Sony Ericsson Unveils Mobiles, Accessories

With excellent 2006 financial results to boast, at a Jeddah press conference Sony Ericsson gave an overview of its increasing market share, particularly in Saudi Arabia and throughout the Middle East.

“We’re among the major mobile brands in the Kingdom today,” said Elie A. Otaki, marketing communications manager of Sony Ericsson, Middle East and North Africa.

At the press conference, Sony Ericsson’s team showcased a series of mobile phones with added and innovative features, as well as accessories. Three new accessories from Sony Ericsson make it easier and more enjoyable for everyone to talk and listen to music handsfree.

The Bluetooth Headset HBH-PV702 is described as the perfect wireless headset for anyone new to handsfree devices. It is lightweight, compact and has long-lasting talk time. The Bluetooth Headset HBH-PV710 has talk and standby times of up to 12 and 300 hours respectively, and is designed with eye-catching colors. Between calls, it can hang on a supplied neck strap, slipping onto the ear easily when needed. The stereo portable handsfree HPM-75 builds on the success of the HPM-70, delivering excellent sound with an attractive metallic finish. Call handling couldn’t be easier either, with a microphone and call answer button on the cord, where a 3.5mm jack allows different ear phones to be used.

Sony Ericsson has introduced four new “candy bar” phones that make it simple to stay in touch. Of the four, the K200 and K220 are both camera phones, while the K220 and the J120 bring music into an affordable segment with integrated FM radios, complete with headsets. The company has also brought two new Walkman phones to the Saudi market.

According to Otaki, 20 million Walkman phones have been sold to date. The W880 and W610 build on the success of hit-models such as the W810 and broaden the appeal of the Walkman phone.

USRobotics Pays Tribute to Regional Partners

USRobotics rolled out the red carpet for its distributors and wholesalers from the Middle East and North Africa during its annual partners event and awards night held at the Movenpick Hotel in Dubai. The event paid tribute to the support and inventiveness of USRobotics’ channel partners in promoting the company and its products.

TechData led the 2006 awardees after it was declared Best Regional Distributor 2006 and Best Regional Distributor Non-Analog Sales 2006. Almasa, the 2005 top regional distributor, won the Best Regional Distributor-Analog Sales 2006 award, while Saudi Arabia-based Advanced Integrated Media was awarded Best Distributor for the second year in a row.

The Best Reseller of 2006 was Al-Shadadi Computer of Saudi Arabia. The Best Power Retailer was Jarir Bookstore also of Saudi Arabia, and another Saudi Arabian partner, EXTRA, was selected Best Upcoming Retailer.

KFUPM Implements SunGuard Luminis

King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM) has gone live with the Luminis platform from SunGuard Higher Education to help create a Unified Digital Campus for all university constituents. The recent adoption of the Luminis platform plays a pivotal role in the landmark project called “RAED” developed by KFUPM (www.kfupm.edu.sa) to improve the quality of services for all stakeholders at the university. In the first such implementation in the Kingdom, KFUPM has provided constituents with single sign-on access to learning resources, library and administrative services, as well as to group collaboration tools, e-mail and calendaring through a single point of access.

The RAED project’s main objective is to modernize the university’s systems to provide a high-quality online experience for students and to manage the overall student lifecycle from the initial point of contact with the university through to alumni status. RAED will be supported by the SunGuard Higher Education’s Integration Technologies as the platform to minimize integration costs while expediting the sharing of data between numerous IT systems.

As a result of the Luminis platform deployment, faculty members, staff and students can now connect to more than 13 different university systems without the need for additional user security or logins. These services include Library, e-Learning, Human Resources and Finance as well as Medical Services. In addition, Luminis has allowed for the integration of collaboration tools for faculty, staff and students at the university including calendaring, e-mail, campus announcements and news, groups, university online documents as well as Student Associations.

“The comprehensive solution we are helping KFUPM to put in place is an essential component to the vision of the university and supports their mission of the attainment of first-rate standards,” said Mathew Boice, GM, Middle East and Africa, SunGard Higher Education. “The realigning of university process around the student, creates a basis for measurably improving the way the university uses its resources and provides value to the university community.”