TechNave NewsBytes 2020 #33 - Samsung Solve for Tomorrow + Exynos, Huawei OlympusMons + 5G passes + MTS Smart 8T8R + Laos Smart Expressway + TrustInTech, Shopee 12.12, realme achievements, OPPO achievements and more

Welcome back TechNavers and NewsByters, in this issue of TechNave NewsBytes 2020 #33 the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition winners got announced while Samsung also made an Exynos Thank you Christmas Ad video.

Huawei announces OlympusMons Award 2021 while Huawei 5G and LTE passes 3GPP’s SCAS Testing at DEKRA and GSMA’s NESAS Evaluation. MTS and Huawei collaborate for world's first commercial use of Smart 8T8R, Huawei helps to build 1st Smart Expressway in Laos and Huawei TrustInTech Summit 2020 focuses on 5G challenges.

Acer subsidiary-Altos Computing Inc. launches AI Computing Platform Solutions while Shopee 12.12 Birthday Sale sees 12 million items sold within the first 24 minutes. realmeow is sold out in less than 30 seconds on Shopee, realme Smart TV exceeds expectations in first sales and  realme is listed in “50 Most Innovative Companies”. Along the way find out about realme 12.12 achievements while OPPO establishes its first 5G Innovation lab in India and OPPO 12.12 achievements include selling over 200 smartphones every minute for the first sale hour.

Samsung Malaysia Electronics recently announced the winners of the Solve for Tomorrow 2020 competition which kicked off on 9th October for Form 1 and Form 2 students, with team A.I.R. from SMK Seksyen 10 Kota Damansara walking away with the first prize for their innovative and proactive approach in addressing Malaysia’s key challenges on environmental issue. While the 2nd and 3rd place winners were team EUNOIA from SMK (P) Sri Aman, and team STEM SRI U from SMK Sri Utama respectively.

Team A.I.R. presented their solution based on an environmental theme and received Samsung products valued up to RM16,900 that will be presented to the school while each student will receive up to RM7,000 worth of Samsung products. The 2nd prize went to team EUNOIA who shared an idea on environment. They received products worth up to RM13,500 for their school while each student walked away with products worth up to RM6,000.  The 3rd prize was awarded to team STEM SRI U who developed an idea based on a social theme. The team received products valued up to RM10,000 for their school while the students received products worth up to RM5,400 each.

For more information about Solve for Tomorrow, please visit: their site.

Samsung Malaysia recently created a Christmas Ad video about how their Exynos chipsets have been helping Samsung Galaxy smartphone users. Check out the feel good vibes below or go check out the details at their site.

At the 2020 Global Storage Professors Forum, Huawei recently announced the OlympusMons Award 2021 and invited global scientists to tackle the two most difficult problems in data storage. Over one hundred storage experts from Huawei, the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and top universities and research institutes home and abroad witnessed the announcement.

Research on the next-generation storage are directed towards systematic innovation of media, network, architecture, and management. To this end, Huawei has established five labs: the Data Fabric Innovation Lab, Intelligent Storage Innovation Lab, Memory Storage Innovation Lab, Data Reduction Innovation Lab, and Video Storage Innovation Lab. The labs will fully unleash the potential of over 4,000 storage scientists in Huawei, enabling them to leverage the latest technologies to push storage efficiency to new limits. Compared to last year's OlympusMons Award, which focused on self-driven full-lifecycle data governance and data storage with ultimate per-bit effectiveness, Huawei attaches greater importance to the lasting ties between the industry, universities, and research institutes this year, hoping to promote the sustained development of the digital economy through the establishment of a global top-level technology community.

Therefore, Huawei has set an attractive award, namely the OlympusMons Award 2021, to encourage scientists around the world to tackle the challenge of building a storage system with ultimate cost-efficiency and making breakthroughs in next-generation root storage technologies. In providing such an award, Huawei hopes to work with researchers to build a better data storage system in terms of Cloud-oriented, multi-Cloud storage services, data-centric, new data application storage systems, AI-driven storage software architecture, and ground-breaking system architecture.

Huawei’s 5G RAN gNodeB and LTE eNodeB has passed 3GPP’s Security Assurance Specifications (SCAS) testing. It was performed by DEKRA, the first security test laboratory in Europe accredited for SCAS testing. The report has been released on the GSMA website (Link). After passed GSMA’s Network Equipment Security Assurance Scheme (NESAS) audit (Link), and 3GPP’s SCAS testing, Huawei becomes the first 5G and LTE vendor to pass the GSMA’s NESAS evaluation officially. NESAS provides the right kind of standards for communications industry, it is authoritative, customized, efficient, unified open, global and constantly evolving.

After the development and product lifecycle processes successfully audited, Huawei's 5G and LTE products have been evaluated with security tests defined by 3GPP, and the testing against those requirements allows the level of security of network products to be objectively measured. DEKRA, the first accredited NESAS Security Test Laboratory in Europe, performed security testing on Huawei’s 5G RAN gNodeB and LTE eNodeB. The tests include network product general security, air interface security, and basic vulnerability testing, such as data and information protection, air interface ciphering and integrity protection, robustness and fuzz testing. According to the report, all the tests mentioned above are 100% passed.

MTS, a mobile network operator in Russia, and Huawei jointly implemented the world's first commercial use of Smart 8T8R in Moscow recently. The operator's 4T4R networks were upgraded to 8T8R in the city's hotspots, increasing capacity by 1.9 times and improving user experience by 2.1 times.

The Smart 8T8R solution incorporates software-defined antennas (SDAs), FDD dual-band 8T8R RRUs, and Huawei's innovative algorithms. This solution is one of the important solutions that Huawei provides to facilitate the transition to 5G. With one-time hardware deployment, it enables software upgrades on demand, capacity increase of 2G, 3G, and 4G sectors, and smooth upgrade to 5G.

The dual-band 8T8R RRU is the first ever product in the industry that supports both 1.8 GHz and 2.1 GHz FDD bands, reducing tower space and rent. In addition, this module supports power sharing between different bands and RATs, improving user experience in cells.

The first phase of the China-Laos Expressway from Vientiane to Vangvieng section (Vientiane-Vangvieng Expressway) that jointly developed by Yunnan Construction and Investment Holding Group with the cooperation of the Laos government, was officially opened on December 20th.

The Vientiane to Vangvieng Expressway is the first smart expressway in Laos. Huawei cooperated with its partner, Yunnan Huayuan Electronics Co., Ltd. to build the secure, stable, and intelligent ICT platform for this smart expressway based on the global leading information and communication technology (ICT), cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), and security management system. Huawei’s data communication and transmission equipment deployed along the route build a digital perception, interaction, transmission, and the application integrated solution that using big data analysis and other technical means to implement all-scenario solutions such as real-time intelligent monitoring, intelligent charging, emergency response, and decision analysis.

In 2021, the 5G network to be built in Laos will be integrated with this smart expressway. The future of 5G+AI technology will further upgrade the intelligent level of expressway and will facilitate the development of infrastructure in Laos.

Huawei hosted its second annual TrustInTech Summit, which was attended by ICT industry experts, academia and economists from around the world. Speakers included Huawei's Executive Director of the Board and President of the Carrier Business Group, Ryan Ding, international investor Jim Rogers, GSMA CMO Stephanie Lynch-Habib, and others. Focusing on the new challenges the world faced in 2020, the Summit highlighted ICT's critical role as the key digital infrastructure to support societal wellbeing and economic recovery. Given the rising trend of technology decoupling, the Summit emphasized the need to embrace open collaboration, as well as the call to defeat the unnecessary fear of adopting new technologies.

At the Summit, STL Partners co-founder Chris Barraclough stressed the transformative role of 5G in manufacturing, energy, and healthcare sectors. Huawei Enterprise’s digital transformation expert Edwin Diender also concurred, explaining the role of how 5G, AI, big data, and cloud computing pushed for faster drug screening and diagnosis, intelligent monitoring, and remote working and education during the pandemic.

At the end of the summit, Ryan Ding, Huawei's Executive Director of the Board and President of the Carrier Business Group, emphasized that an open and trusted ecosystem is required for everyone to share the prosperity brought by technology. To do so, the ICT industry needs to continue adopting unified technical and security standards. Given the current complex geopolitical environment, he stressed, “Politics should stay away from technical issues. We need to remain fair and open to drive technological cooperation. Industry cooperation is not a zero-sum game. If an isolated approach is adopted now, while new technology is unlocking social and business value at a faster rate, the victim will not be one company.”

