Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 56 | Page 19

NEWS Mild decline in Egypt smartphone market amid COVID-19 crisis Egypt’s smartphone market experienced one of the smallest declines in the whole Middle East and North Africa region in Q1 2020, according to the latest research conducted by the International Data Corporation (IDC). The global technology and consulting services firm’s Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker shows that smartphone shipments to the country declined 6.3% quarter on quarter (QoQ) in Q1 2020 to total 2.82 million units, making up 75% of overall mobile phone shipments for the quarter. The global COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Egypt’s smartphone market in two phases – first through disruptions to supplies from China, and then through weakened consumer demand from the middle of March. Looking at the vendor landscape, Oppo led the country’s smartphone market in terms of shipments in Q1 2020, followed closely by Samsung. Xiaomi and realme are focused on increasing the market shares they gained over the course of 2019. “The established Chinese vendors like Transsion (Infinix, Tecno and Itel) and Huawei are challenged by supplychain disruptions and an influx of more affordable models from the competition,” said Taher Abdel Hameed, a Senior Research Analyst at IDC. “However, the fallout from COVID-19 will cause hardships even for the fast-growing brands throughout the remainder of 2020 and will force them to adjust their pricing and model portfolio strategies.” Batelco announces participation in the AWS Marketplace CPPO thousands of AWS customers accelerate project success, as part of the launch of the Consulting Partner Private Offer (CPPO) programme in Bahrain. AWS is a platform that offers flexible, reliable and scalable cloud computing solutions. It has enabled its customers to achieve their business requirements and meet their digital objectives. Batelco’s collaboration with AWS has grown rapidly since early 2017, enabling it to offer the most in-demand services to its partners and customers. Abderrahmane Mounir, Batelco GM Enterprise, said: “We are very pleased to be expanding our work with AWS, which complements our role as the leading provider of digital solutions in Bahrain. Abderrahmane Mounir, Batelco GM Enterprise Batelco, the leading digital solutions provider in Bahrain, has announced its role as a consulting partner with Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace, the online software store that helps “This launch will enable us to provide AWS services nationwide, which reflects our continuous efforts to support our valued enterprise customers, by providing the necessary technical support and tools to grow their business. Through taking this step, Batelco is also reaffirming its support for the Kingdom’s cloud-first Policy, the growth of the digital economy.” Through this launch, all AWS customers in Bahrain will be able to purchase software solutions available on AWS Marketplace directly through Batelco. • www.intelligentcio.com INTELLIGENTCIO 19