Sony Ericsson President Miles Flint welcomed feedback from the Middle East’s local consumers as part of his visit to the region last week. “The Middle East is one of Sony Ericsson’s most exciting markets so it was a great opportunity to meet with the region’s consumers first hand,” said Flint, president of the mobile communications company since June 2004. “It was a valuable and enjoyable experience to hear personally what the local market had to say.” While in the UAE, Flint spent time at Sony Ericsson’s stand at Dubai’s iconic Mall of the Emirates where he demonstrated some of key features of the company’s latest phone and obtained valuable feedback directly from the public.
NCB
The National Commercial Bank (NCB) recently launched a new training course as part of its social service programs. The course titled “Production Worker” was launched in cooperation with the Woman’s Al-Nahda Charity in Riyadh. The course aims to train and qualify women to work in production lines as tailors at fashion centers in the private sector. It aims to provide employment opportunities for youth. Mahmoud Al-Turkistani, NCB head of community service unit stated that 20 young women, high school graduates and middle school students have enrolled in the course. They want to acquire workmanship skills that would qualify them to get jobs at tailor shops or women’s fashion centers.
SABRE
Sabre Travel Network Middle East has opened a new office in Jeddah further enhancing its investment and expansion plans in the Middle East. Guest of honor Mohammed Ali Andijani, Saudi Arabian Airlines’ senior manager of CRS participation programs, along with prominent travel agents of the region, including Kanoo Travel and Al-Tayyar, attended the opening ceremony, held at the Jeddah Hilton. “Following our new offices in Riyadh and Dammam, this latest opening demonstrates our continuous growth in one of the most important markets in the GCC and our ability to use our global capabilities in order to meet local needs and provide a more compelling and competitive proposition to our customers,” said Daniel Naoumovitch, Sabre Travel Network Middle East’s chief executive officer.
STAR ALLIANCE
Star Alliance has selected Lufthansa Systems as a preferred supplier to introduce ACAP. The overall ACAP project was launched back in June 2005, when the airline alliance sought bids from various vendors to create alternative distribution channels, with the aim of cutting the $2 billion that the 16 member carriers spend annually on GDS fees. The new platform will be available in Europe during the course of 2006 and will gradually be expanded to a global presence, including markets in Asia-Pacific. “We are very pleased to be working together with Lufthansa Systems, as the combination of their European technology base paired with their long-standing experience in the aviation IT field, will allow us to bring a state-of-the-art product onto the market, which will set new industry standards in distribution and business travel,” said Horst Findeisen, vice president commercial, Star Alliance.
LG ELECTRONICS
LG Electronics, the world’s leader in global communication technology, launched the world’s thinnest mobile phone model KG920 which is equipped with a 5 mega-pixel camera and a two-inch high clear LCD screen. The camera is 18 mm thick. LG also launched KG320 model. KG320 is only 9.9 mm thick and equipped with a camera of 1.3 mega pixel and internal memory of 128 megabytes plus USB port and slide keys, in addition to its multimedia capabilities and group of games and other stunning functions. C.K. Cho, GM of LG Electronics in Saudi Arabia, said that “the new mobile phones come as another proof of the global superiority and leadership of LG Electronics in presenting of latest digital communications and multimedia technologies.” KG920 is also equipped with advanced Bluetooth technology, MP3 player and USB port and a mini SD memory slot. In addition, the package is provided with 256 mega mini SD card. Simon Kim, senior manager of telecommunication at LG, stated that both phones got several international awards in terms of design and elite size since their launch in different places, in addition to the most advanced technologies of LG mobile phones. “We, at LG Electronics, confident that our both phones KG920 & KG320 will enjoy high demand and will spread strongly in the Saudi market, the most important market in the area, as they did in other markets”, Kim said.
AMEX (SAUDI ARABIA)
In a move to further expand its business and grow market share in the Kingdom, Amex (Saudi Arabia) Ltd., has appointed regional payments industry expert Priyan L. Attygalle as its chief executive officer to spearhead its operations in the country. The company aims to be the payment solution product of choice to affluent Saudi consumers by providing innovative products with premium services. Attygalle joins American Express from HSBC where he was regional head of credit cards for the Middle East, based in the UAE. During his 15-year tenure in HSBC, he has worked closely with partners in the cards industry and also served as director of Reward Management Middle East, issuers of air miles loyalty program. Before moving to the Middle East, he held various senior management positions in HSBC in the area of credit cards, support services and trade finance. Attygalle takes over from his predecessor Mazin Khoury.