Acer Group subsidiary " Altos Computing Inc." launched the Altos aiWorks solution which is an Artificial Intelligence Computing Platform, with "shared resources", "simplified process", and "rapid development" as the core missions. It’s combining Altos BrainSphere™ series of computing system products (including servers, PC workstations, etc.), and Altos Accelerator Resource Manager (AARM) smart accelerator computing resource management system, in addition to providing customers and developers with different artificial intelligence computing system choices, rapid deployment of a development environment, and optimization of artificial intelligence accelerator resource allocation.

Altos Computing Inc. deeply investigates its R&D on artificial intelligence computing platform technology. Based on excellent software and hardware solution “Altos aiWorks”, Altos Computing fastest launches and announces the supports for NVIDIA A100 Multi-Instance GPU (MIG) technology. MIG allows each A100 GPU to be divided into up to seven instances. Whether it is high-bandwidth memory, cache, and computing core, they are all independent; GPUs have multiple cutting forms, which can not only withstand workloads of any scale, but also ensure the quality of work services (QoS ), which can also accelerate the scalability of computing resources, and maximize the utilization rate. Besides, for Volta and Turing series GPUs, Altos aiWorks also supports NVIDIA CUDA Multi-Process Service (MPS) technology to improve GPU utilization.

Altos Accelerator Resource Manager（ AARM）adopting container technology manages AI accelerators and system resources. AARM also introduces Altos's own patented algorithm technology to optimize GPU resource and automate the deployment of functions, which greatly reduces the complexity and barrier for users to deploy workload and application for deep learning and machine learning development. Besides, AARM allows individual developers to quickly deploy independent workspaces and development environments on the system, allowing multiple users to share hardware resources while still maintaining independent development environments without mutual influence, which helps developers focus more on the research and development of artificial intelligence applications.

Shopee wrapped up the year-end shopping season with a record-breaking 12.12 Birthday Sale in Malaysia. Shopping activities were high across the country, with over 875,000 items sold in Selangor in the first hour of 12 December. One Malaysian even single-handedly made 180 orders in the morning of 12 December.

Home & Living, Groceries, Health & Beauty, and Mobile & Accessories emerged as some of the best-selling product categories as Malaysians took this chance to fulfil all their essential and entertainment needs.

Meanwhile, on a regional level across seven markets in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, Shopee recorded a sellout of 12 million items in the first 24 minutes of 12 December. At its peak, 1 million items were bought in a single minute as users chose from a selection of over 2 billion products. Consumers also spent more time on Shopee’s in-app games and features, which offered greater rewards and value.

realme fans in Malaysia expressed their desire to be the owner of realme’s first ever designer toy, realmeow as they were sold out within 30 seconds on the 1st of January 2021. Apart from that, realme has also launched its realmeow into space along with new year wishes from fans on the last day of 2020.

“Here in realme Malaysia, we are really grateful with realme fans’ enthusiasm towards realmeow, especially lucky owners who successfully bought the limited edition designer toy. We would also like to congratulate the fans who won realmeow’s merchandise items by participating in realme’s giveaway during its livestream on Facebook. Once more, thanks for your support and Happy New Year everyone,” said Tiffany Teh, Brand Manager of realme Malaysia.

From the 1st until 31st of January 2021, fans are also invited to enjoy the thrill of Escape Room at realme Design Studio.

realme had the first sale for its recently-launched realme Smart TV during the Super Brand Day from 22nd to 24th of December on Shopee. realme is proud to announce that realme Smart TV broke the record of television category as it was being sold as the most in a Single Day on Shopee.

“We are beyond thankful for the support from realme fans, you have made realme a new record holder again! We have just leapt into the home industry within a month and it is a great recognition that motivates us to work even harder and bring more attractive deals as well as devices to our fans in Malaysia. Here at realme Malaysia, we would also like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and let’s look forward to a bigger, better and exciting 2021,” said Tiffany Teh, Brand Manager of realme Malaysia.

Apart from the realme Smart TV, realme X3 SuperZoom was also crowned as No. 1 Best-Selling 12GB+256GB Smartphone in Shopee as of 1st of January 2020 until 25th December 2020. The unconditional love of realme fans towards the flagship experience provided by realme X3 SuperZoom was reflected in the sales achievement twice. This resulted in the device being ranked as No.1 Fastest Selling Snapdragon 855+ Smartphone on Lazada during the Double 12 sales.

realme have announced that they have been listed in the “50 Most Innovative Companies” in China as of 2020 by Fast Company. In addition to being ranked among the world's TOP 7 smartphone brands by Counterpoint and named as the world's fastest smartphone brand to achieve 50 million units of sales in only 9 quarters (Counterpoint, Q3 2020) this new listing is another feather in their cap.

In 2020, the selection criteria of Fast Company was different due to challenges from the global economic downturn. The selected company has continued to grow in good times, and also maintained its resilience and persistence in adversity – adapting to the environment as well as embracing changes. As a cutting-edge brand, realme adheres to the brand spirit of "Dare to Leap" and continues to grow against the downtrend. As a result, realme became one of the smartphone brands which reported growth in the first two quarters of 2020, and standing firmly among the mainstream smartphone brands in the world.

During the recent Shopee 12.12 Birthday Sale, the new realme Watch S was awarded the No.1 Best-Selling Smart Watch title while the new realme Buds Air Pro was ranked No. 1 for Best-Selling Active Noise Cancellation True Wireless Stereo in terms of Total Unit Sold.

Thanks to the tremendous support from fans, realme was consecutively crowned as Champion in the category of Best-Selling Audio Brand and Best-Selling Wearable Brand from popular e-commerce sales like 7.7, 8.8, 9.9, 10.10, 11.11 and 12.12. realme was also ranked as the Top 1 Best-Selling 8GB+128GB Smartphone on 11.11 and 12.12. As the fastest-growing smartphone brands, realme’s sales growth has increased up to 5897% on Shopee as compared to the same period last year with a strong record of RM2 million in sales within the first hour on 12.12.

Apart from that, realme Malaysia is ranked No.1 in several categories during 12.12 Sales on e-commerce site, Lazada for the products listed below:

OPPO recently announced the establishment of a 5G innovation lab at its Hyderabad R&D center to further develop core product technologies for 5G connected ecosystems. The establishment of this new lab is an ambitious move for OPPO as it further promotes the commercialization of 5G while accelerating India’s technological presence in this rapidly accelerating field.

To accelerate the commercialization of 5G in global markets, OPPO is working closely with industry-leading partners such as Ericsson and Qualcomm. This year, the company has completed successful voice and data calls over a commercial standalone 5G network in Switzerland. Moreover, OPPO has also conducted the first 5G WhatsApp call from India. As of today, OPPO has partnered with more than 50 organizations worldwide to deliver 5G services.

In the recent 12.12 Sale, OPPO sold over 200 smartphones every minute in the first sale hour, and more after. OPPO reached a revenue of RM2 million in within 15 minutes after the sale started, leading to a continuous stream of transaction the rest of the day. OPPO is ranked as the top 3 smartphone brand by revenue and units sold on Shopee, and top 3 by units sold in Lazada. The best selling device on Shopee was the OPPO A31 and OPPO A73 while on Lazada it was the OPPO A92 and OPPO A12e. The best selling accessory overall was the OPPO Enco W11.

OPPO is still offering several deals on its official Shopee and Lazada store, so if anyone missed the 12.12 deals, there is still a chance for O-fans to get OPPO products at amazing deals. As the festive season is just around the corner, OPPO wishes every Malaysians a JOY-FULL time of year with lots of cheer and love.

Gigabyte Technology recently announced its foray into the portable external drive by introducing its first external SSD – VISION DRIVE SSD 1TB – with the USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type C interface to the VISION family. This enables the company to further expand the VISION product line as well as to showcase its market-leading, innovative, and high-performance SSD products. The VISION DRIVE SSD 1TB is integrated with a 1TB PCIe Gen3 x4 solid-state-drive (SSD) which provides users with an ultra-high read/write speed of 2000MB/s. Based on GIGABYTE’s expertise and dedication to product development and design, the newly released VISION DRIVE SSD 1TB performs with excellence in terms of performance and cooling in addition to its near-perfect drop resistance. For content creators who always bring their portable drive with them on the go and those in need of off-site data backup capabilities, the VISION DRIVE SSD 1TB is definitely the ideal choice.

