A Dubai start-up, Makook Smart Living is set to introduce a service that delivers on the ‘Internet of Things’ vision, bringing together entertainment, automation, security, data storage, and cloud services on one easy-to-interface platform. The company’s CEO, Nasri Tehini, tells Comm. why this is a great time to launch such an innovation in the MENA region

Nasri Tehini is CEO of Makook Smart Living, which was founded in February 2014, and is based in Dubai Internet City

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BlackBerry narrowed its quarterly loss to US$207 million, compared with a prior year loss of US$965 million, on revenue of US$916 million, down from US$1.57 billion a year earlier.

The revenue split was 46 per cent hardware, 46 per cent services, and eight per cent software and other revenue.

During the fiscal second quarter to August 30, some 2.1 million BlackBerry smartphones shipped, although a slightly greater number – 2.4 million – were sold to end customers, reducing the amount of BlackBerry inventory held in the channel.

The company said that its EZ Pass Program, offering no-cost upgrades to BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 with a subsequent free upgrade to BES 12, has resulted in a total of 3.4 million BES10 licences issued, a “nearly three-fold” increase from the prior quarter.

With BlackBerry’s renewed focus on the enterprise space, the fact that 25 per cent of licences traded-in for the EZ Pass Program came from competitive mobile device management platforms is encouraging.

Its BBM messaging platform now has 91 million active users, up from 85 million in the prior quarter.

The results came in a week which also saw BlackBerry unveil its flagship Passport smartphone – a device intended to reinvigorate its performance in the high-end enterprise market.

The period also saw BlackBerry restructuring to create its BlackBerry Technology Solutions unit, and announcing its acquisition of Secusmart.

Total cash and investments at August 30 amounted to US$3.1 billion.

Millicom, the telecom group with mobile operations in Africa and Latin America, repeated its goal of generating US$9 billion in sales by 2017 – spurred on by digital growth – which is a dramatic hike from the US$5.2 billion turnover posted in 2013.

The group is counting on increased sales of mobile data, broadband, pay-TV and mobile banking as it continues its transformation into a “digital lifestyle company”.

In a performance update the company highlighted that overall revenue (in local currency) is growing at an annual rate of nine per cent. Mobile is moving forwards by six per cent, cable 16 per cent, and mobile financial services up by 41 per cent.

The company says 23 per cent of its users now use mobile data services compared with 17 per cent a year ago.

“We began to convert the company into a digital lifestyle provider last year and now, with talented global and local teams, we are committed to the rapid implementation of this plan,” said Hans-Holger Albrecht, Millicom’s chief executive. “Millicom’s growth and transformation is well on track.”

A projected EBITDA margin of 35 per cent in 2017, however, is slightly lower than previously expected. “The lower EBITDA margin businesses are growing a bit faster than anticipated,” said Albrecht, referencing cable and digital services.

Coinciding with its performance update, Millicom unveiled two new digital music initiatives in Africa. One is Tigo Music, which is set to launch across Millicom’s African operations, starting in Ghana, in Q4. Bundled as part of prepaid data plans, the service will offer unlimited music streaming with instant access to a library of more than 30 million songs.

The other initiative is Africa Music Rights (AMR), a new venture in partnership with Africori (an online music licensing platform) to fund, acquire and manage music rights.

Key areas for AMR growth, according to the report, include South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya, as well as Millicom’s six Tigo markets.

Microsoft is to cut 2,100 jobs, including roles in Silicon Valley and Seattle, as part of a wider plan to cut 18,000 roles across the company.

Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, announced in July that the company planned to reduce its workforce by around 14 per cent over the course of the next year.

The move was intended to “simplify its organisation and align the recently acquired Nokia Devices & Services business with the company’s overall strategy”.

Around 13,000 employees were reportedly made redundant in July, largely impacting the Nokia handset business Microsoft acquired in April.

The latest cuts mean that 2,900 jobs are still to go in the next nine months in order to reach the 18,000 target.

Microsoft has around 127,000 employees around the world and will take a charge of between US$1.1 billion and US$1.6 billion for costs related to the cuts.

It is understood that in the current round Microsoft will cut 160 roles in California and another 750 in the Seattle area. The remainder of the job losses will be spread across different countries and teams, according to a Microsoft representative.

The latest wave of job cuts will see 50 jobs go at the Microsoft Research lab in Silicon Valley, which is also set to close.

A Microsoft representative said Microsoft’s research in the US will be consolidated to work at the company’s main campus in Redmond, Washington, as well as offices in New York and Boston.

Huawei reports it has been awarded a five-year managed services contract with MTN Group.

Under the terms of this contract, Huawei will provide managed services for MTN Group in six countries in which the group operates, including Ghana, Cameroon, Guinea and Benin, and cover a range of services such as managed network operations, network performance management and spare parts management.

In the next five years, Huawei will continue to operate, optimise, transform and improve MTN’s operations and services with Huawei’s Managed Services Unified Platform (MSUP) and support from its global expertise in MAI (Measure, Analyse, Improve), to ensure greater efficiency and business value can be achieved at MTN.

Financial terms were not disclosed.