Author: ITPulse

  By Martin Ekpeke Pioneer and indigenous technology firm, Sidmach Technologies Limited has predicted some technology trends that will receive major focus and ultimately reshape the Nigeria’s ICT and business climate. According to Michael Olajide, Executive Director, Finance and Administration at Sidmach Technologies Nigeria Limited, Nigeria should look out for Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Machine Learning, Cloud Computing, Cybersecurity, Block-chain & Bitcoin and Enterprise mobility in 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7QPhBMlZtI Olajide, while speaking to some Journalists at the company’s corporate headquater in Lagos, noted that as the consumer continues to stay hooked to more gadgets, the expanse of…

  Facebook is shutting down its text-based virtual assistant called ‘M’ that helped researchers train an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system. According to a report in The Verge, ‘M’ which was available through a bot on Facebook Messenger and it was available to only about 2,000 people. ‘M’ was first introduced in August 2015. The final day of the virtual assistant will be January 19. “We launched this project to learn what people needed and expected of an assistant, and we learned a lot,” Facebook told The Verge. “We’re taking these useful insights to power other AI projects at Facebook.…

  The Founder of CWG Plc, Mr. Austin Okere has challenged banks in Nigeria to innovate and meet the changing needs of their customers, especially now that Financial Technology is ravaging the financial services industry. Okere made the challenge to the bank as part of his take on the outlook of Nigerian Fintech space in 2018, and was published on his official Linkedin page. According to him, having understood how to meet the financial needs of ordinary people, Fintechs are fast becoming the driving force of financial inclusion, noting that the banks seem to be more attuned to providing services…

  Global viewing of over-the-top (OTT) video services content more than doubled to 12.6 billion hours in 2017, according to a study by Conviva, a measurement and analytics services provider. Conviva provides services for seven of the top 10 US SVOD publishers, and its data set is composed of viewers from about 180 countries connected to the internet by more than 1,200 internet services providers (ISPs). The increase in 2017 OTT streaming hours reflects the ongoing shift away from linear TV. Over 1 million consumers cut the cord in the first three quarters of 2017 alone, and the vast majority…

  The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said National Payment System Operators will be paying a fine of N10,000 per day if they fail to apply for the renewal of an operating licence three months before the expiration date of the licence. The Apex bank disclosed this in a circular, signed by CBN Director,  Banking and Payment Systems Department, Dipo Fatokun. According to the circular, the operators would also be sanctioned for failure to respond to observations noted by the bank in the course of processing an application for renewal of an operating licence within three weeks. The circular,…

  Apple’s iOS has broken a record in sales of applications on its App Store, as customers spent a whopping $300 million on January 1, 2018. This year’s New Year’s Day sales marks the highest for the App Store since its launch in 2008. It  outstrips last year’s record-breaking figure of $240 million in purchases on January 1, 2017. The strong New Year’s Day performance culminated a successful holiday season, during which customers spent $890 million on apps from December 24-31. Insights into app spending during the holiday season are indicative of the strength of the iOS platform for the…

  Southeast Asia’s mobile money and agent banking scene continues to race forward as regional authorities, international experts and industry stakeholders gather once again for the 9th Mobile Money & Agent Banking Summit 2018 to be held on February 7-8 at the ParkRoyal Hotel in Yangon, Myanmar. This ninth edition of the strategic regional assembly will focus on the most pressing issues and concerns of these rapidly developing markets such as: the future of digital payments; financial inclusion challenges; e-money functionality; cross-border transactions; social media payments; the digitizing of cash; and more. The Summit’s regional focus will also cover major…

  By Martin Ekpeke The Chief Executive Officer of the Co-Creation Hub (ccHub), Bosun Tijani has attributed the lack of ubiquitous broadband penetration in Nigeria as largely responsible for the failure of several businesses, especially the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Tijani, in an Interview with a National Newspaper, noted that  the more people have access to the Internet, the better opportunities would be out there for startups to build businesses that people are able to consume. “I think a major challenge for businesses, especially SMEs largely in Africa, not just for those in Nigeria is broadband. I think for us,…

Popular broadcaster Bayero Agabi has emerged the Vice President of the Nigerian Internet Group, NIG. Bayero who is also the Executive Director at the Centre for Cyber Awareness and Development, CECAD, was voted in as the group’s Vice president alongside Destiny Amana who emerged President. Editor of Enterprise Africa magazine, Hillary Damissah and Nkem Uwaje were  also voted in as the new Publicity Secretary and Treasurer respectively. Destiny Amana who emerged President was a former Vice president of the group while Bayero Agabi had also previously held the office of the Publicity Secretary. The duo replaced Mrs Oyeronke Oyetunde…

  Global PC and printer giant HP Inc has issued a worldwide voluntary recall of 50,000 Lithium-ion batteries sold as accessories or used as replacements through HP or an authorised HP service provider over the danger of fire and overheating. This includes affected devices shipped between December 2015 and December 2017. “The quality and safety of all HP products is our top priority. We recently learned that batteries provided by one of our suppliers for certain notebook computers and mobile workstations present a potential safety concern,” the company wrote in a blog post on Friday. “We are taking immediate action…