GIGABYTE’s external SSD is the newest member of the VISION family only to be preceded by its memory, motherboard, and graphics card brothers. The consistent main product theme features the fingerprint-proof, pure white matte surface combined with the leather trim design, giving it a warm touch less commonly seen in 3C products and a sense of quality made possible with sophistication, cleanness, craftsmanship, and elegance encompassed within. The black bottom design makes it less susceptible to soiling from its surroundings and possible to provide a care-free user experience. Under the stylish look, it is equipped with a high-performance and reliable Phison E12 controller chip, a 1TB high-speed NAND Flash, and a USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type C interface, which enables a jaw-dropping read/write speed of 2000MB/s, user-friendliness, compact size, super-high capacity, and robust performance.

For more product information, visit their site.

Maxis has contributed RM500,000 to Yayasan Kebajikan Negara (YKN) in support of COVID-19 related aid. The contribution will go towards distribution of an estimated 5,000 food boxes to communities severely impacted by the pandemic as well as allocation for evacuation centres in anticipation of floods.

The contribution to YKN is part of the RM1 million pledged by Maxis via the GLC/GLIC Disaster Response Network (GDRN) in the recently launched “To Malaysia, With Love” initiative driven by Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and supported by other telco industry players. With this pledge, Maxis will work with relevant NGOs to identify communities based on needs and deployment of on-ground support.

The contribution was symbolised at a simple ceremony on Monday, 21 December with YB Datuk Seri Rina Mohd Harun, Minister of Women, Family and Community Development, who is also Chairman of YKN. Representing Maxis were Raja Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Arshad bin Raja Tun Uda, Maxis’ Chairman and Gokhan Ogut, Maxis’ Chief Executive Officer.

In the spirit of the Deepavali festive season last month, Maxis equipped computer labs of MySkills Foundation, a social enterprise that provides life and vocational skills, and SJK(T) Kuala Kubu Bharu with desktops to enable their ICT lessons. Adhering to strict CMCO SOPs, two small groups of Maxis volunteers who are also technical experts (Maxperts) were on site to ensure a smooth delivery and set up of the desktops. The students and teachers were excited to have a hands-on experience guided by the volunteers to set up the desktops which come with Wi-Fi for a year, which they will be using in their computer labs.

ASUS and ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) recently announced that 16 of the company’s products have been named a CES® 2021 Innovation Awards Honoree for demonstrating outstanding innovation, engineering and functionality, aesthetic and design within the consumer technology realm.

ASUS Innovations Awards honorees include the ZenBook Pro 15 and ZenBook Flip 15 in addition to ROG Phone 3, ROG MAXIMUS XII Extreme, ROG Strix XG16, ROG Swift PG32UQX, ROG Falchion, and ROG Kunai 3 Gamepad. An additional eight ASUS CES 2021 Innovation Awards honorees will be unveiled during CES 2021. The award wins underscore the ASUS commitment to delivering incredible consumer experiences through consummate design and innovation.

The CES 2021 Innovation Awards Honorees, including product descriptions and photos, can be found at CES.tech/innovation. Additional honorees will be revealed during CES 2021 on Jan. 11, 2021. Check out their site for more details.

Lenovo is focused on offering purposeful solutions to address today’s and tomorrow’s conferencing needs, whether they are for personal use or for scalable meeting spaces. They recently expanded their solutions portfolio with the addition of new accessories, updated management software and a platform-agnostic compute device with Intel® Unite.

The ThinkSmart Cam and ThinkSmart Bar are their first branded accessories optimized for ThinkSmart solutions but can be used with most meeting room offerings. ThinkSmart Cam is a smart meeting room 4K HDR (High Dynamic Range) capable camera suitable for huddle, small and medium rooms with AI and Smart capabilities. The ThinkSmart Cam and Bar will be available in January and February 2021 respectively while the ThinkSmart Edition Tiny with Intel® Unite will be available in January 2021. The ThinkSmart Manager 2.0 will be available in March 2021.

Grab together with household brands, KFC Malaysia, MyNews and Tropicana brings you their initiative #LiveKatRumah, a total of 8 virtual bi- weekly performances over a span of 5 weeks from 22 Dec 2020 to 21 Jan 2021 to support our local artists who have been hit hard by the pandemic.  #LiveKatRumah aims to bring together Malaysians and their favorite local artists from all genres from pop and rock to comedy with performances by Atilia Haron, Elvira Arul, Kuah Jenhan, Dasha Logan, Joe Flizzow and more.

The tickets for the shows can be purchased from the Grab app via the #LiveKatRumah eTicket+Meal Sets. Each set comes with 1 admission ticket (worth RM5) and a choice between a discounted KFC meal on GrabFood or discounted snacks combo with Tropicana from myNEWS on GrabMart. One ticket allows you to access the Facebook Live video of your show of choice and are valid for 7 days from the show day.

In addition, Malaysians can also do their part in helping these artistes by donating to the Tabung #LiveKatRumah using GrabPay. All proceeds from the ticket sales and donations will go to the headliners and production crew members.

GoPro recently announced the third annual Million Dollar Challenge highlight reel video, putting up $17,857 dollars in prize money. In September, GoPro launched its newest flagship camera, HERO9 Black, and on the same day launched the HERO9 Black Million Dollar Challenge, leaving creators only 80 days to capture and share their most stunning clips. The challenge, hosted by GoPro Awards, invited creators from around the world to tap into their creative prowess and send in their best HERO9 Black footage. The only guideline was that the footage needed to be shot on a HERO9 Black.

This is the third year of the Million Dollar Challenge, and GoPro logged more than 29,000 submissions from 125 countries. The GoPro team spent more than 250 hours reviewing every clip to make the final selections. At 6 a.m. PT today, 56 amazing creators woke up (or stayed up) to learn that they’d been immortalized in the highlight reel and had earned $17,857 a piece—their equal share of the $1 million purse. This year’s submissions were powered by HERO9 Black.

The OnePlus Buds Z recently achieved the No. 1 Pre-Sale in audio category during the Lazada 12.12 Pre-Sale Campaign! Utilizing Lazada’s ‘Chup Dulu’ feature, fans managed to get their OnePlus Buds Z at RM199 during the pre-sale campaign. Fans who have missed out on the pre-sale campaign will still be able to get the OnePlus Buds Z at RM229 at the OnePlus Lazada Flagship Store.

The OnePlus 12.12 Cyberpunk Mystery Box did particularly well with 1000 sets of mystery boxes sold out in just 60 seconds. The OnePlus 12.12 Cyberpunk Mystery Box offers fans a chance to win the OnePlus 8T Cyberpunk 2077 Limited Edition (China version), OnePlus Buds (White), OnePlus Warp Charge 65 Power Adapter, OnePlus Warp Charge Type-C to Type-C cable (150 cm) and OnePlus Type-C Bullets Earphones together with a RM50 cash voucher (only applicable on OnePlus Lazada Flagship Store).

For more updates, stay tuned to their site.

Thanks for reading TechNavers and TechNave NewsByters. As always, stay tuned to TechNave.com and if you think your brand or PR should be in our latest issue of TechNave NewsBytes 2020, contact our Editor-in-Chief.


TechNave NewsBytes 2020 #4 - realme achievements, Huawei awards, Huawei Annual Report 2019, Xiaomi revenue 2019, Digi, Astro, Canon, Micron, Setel, KKMM + MDEC and Engage SEA

This time around realme showcased their achievements with massive growth in Malaysia, Huawei showed off their recent awards, achievements and Annual Report 2019 while Xiaomi listed their revenue achievements for 2019. Other NewsBytes include Digi, Astro, Canon, Micron, Setl, KKMM + MDEC and Engage SEA. Check them out below:

realme Malaysia recently announced that its YoY (Year-on-Year) Growth went up 865% from 2018 to 2019. Not only that, realme Malaysia has also achieved a 7.5% market share in the android smartphone market.

“Here at realme Malaysia, we are constantly pushing the boundaries and breaking new records with our Dare to Leap spirit. We could not achieve such results without the support from our team, fans as well as the industry.. Today, we would like to thank everyone for their enthusiasm and love towards realme and will continue our Dare to Leap spirit as we keep innovating and bring more exciting products for our fans in Malaysia,” said Mr Hunter Wang, CEO of realme Malaysia.

According to the analysis of Counterpoint Research Monthly Market Pulse Feb 2020, realme, the world's fastest-growing smartphone brand, continuously ranks Top 7 with a market share of 2.7%, maintaining its previous global rankings and proving to be one of the mainstream smartphone brands.

