributors set to gather in one place at one time, the event is the ultimate channel gateway for consumer tech products. The iWear video headphones tap into two of DISTREE EMEA’s 2017 focus categories: gaming and mobile.
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