Despite the negative impact on the global smartphone market in February, with global smartphone sales show resilience with a 14% decline, realme has been growing steadily in the global smartphone market thanks to its “Dare to Leap” technology power and its "asset-light, short-channel, and e-commerce" business model, successfully has a place in the global smartphone market. This year, realme will follow the “Smartphone + AIoT” strategy to create smart trendsetting Life for the young.

realme Malaysia also received good news through its e-commerce sales on Lazada 8th Birthday Sale last Friday, 27 March 2020. It was confirmed by Lazada that the realme 6 became the online marketplace’s No. 1 Best-Selling 90Hz Ultra Smooth Display Smartphone, No. 1 Top-Selling Helio G90T Processor Smartphone and No. 1 Highest-Selling 30W Flash Charge Smartphone.

The realme X2 remained the No. 1 Most Sold Snapdragon 855 Plus Smartphone in Malaysia. The realme brand was acknowledged as the ‘Top 4 Best-Selling Smartphone Brand’ in terms of units sold as well as the ‘Top 5 Best-Selling Smartphone Brand’ in terms of revenue during the 24 hour sale day.

“Due to this Movement Control Order period, we are very thankful to know that realme 6 that we just launched through YouTube and Facebook live streaming really sell well online. Same goes to our realme X2 Pro and other models. Taking into this opportunity, realme Malaysia with #stayREALathome campaign also spreading awareness that you can just stay at home and get our product online, easily. For those purchasing our smartphone on Lazada Birthday Sale, they were getting complimentary free shipping for East and West Malaysia” said Tiffany Teh, Brand Manager of realme Malaysia

The Huawei CloudEngine 16800 data center switch recently won the Frost & Sullivan 2020 Global Data Center Switch Technology Leadership Award, receiving 9.6 points for its technology leverage and 9.2 points for customer impact (10 points in total). It is the first 400GE switch in the industry to win this award. Along with this, Huawei Routers have been recognised as No.1 in the 2019 Global Carrier Market by Omdia Report.

Huawei routers took top spot in the global carrier market in 2019 according to a recent report by Omdia (formerly IHS Markit). Huawei routers maintained their leading position in 2019, following their rise to the top of the carrier market in 2018. In the backbone router market, Huawei routers have maintained their top position for three consecutive years. Moreover, this is the first time that Huawei routers took top spot in the metro router market, making Huawei routers No. 1 in the overall global carrier market as well as niche markets.

Huawei's CloudEngine 16800 data center switch won the Frost & Sullivan 2020 Global Data Center Switch Technology Leadership Award, receiving 9.6 points for its technology leverage and 9.2 points for customer impact (10 points in total). It is the first 400GE switch in the industry to win this award. After 10 rounds of selection, the Huawei CloudEngine 16800 ranked first in both technology leverage (9.6 points) and customer impact (9.2 points), surpassing competitors' products and showing its industry-leading strength.

Huawei recently released its 2019 Annual Report, detailing a solid business performance. The company's global sales revenue in 2019 rounded off at CNY858.8 billion, up 19.1% year-on-year; its net profit reached CNY62.7 billion; and its cash flow from operating activities topped CNY91.4 billion, up 22.4% year-on-year. As part of a long-term, ongoing investment in technological innovation and research, Huawei invested 15.3% of its 2019 revenue – or CNY131.7 billion – back into R&D. Its total R&D spend over the past decade now exceeds CNY600 billion.

In 2019, Huawei's carrier business led the commercial rollout of 5G networks. To further commercial adoption and promote new innovation in 5G applications, the company established 5G joint innovation centers together with carriers worldwide. Huawei's RuralStar base station solutions can effectively address coverage problems in remote areas. These solutions are being used in over 50 countries and regions, bringing mobile Internet to more than 40 million people living in remote areas. In 2019, sales revenue from Huawei's carrier business reached CNY296.7 billion, up 3.8% year-on-year.

TM Forum and Huawei Technologies recently held a live webinar on 26 March 2020 called “Whitepaper Launch - Unleash the Power of Digital Transformation”. The webinar reverted on Digital Transformation of Telco’s two key business processes based on eTOM model: (1) SIP-Strategy, Infrastructure, and Products (producing products/services) (2) OPS-Operations (obtaining users and monetizing)

During this virtual event, Mark Newman, Chief Analyst from TM Forum played host and moderated the event. The author of a new whitepaper on transformation, James Crawshaw, Senior Analyst from Omdia discusses about whitepaper key findings and Telco industry’s vision in digital transformation along with these subject matter experts: Aaron Boasman-Patel, VP AI & Customer Experience from TM Forum and Danny Yap Kok Ho, principal Solution Architect from Huawei Technologies.

Most Telecom operators have recognized the value of digital transformation and are already reshaping their business processes to be more agile and efficient. However, the main focus relies on digitizing supporting functions and enterprise management. Competitive pressures and more challenging economics mean telecom operators must accelerate the digitization of two core value creation processes (SIP & OPS) to grow enterprise value.

Culture, lack of alignment between the network and business lines and lack of capabilities to leverage data are slowing down the pace of digitization. It requires the Telco industry to embrace an open and collaborative culture and accelerate investment in automation and digitization.

Digitization will empower the alignment and synergy among the telecom operator’s strategy, business and network through transforming SIP and OPS processes. The entire value chain must also be included by an interconnected ecosystem of vendors, sub-contractors and channels. A new model of ecosystem partnership, openness and collaboration will be possible and the business relationship between telecom operators and vendors will be reshaped and more agile.

To find out where telecom operators are on their digital transformation journey, a survey was carried out in January 2020 across telecom operators in ASEAN and ANZ regions. Only 36% of respondents indicated that a strong degree of alignment exists between SIP and OPS business processes. In particular, leveraging and working on a common data set to make day-to-day business decisions is even more obscure, with only 29% claiming this was being achieved.

Interestingly, the OPS domain plays a limited role (36%) in influencing strategic planning and in developing revenue streams vs SIP (57%). These results suggest an operating model that is lopsided, with SIP being a primary driver in defining business priorities and allocation of capital and operating in relative isolation to OPS. One of the key outcomes for digitization must be to align SIP and OPS business processes.

In conclusion, there are three key steps that telecom operators must take to unleash the power of digital transformation:(1) Develop a long-term data strategy enabled by a single view of data platform “leveraged by all” areas of the business. (2) Invest heavily to accelerate the alignment of SIP and OPS business processes in an automated and digitized manner working towards solving the “same” customer or business problem. (3) Foster an open and collaborative culture to drive an interconnected digital ecosystem, where not only telecom operators but vendors and suppliers work together to deliver compelling value for consumers and enterprises.

Xiaomi Corporation have announced their audited consolidated results for the year ended December 31, 2019 achieving solid growth across all business segments. The Group’s total revenue exceeded RMB200 billion for the first time, reaching RMB205.8 billion (RM125 billion), up 17.7% year-on-year (“YoY”), representing a 9-year CAGR of 112%. Adjusted net profit was RMB11.5 billion, up 34.8% YoY.

In the fourth quarter of 2019, Xiaomi’s total revenue grew by 27.1% to RMB56.5 billion. Adjusted net profit was RMB2.3 billion, increasing by 26.5% YoY.

Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (“Digi”) has added to its list of initiatives to help consumers and businesses remain connected throughout the duration of the Movement Control Order (MCO). The assistance comes in the form of free data, and the delivery of a reliable, secure network, while mobilising dedicated employees to keep connectivity and customer support levels consistent during this period.

Free 1GB internet daily for all customers throughout the duration of the MCO

Enhanced benefits for businesses to manage their operations remotely

Donation of RM1,000,000 cash towards Covid-19 relief funds to the GLC Disaster Relief Network (GDRN), spearheaded by Yayasan Hasanah, a foundation under Khazanah Nasional Berhad. These funds will be contributed to the Ministry of Health for the purchase of medical supplies, PPEs, ventilators and other such necessities to support the ministry in combating the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.

Check out here and here for more details.

Astro wishes to thank all Malaysians for supporting its initiatives to keep the nation informed and entertained during the Movement Control Order (MCO). Its complimentary viewing for Astro and NJOI customers, as well as complimentary Astro GO access for all Malaysians, now extended until 14 April 2020, have received positive response.

Astro’s TV viewership increased by 43% while daily time spent rose 30% since the start of MCO. With complimentary viewing of all movie channels for all Astro customers, TV viewership for English movies and entertainment jumped over 200%.

All news channels are also made available for all Astro customers and they registered a 71% rise in TV viewership. Astro’s news teams from Awani, Radio and Digital teams are doing their part to keep Malaysians informed, as well as debunking fake news. In the first 5 days of MCO, 5.5 million Malaysians watched Astro Awani while its website and app registered a 15% and 13% increase in unique visitors respectively.

Astro GO was well received by all Malaysians with over 78k new registrations. Kids shows also dominated viewership on Astro GO during this period.

Astro kids channels garnered a daily average of 4.2 million viewers during the 5 days MCO period with Ceria having 35% of the viewing share. Cartoon Network is now made available for preview so that kids can be kept occupied during the MCO.

Astro’s digital brands saw their monthly unique visitors rose by 18%. Growth mainly came from its news brands (Awani, Xuan and Rojak Daily), as well as lifestyle brands (Rasa, Remaja and Mingguan Wanita). With Malaysians cooking more during the MCO, Rasa.my has become a popular destination for culinary inspiration.

In response to the change in consumer behaviour, Astro has developed a series of messages across its TV, radio, digital platforms to encourage Malaysians to #dudukrumah and still enjoy life with their loved ones. In partnership with Etika, Astro is bringing concerts by top Malaysian artists to homes, as well opportunities to take part in challenges to win prizes. #WONDADiRumah is Malaysia’s first 7-day [email protected] on Astro Ria and Era.je’s IGTV. This is one of the many customised solutions for advertisers who wants to stay engaged with their customers during this period.

Canon announced today that the company’s interchangeable-lens digital cameras (digital SLR and mirrorless cameras) have maintained the No. 1 share of the global market for 17 consecutive years from 2003 to 2019. Canon develops the key imaging system components featured in its EOS series of interchangeable-lens cameras—CMOS image sensors, image processors and interchangeable lenses—under the core concept of, “Speed, Comfort and High Image Quality.” Putting together a wide-ranging product lineup – from high-performance flagship models that are highly trusted by professionals to entry-level models that allow users to enjoy high-image-quality shooting with easy operation – Canon continues to support the diverse needs of customers.

During the dawn of digital SLR cameras, Canon introduced its breakthrough EOS Kiss Digital (EOS Digital Rebel or EOS 300D in other regions) in September 2003. This groundbreaking camera, which was competitively priced and featured a compact, lightweight design, captured the top share of the global market and set the stage for growth in the digital SLR market. Since that time, Canon has continued to launch a range of groundbreaking products, including the professional-model EOS-1D series and the EOS 5D series, which paved the way for digital SLR video recording.

Canon introduced new possibilities for photographic expression with the launch of the EOS R System in October 2018. Including such products as the EOS R full-frame mirrorless camera and RF lenses that fully leverage the company’s optical technologies, the new products helped further expand the Canon EOS System.

In 2019, Canon launched a wide range of attractive products including the EOS RP full-frame mirrorless camera (March) and EOS 90D DSLR (September). In striving to further expand its lineup, Canon managed to secure the No. 1 share of the global market for the 17th consecutive year.

Canon is also currently developing the EOS R5 full-frame mirrorless camera, equipped with a newly developed full-frame CMOS sensor and featuring high-speed continuous shooting for still images and 8K video recording. What’s more, the company is currently developing 9 RF lens models, including the RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM, and plans to release them throughout the course of 2020.

Canon will continue to refine its diverse imaging technologies based on its core optical technology, to expand and create an even stronger EOS System for both DSLR and mirrorless cameras that opens up new avenues of image capture to meet the needs of increasingly diverse users and to promote the spread of photo and video culture.

Engage Southeast Asia (Engage SEA) recently launched their #KeepBusinessMoving campaign. It is free for SMEs, entrepreneurs and organisations during the MCO period. As a core component of Engage SEA’s Digital Communications, Crisis Management and Recovery offering, the proprietary DIRI diagnostic will help companies to strengthen trust, build reputation and brand loyalty, and mitigate reputation risks with customers and stakeholders during the on-going MCO period.

The #KeepBusinessMoving campaign allows brands to measure their digital reputation and influence, including brand sentiment and competitive benchmarking. This will allow the organisation to recognise the strength and weakness of their communications approach, and discuss possible measures to build reputation resilience, customer trust and brand loyalty in these times.

The FREE consultation will be conducted via 30-minute video conferencing and will include reviewing of business needs, sharing of reputation intelligence and discussing the potential future approach, based on a presubmitted questionnaire. Brands and organisations can submit their interest through bit.ly/EngageSEADiRI, drop an email to [email protected] or call/SMS (+60) 11 3941 7758 for a private and confidential session with Engage SEA’s senior strategists.

Malaysian motorists can minimise contact while safely refuelling at PETRONAS stations with Setel and get up to 10% cashback on fuel when they top-up on the app through qualified credit cards. The launch of the new feature is timely as Setel crossed its one million users’ mark, doubling its 2019 record.

This feature is applicable effective immediately on qualified fuel cashback credit cards issued by Ambank, CIMB, Citi, Hong Leong Bank, RHB Bank and UOB; with more coming.

Available exclusively at PETRONAS stations nationwide, Setel’s safe fuel payment method helps minimise physical touch points at the station and smoothens the refuelling process. Our customer’s safety is assured as refuelling can be done with no contact of high-touch surface points when using physical cards like credit, debit and loyalty cards. Setel also avoids the need to queue in line for cash payments, especially when social distancing is encouraged.

Setel is available for free on iOS and Android via the Apple Store and Google Play Store. For more information on Setel, please visit the site. For more information on the cashback terms and the updated list of qualifying credit cards, please visit here.

Micron Technology, Inc. recently announced plans to commit $35 million to help those disproportionately affected by COVID-19. The company will launch a new Micron Foundation $10 million relief fund, increase employee gift matching, and introduce financial assistance for team members through grants. Micron will also provide in-kind support by accelerating payments to small business suppliers, and donating facilities and supplies for emergency medical response.

The new $10 million Micron Foundation COVID-19 Relief Fund will go toward global initiatives focused on economic recovery, addressing both current and future community needs. Funding will help support a range of charities and initiatives, from food banks and school meal programs to health facilities and online learning resources for students.

In addition, Micron has implemented a 2-to-1 company match for all designated COVID-19 donations to our Micron Gives charitable program to double the impact of these contributions. As part of its plans to offer greater community resources, Micron will provide up to 300,000 protective masks to local health officials and make Micron facilities available as additional capacity for overflow patients if hospitals become overwhelmed.

Micron will also make a one-time COVID-19 assistance payment to its employees, offering $1,000 to all U.S. team members who earn less than $100,000 per year, and appropriately scaled amounts to those eligible in the other countries where we operate. This initiative will reach over 68% of Micron’s employee base worldwide. Additionally, Micron will invest in an employee-supported fund for those facing financial hardship. This fund will provide grants of up to $5,000 to individual team members based on need.

Micron is also accelerating payments to its more than 500 small business vendors to ease near-term cash flow challenges that many are facing around the world.

Micron has already initiated community contributions along with employee-matching funds in China, Italy and the U.S. to help combat COVID-19.

The Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia (KKMM) and its agency Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) welcomes the People-Centric Economic Stimulus Package (PRIHATIN) announced by the Honorable Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today, amounting RM250 billion to help alleviate people and businesses, especially the small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) whose source of income had been affected by the COVID-19 virus outbreak.

In line with the slogan “No one will be left behind”, the Government is also focusing on the development of the multimedia and telecommunications industry as well as the digital economy as a whole when an allocation of  RM600 million on the special package of free internet service will be introduced to the people of Malaysia in collaboration with the telecommunications companies.

The Minister of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia (KKMM), Dato’ Saifuddin Abdullah believes that the package would help the telecommunications and multimedia industry as a whole. An additional RM400 million to increase network coverage and capacity to maintain high availability and quality of telecommunications and multimedia networks will certainly assist in the development of the digital economy sector in the country.

He said the package was in line with the call by the KKMM before this to enable micro-enterprises and SMEs to switch to digital platforms to ensure business continuity during the Movement Control Order (MCO) as a result of the Covid-19 virus outbreak.

He added that the aid for SMEs including micro-entrepreneurs with additional funds of RM4.5 billion in collaboration with the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) covering five key initiatives would also be of a great benefit as there is currently more than 86 percent of 907,065 SMEs using technology and digital adoption in business operations.

Meanwhile, MDEC’s Chief Executive Officer, Pn. Surina Shukri said the third thrust, which provides RM500 million worth of grants under the Micro Credit Scheme to help micro-entrepreneurs, including the creative industry and online traders, will further accelerate growth in both sectors, as the sectors are also MDEC's main focused areas.

She also welcomes the RM500 one-off assistance to 120,000 e-hailing drivers with an allocation of RM60 million, which will provide more opportunities for workers in the Gig Economy sector, who are now feeling the economic impact on their income.

MDEC has also provided a list of e-services, e-learning and e-businesses for the convenience of the people to gain information and benefits from the digital ecosystem in Malaysia, especially during this challenging MCO period.

So, that's it for TechNave NewsBytes this time. If you think your business should be here, then send us an email. Next TechNave NewsBytes we may even include an interview or others, so if you have a suggestion as to what we could include here, let us know via email as well. As always, stay tuned to TechNave.com


TechNave NewsBytes 2020 #5 - Samsung Colour Series Grill Microwave ovens, AMD EPYC, Sony Red Dot, Tencent, Celcom, Maxis, SOCAR, Micron, MDEC + KK Fund, TnG, Vivo, Tokenize Xchange, Mondelēz International, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and Microsoft

Quite an eclectic mix this time around for TechNave NewsBytes #5 as Samsung weighs in with their stylish and colourful Microwave ovens. AMD reveals their EPYC processors while Sony showcases their 8 Red Dot winners.

Other news comes from Tencent, Celcom, Maxis, SOCAR, Micron, MDEC + KK Fund, TnG, Vivo, Tokenize Xchange, Mondelēz International and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. This time around there’s also a special Best Practices for remote workforces from Microsoft all the way at the bottom.

Samsung Malaysia Electronics recently unveiled its new Colour Series Grill Microwave Ovens in a variety of colours from the chic Pure Black, to trendy and expressive shades including Clean Pink and Clean Mint.

The sleek exterior of the microwave oven blends seamlessly into any modern kitchen setting. Its full glass touch panel and a minimalist user-friendly UX design, allows for intuitive control with the light touch of a finger, while providing the added ease of fuss-free maintenance.

Catering to a variety of kitchen needs, the Colour Series Microwave Ovens aim to change the way meals are prepared, and make home cooking a breeze with its new list of innovative features:

Samsung’s MW5000T colour Grill Microwave Ovens are available for purchase now at all Samsung authorized outlets at RM599 for the 23L version in clean mint, clean pink and pure black. The 30L version in just pure black is priced at RM749.

Recently, AMD announced that IBM Cloud is enhancing its global infrastructure with 2nd Gen AMD EPYC™ processors to power its latest bare metal servers. With the addition of the AMD EPYC 7642 processor to its cloud portfolio, IBM is engineered to deliver increased computing performance in its bare metal offerings.

Available now, these new bare metal servers are the first 2nd Gen AMD EPYC™ based offering from IBM Cloud and are focused on the computing power and performance required to accelerate modern workloads like data analytics, electronic design automation, artificial intelligence and virtualized and containerized workloads.

The bare metal servers are being made available in IBM Data Centers across the North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific regions. The AMD EPYC 7642 based servers can be ordered via the IBM Cloud global catalogue portal, API or CLI and consumed in a monthly pay-as-you-use model. Visit IBM Cloud to start building a bare metal server configuration with 2nd Gen AMD EPYC processors.

The AMD EPYC 7642 based, dual socket bare metal server offering at IBM Cloud includes:

Sony recently announced seven products across various categories that have been awarded the prestigious Red Dot Award: Product Design 2020, as well as a product with double wins due to a new metacategory. The Red Dot Award is one of the world’s largest design competitions that is referred to as an international label of outstanding design quality.

The BRAVIA Z8H 8K LED Series received the exceptional Red Dot: Best of the Best, while the following products received the Red Dot: The Xperia 1 flagship smartphone, the WF-1000XM3 truly wireless headphones, the WH-H910N h.ear™ on 3 wireless noise-cancelling headphones, the DUALSHOCK®4Back Button Attachment, and the toio™ hands-on “toy platform”. On top of the Red Dot Award: Product Design, the VENICE digital cinema camera with VENICE Extension System received double recognition under the new metacategory for “Innovative Products”, a special category that focuses on the degree of innovation.

Announced at CES 2020, the BRAVIA Z8H 8K LED comes power packed with the most immersive experience realised yet through enhanced picture quality, slim design and Sound-from-Picture Reality™ with Sony’s new Frame Tweeter technology. Delivering Sony’s super high 8K detail and lifelike picture quality, the Z8H utilises Picture Processor X1™ Ultimate to provide crisp, high contrast, together with a full array LED to bring more realistic peaks of brightness, more accurate shadow detail and deeper blacks than standard LED TVs. Moving into the new decade, Sony Design endeavours to continue pursuing ideals of what a TV can be: A platform for stirring, inspiring visual experiences, the possibilities limitless.

The VENICE digital cinema camera with full-frame sensor, widely embraced by the production community, together with the VENICE Extension System, won in a second entry under a new metacategory “Innovative Product” for its competitiveness and futureproof design, an increasingly important element in the era of digitisation.

Announced in 2018, the lightweight, easy to use tethered VENICE Extension System allows for the camera body to be detached from the image sensor block with no degradation in image quality, offering film producers a highly configurable and portable method of operation. This is a mark of outstanding mobility to create even better imagery, unlocking the future of film cinematography.

Cutting through the mobile market as the world’s first smartphone with a 4K OLED display with 21:9 CinemaWideTM display and HDR remastering technologies, the flagship phone has been designed to bring customers experiences beyond imagination through its pursuit of innovation. Xperia 1 is also the world’s first smartphone with Eye AF incorporating triple lens camera and up to 10 fps burst shooting with AF/AE tracking for precision focus and exposure, inheriting technologies from Sony’s acclaimed Alpha interchangeable lens camera as BIONZ X™ for mobile.

The WF-1000XM3 truly wireless headphones: Launched in July 2019, the WF-1000XM3 truly brings a new generation truly wireless headphones with Sony’s Industry-leading Noise Cancellation. With further improved HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN1e chip and Dual Noise Sensor Technology, the WF-1000XM3 delivers exceptional Noise Cancelling performance, enabling users to hear the music and nothing else.

The WH-H910N h.ear on 3 wireless noise-cancelling headphones: Launched in September 2019, the WH-H910N comes in five trendy colour combinations teamed with high quality sound to excite fashion lovers. The WH-H910N comes with Dual Noise Sensor technology to effectively cancel ambient noise around the user to improve the listening experience and Adaptive Sound Control to automatically change the noise cancellation settings anytime, anywhere. Paired with Quick Attention mode, it has never been easier to reduce music volume and temporarily listen to announcements without removing the headphones – stylish.

The DUALSHOCK®4Back Button Attachment: Designed to elevate competitive play, Sony Interactive Entertainment introduced two ergonomically designed rear buttons that are mappable to be paired with the DUALSHOCK® 4 wireless controller, shortening response times so that even more essential in-game actions can be at user’s fingertips.

The toio™ system: Introduced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, toio™ is a robot toy designed to foster children’s creativity, enabling users to put blocks and other items on cubes and move the cubes around with a controller. It provides children with various forms of play, such as battle, racing, sports, art and programming.

Tencent Foundation(腾讯基金会)in partnership with Fosun Foundation (复星基金会) step forward to assist in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia with support from the Embassy of the People's Republic of China. 100,000 surgical and N95 respirator masks arrived in Malaysia over the weekend and will be distributed to the medical front liners.

In a statement by Leon Guo, Chairman of Tencent Foundation, he said, “We hope to be able to play a part in helping and saving those who are suffering from the pandemic. By procuring and delivering the necessary supplies to the front liners, we want to ensure we can help in some ways for them to safely do their job.”

Separately, in response to the global pandemic, Tencent has committed a US$100 million Global Anti- Pandemic Fund to support international efforts against COVID-19. The Fund will initially focus on the sourcing and donation of medical supplies, such as personal protective equipment (PPE) and other essential products, for hospitals and front-line healthcare workers.

As the nation continues its fight against COVID-19, Maxis has committed to support the Ministry of Health through essential connectivity needs for Sungai Buloh Hospital and Hospital Kuala Lumpur. The initiatives include providing Fixed Wireless Broadband and Wireless Broadband at both hospitals, as well as mobile communication including devices to support the additional communication requirements during COVID-19.

In addition, Maxis is also investing to further strengthen the network performance coverage at these hospitals for the benefit of all users at these locations. Maxis remains committed to support its employees, customers and communities in need, and encourage all members of the public to continue to stay safe, healthy and connected.

Under the second phase of the RMO which began on 1st April, the government had implemented the “one person per car” ruling. Now, SOCAR shares some useful community tips that Malaysians can adhere to, for the coming weeks and a promo code for those who REALLY NEED to leave their homes.

Users are also urged to always clean up after themselves after using the cars by wiping the commonly touched areas. We at SOCAR, would also be doing our part to curb the spread of COVID-19 by regularly cleaning and sanitising all our vehicles. Users are urged to contact our support team via our in-app chat function SOCARE Live Chat, should they find any cars that need to be cleaned urgently. Let’s all do our part to flatten the curve!

If you are an existing user that really needs to leave your home from now till 14th April 2020, you can enjoy 50% off (cap at RM50) on your bookings to run to the nearest grocery store and purchase the essentials using SOCAR’s DRIVEAGAIN50 promo code for both normal bookings and the SOCAR-2-YOU service. Don’t worry if you are not an existing user, we have you covered too!

New users would be entitled to a promo that is available under the “My Coupon” tab on the app - 50% off for all bookings (cap at RM100). If you are within the SOCAR-2-YOU 12 major coverage zones, you can continue to opt for the SOCAR-2-YOU service by having it delivered to your doorstep.

To find out more on the coverage area for the SOCAR-2-YOU service, please visit their site.

Celcom Axiata Berhad remains committed in supporting Malaysians throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In support of the government’s efforts, Celcom reaches out with the provision of free SIM cards to returning Malaysians who are required to undergo the 14-day mandatory quarantine.

Idham Nawawi, Chief Executive Officer of Celcom Axiata Berhad said Celcom will leave no one behind and is committed to stand together with Malaysians. We are working closely with the authorities to ensure everyone remains connected during these challenging times. This includes returning Malaysians who are doing their part by undergoing quarantine at the respective quarantine centres.

“For returning Malaysians who require connectivity services, they may request for a free SIM pack from the authorities and self-register their SIM via Celcom Life app. To kick start their initial connectivity needs upon their return to Malaysia and get connected to friends and family, these prepaid packs are preloaded with 1GB data and 10GB access to Facebook, Instagram and Games Walla. Furthermore, they can also enjoy other special relief initiatives from Celcom during the Movement Control Order, including free 1GB daily internet, free WhatsApp, and unlimited access to the Ministry of Health's (MOH) website and services. For a minimum reload, available online via our Celcom Life App they can continue enjoying uninterrupted services within the 14 days,” he said.’

“With the nation’s interest and wellbeing close to our heart, Celcom is reaching out as much as possible with the best solutions to help cushion the economic and social impact of our customers, vendors, partners and others within the ecosystem. As we continue to protect and support the wellbeing of our customers during this period, customers can sign up for Aspirasi C-Protect, an affordable insurance plan at only RM1 that includes a coverage of up to RM20,000 and daily financial assistance for COVID-19 cases, via the Celcom Life App.

“We are also extending our support by leveraging on our expertise, innovative digital products and services, as well as business network. Understanding that Micro-SMEs are amongst segments most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Celcom together with Axiata Group Berhad announced a RM150 million micro-financing initiative, Axiata COVID-19 Assistance Program, to help micro-SMEs facing difficulties in cash flow.

“As we see a change of usage behaviour and increased demands, our team strives to ensure that all customers can remain connected with their loved ones and perform their jobs remotely when working from home. We have made necessary arrangements are in place to strengthen our network capabilities,” Idham added.

In an effort to support all Malaysians during the COVID-19 pandemic and the MCO extension, Celcom continues to support consumers who are working from home and staying in, with special relief offers and services:

In addition, the telco is providing more special offers for all Celcom postpaid and prepaid customers, throughout the MCO period:

The pandemic is seeing our country being put to the test, where medical facilities are being stretched and affecting the social-economic wellbeing of many individuals. Celcom is working closely with MOH to provide connectivity and various relief initiatives based on their requirements, which include:

In support of the public outreach during the COVID-19 pandemic, Celcom also leverages on its #StayIn movement together with government communications via multiple digital platforms to extend the awareness outreach.

For more information on the latest updates and offerings from Celcom, customers can visit their site or Celcom’s Facebook and Twitter.

The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and KK Fund Pte. Ltd. today announced a virtual investor-matching initiative for local startups that are seeking capital injection amid the current economic slowdown. Dubbed ‘Meet Your Match Malaysia’, the initiative is a collaboration between Singapore-based KK Fund, Pte. Ltd., a reputable venture capital fund with investment interest in Internet and mobile startups across South East Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and MDEC’s Global Growth Acceleration Division.

To date, KK Fund Pte. Ltd. and MDEC have secured nearly 60 global investors who are ready to match virtually with startups in Malaysia that are actively seeking funding but are constrained by the Movement Control Order (MCO) in the country.

‘Meet Your Match Malaysia’ kicks-off today and will run until 17 April 2020. Startups that are keen to be matched with potential investors may submit an application at this site.

All profiles and applications of the startups will be screened by MDEC and KK Fund Pte. Ltd. prior to being shared with the prospective investors. Upon successful matching, a virtual connection will be initiated by the investors to delve in deeper discussions with their chosen startups.

Echoing the findings of a recent COVID-19 survey by the SME Association of Malaysia, Surina Shukri, CEO of the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation agreed that local startups face the same fate as many small and medium- sized enterprises in Malaysia that are struggling with sufficient cashflow to sustain until end of April 2020.

Given the extension on the MCO, MDEC has developed a dedicated microsite for its #DigitalVsCovid campaign. Consumers, businesses and investors are advised to regularly visit their site to learn more on MDEC’s initiatives and relief services offered by a wide-range of organisations during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the Covid-19 pandemic bringing lives to a standstill in the entire country, Touch ‘n Go eWallet is extending a helping hand to the underprivileged communities by providing a better solution for the rakyat to offer financial relief directly to local non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

As the nation’s choice for cashless transactions, Touch ‘n Go eWallet wants to highlight the plight and needs of those in our network such as Kechara Soup Kitchen, Tzu Chi Buddhist Foundation and Yayasan Generasi Gemilang. Proceeds are channeled directly to the NGOs in Malaysia enabling them to better answer the needs of the homeless, vulnerable and low income families in a shorter time thereby cutting out lengthy administrative paperwork.

With so many NGOs requiring aid, this initiative kickstarted on the Touch ’n Go eWallet’s social media platforms, in-app and is also now available on a dedicated web page.

As Malaysians brave through this tough time, it is imperative that as a nation, we band together to help in whatever manner and means possible to help those who may be more severely affected by this unprecedented crisis.

Visit their Facebook page and Instagram page for more information. Touch ’n Go eWallet is available for download on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Micron Technology, Inc. recently announced a 2.6 million ringgit donation from its Micron Foundation COVID-19 Relief Fund to support the Malaysian community during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. Funding will go toward addressing immediate and future needs of those impacted by this health crisis.

Malaysia is one of five countries prioritized to receive grants from Micron Foundation’s global relief fund, which is dedicated to providing financial aid to those disproportionately affected by COVID-19. The Micron Foundation will partner with local organizations to disperse the 2.6 million ringgit through donations to three groups most in need. These include front-line workers and hospitals, charitable homes for children and the elderly, and underprivileged families in the communities surrounding Micron’s facilities in Muar and Penang.

Micron is partnering with the American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) and several other nongovernmental organizations located near its facilities in Muar and Penang to ensure quick and effective deployment of resources. Medical and personal protective equipment such as jumpsuits, face masks, sanitizers and gloves will be distributed to several local government and beneficiary hospitals with critical needs. The aid offers vital protection for front-line staff across the nation, including doctors, nurses, medical assistants and cleaners, by providing gear that is currently in short supply.

Children’s charities and homes for the elderly will receive both financial aid and additional support through food and household items, masks and sanitizers. Micron is also working closely with its employees to identify vulnerable low-income families, those with elderly relatives or single-parent units within their networks to provide supplies and financial funding. Micron has also encouraged its employees to give to COVID-19 causes, matching those gifts to increase their power. In addition, Micron is supporting its own employees by making a one-time assistance payment of 1,300 ringgit to the 94% of its eligible workforce.

Designated as an essential services provider by the Malaysian government, Micron continues to maintain its local operations. Micron products built in Malaysia address multiple needs, which are critical to helping the world effectively cope with the realities of this disease. These include technology for advanced medical devices for treatment, data centers and supercomputers used by scientists to find new solutions, e-learning and videoconferencing capabilities that connect the world during this Movement Control Order period.

Micron established its presence in Muar in 2010 and recently began expanding its presence in Malaysia with a new Center of Excellence for SSD Assembly and Test in Penang. Micron has more than 2,000 team members in Malaysia.

Mondelēz International Inc. announced it will donate USD 15 million in financial and in-kind support to community partners advancing critical food stability and emergency relief efforts across the world in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. The funds will focus on global, local and brand-led initiatives targeted in programmes that promote sustenance to communities and individuals in need, at high-risk COVID-19 locations.

“I am grateful for the dedication and professionalism that I see from our front liner employees who are working to keep our supply chain going, and contributing to the essential role that the food industry can play during this crisis. As the Coronavirus continues to spread, I am proud to share that we are uniting to respond in a significant way, with RM 100,000 worth of Mondelez products distributed to COVID-19 relief centres, including hospitals and foodbanks, said James Kane, Managing Director of Mondelez International Malaysia, regarding the company's commitment to local communities for a healthier lifestyle and additional support for its employees.”

Mondelez International Malaysia remains committed in curbing the further spread of Covid-19 as we unite together by maintaining our distance, and staying home.

Digital asset exchange (DAX) operator Tokenize Malaysia has received its full approval by the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) to operate in Malaysia.  As the SC is the statutory body carrying out the responsibility to regulate and develop the Malaysian capital market, this marks Tokenize Xchange’s recognition here in Malaysia as a legally approved and regulated platform. With this, Tokenize Malaysia can now accept clients with its digital asset exchange being recognised as a safe and secure platform.

This comes amidst the first announcement by the Securities Commission in June 2019 that awarded only three digital asset exchanges (DAX) with conditional approval out of 23 digital exchanges who applied. Those awarded include Luno Malaysia Sdn Bhd, SINEGY Technologies (M) Sdn Bhd and Tokenize Technology (M) Sdn Bhd.

The three operators were then given up to nine months to fully comply with all regulatory requirements prior to receiving a full license. Stringent processes were put into place by the Securities Commission to ensure operators would meet its standards and requirements in their role as recognised market operators (RMOs).

“The digital asset industry is by far one of the best equipped and it is business as usual for us as the industry is used to working and communicating effectively across time zones and managing teams remotely.

Founded by Malaysian entrepreneur, Hong Qi Yu, Tokenize Xchange first began its operations in Singapore back in October 2017, with over 100,000 clients to date. It aims to capture both the Malaysian market as well as South East Asia within its expansion plans. As an approved digital asset exchange (DAX), Tokenize Malaysia has a paid up capital of RM5 million.

The Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) Professional League Malaysia and Singapore Season 5 (MPL-MY/SG S5) is set to resume this 10th April 2020. The remaining Regular Season matches start at 2pm and will be played from 10th to 12th April 2020 and 16th to 19th April 2020. Fans can catch the matches live on MLBB’s official Facebook page.

Fans can also continue to enjoy the MPL-MY/SG S5 mini-series Bangkit, which depicts the ups and downs of a professional MLBB player named Johan as he strives to overcome adversity. Episode 5 of Bangkit airs on Thursday, 2nd April 2020 at 6pm on the MLBB Facebook page, or on eGG Network (Astro CH800). Catch up on previous episodes of Bangkit here.

No one expected that the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic would happen in the beginning of the year in 2020. The sudden outbreak has greatly affected ones’ life, while the smartphone industry is no exception being affected during the pandemic.

At present, vivo's 5G mobile phone market performance has reached and exceeded expectations. As compared to the first quarter in 2019, vivo has achieved incremental sales of 10% in early March this year.

With the "National 5G" strategy, vivo has launched a variety of 5G mobile smartphones in multiple price range. Entering 2020, vivo has continuously released 5G mobile phones such as iQOO 3, vivo Z6 and NEX 3S. As early as 2018, vivo has started 5G strategic planning, making efforts in two aspects of technology reserve and upstream supply chain, adjusting product strategy and inventory management accordingly. For instance, vivo and Samsung jointly developed a 5G SoC platform to accelerate the process of 5G popularisation.

As for the problem of insufficient production, vivo relies on its own factories and has effectively controlled its current situation. At present, the production is in a stable rising stage.

With the widespread threat of COVID-19 around the world, many employees are now working from home and organizations are rushing to embrace technology to allow remote collaboration. While these tools have provided many workplaces with great flexibility, these dramatic changes in how we work, share and collaborate can also greatly affect each organization’s security profile.

Employees in this new remote working situation may be less focused on security as they navigate this new way of managing their tasks and responsibilities. As they figure out how best to stay in touch with colleagues and coworkers, and become more adept at using chat applications and shared documents while replacing planned meetings with conference calls, there is an increased need for reminders on best practices for cybersecurity.

CISOs and admins urgently need to look at new scenarios and models to address new threat vectors as their places of work transform into distributed organizations overnight.

It’s estimated that 91 percent of cyberattacks start with an email, which either leads to malicious links directly or which contains dangerous attachments. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, hackers have ramped up phishing and ransomware attacks by fivefold, according to some estimates. People are stressed and distracted by the constant drumbeat of news and social media posts. In this environment of heightened pressure, employees are more likely to drop their guard and click on a link or headline designed to grab their attention.

To combat this, organizations need strong tools. That’s why Microsoft employs a multi-layered defense system that includes machine learning, detonation and signal-sharing to quickly find and shut down email attacks.  If any of these mechanisms detects a malicious email, URL or attachment, the message is blocked even before reaching the inbox. Attachments and links are opened in isolation through virtual machines – in essence, like detonating a bomb in an unpopulated area. On top of that, analysts continuously evaluate user-submitted reports of suspicious emails, which can be used to better understand attacks and to train machine learning models.

Once a file or URL is identified as malicious, the information is shared with other services such as Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) to ensure endpoint detection benefits from email detection, and vice versa. Sharing signals across services means that PC users with Windows Defender can be protected even if they’re not using Microsoft email services.

Employees are chatting and sharing more than usual during this time, even if there isn’t an official tool provided by IT. That’s why we recommend all employers take advantage of the six months of free premium Microsoft Teams which now has no limit on how many users can join or schedule video calls using the “freemium” version. That way, employees know which channels to use, and CISOs can better manage them securely. For assistance, you can follow these steps for supporting remote work with Teams.  Teams can be provisioned to users with Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) to make downloading easier.

The single best thing you can do to improve security for employees working from home is to turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA): Employ  MFA for all of your employees, all of the time. Remember that this works best if you also block legacy authentication protocols that allow users to bypass MFA requirements. If you are unable to distribute hardware security devices, you can also use Windows Hello biometrics and smartphone authentication apps like Microsoft Authenticator.

As more organizations adapt to remote work options, supporting employees will require more than just providing tools and enforcing policies. There’s also the human side of all of this.

Remote workers have access to propriety data and information … and your network. Warn your employees to expect more phishing attempts, including targeted spear phishing aimed at high profile credentials. Now is a good time to be diligent, so be clear on what official communications about business continuity and health and safety should look like and from where they should originate. Have employees watch out for urgent requests that violate company policy, use emotive language and have details that are slightly wrong—and provide guidance on where to report those suspicious messages.

Establishing a clear communications policy also helps employees recognize official messages. For example, video is harder to spoof than email: using an official channel like Microsoft Stream can ensure employees are able to distinguish legitimate communications from phishing, while helping people to feel more connected; and on-demand streaming also helps employees juggling personal responsibilities, like school closures or travel schedule changes.

Contributed By Mary Jo Schrade, Assistant General Counsel, Regional Lead, Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit Asia

So, that's it for this episode of TechNave NewsBytes. We'll be looking to do more such special articles at the back of these NewsBytes and covering other tech news in Malaysia, so if you feel your business or news should be here, send us an email. As always, stay tuned to TechNave.com


Apple Watch Series 7 Malaysia release: official launching starting from RM1749

Just two days after the launch of the new Apple iPad and iPad mini, the Apple Watch Series 7 is now available for purchase in Malaysia. Depending on what kind of watch size, material or strap you're getting, the starting price is RM1749 and can go all the way up to RM3399.

As always, you can head over to the nearest authorised Apple reseller store in Malaysia or simply visit the Apple Malaysia website. On the website, there is a wide variety of choices for you to make in terms of case material, colour options and band types. The Apple Watch Nike Series 7 is also available in any style that you like with the same starting price.

To recap the tech specs, the Apple Watch Series 7 has minimal upgrades compared with the predecessor but it does have the biggest display to fit in 50% more text. The display is also swim-proof, IP6X dust resistant and the most crack-resistant front crystal to date. For health, it comes with a Blood Oxygen app, ECG app, heart rate monitor and many more.

Are you getting the Apple Watch Series 7 today? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for more trending tech news at TechNave.com.