Microsoft is hosting the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase on Sunday, June 13 at 5 pm GMT. Where the company will talk about the gaming lineup coming out of the partnership with Bethesda. Games coming to Xbox this holiday, upcoming releases on Xbox Game Pass, and more. Interestingly the company has revealed what’s next for Xbox in a conversation on the future of Gaming at Microsoft today.
Amongst what’s next for Xbox; you can play Xbox directly from a TV without a console. Microsoft is opening cloud gaming on browsers to all Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members. The release of at least one new first-party game into Game Pass every quarter. New subscription offerings for Xbox Game Pass and new low monthly price purchasing models for console and Game Pass. The series of conversations took place between Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, members of Microsoft’s Gaming Leadership team and hosted by Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer.
Gaming is fundamentally aligned with our mission as a company. Gaming is the most dynamic category in the entertainment industry. We believe that Microsoft can play a leading role in democratizing gaming and defining the future of interactive entertainment.
Satya Nadella, MICROSOFT CEO
Here are the details on What’s next for Xbox and Xbox Game Pass
Xbox is working with global TV manufacturers to embed the Xbox experience directly into internet-connected televisions with no extra hardware required except a controller.
In the next few weeks, cloud gaming on the browser will open to all Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members. With Edge, Chrome, and Safari support, players will be a click away from gaming on almost any device.
Xbox is exploring new subscription offerings for Xbox Game Pass. So more players around the world can experience the most immersive and fun games across devices, geographies, and financial realities.
Later this year, we’ll add cloud gaming directly into the Xbox app on PC and integrate it into our console experience to light up scenarios like try before you download.
Xbox is working with telecommunications providers on new purchasing models like Xbox All Access, which allows consumers to buy both a console and Game Pass for a low monthly price, rather than spending money upfront.
Cloud gaming through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will launch in Australia, Brazil, Mexico, and Japan later this year.
Xbox is building its own streaming devices for cloud gaming to reach gamers on any TV or monitor without the need for a console at all.
We’re in the final stages of updating our Microsoft datacenters around the world with our latest generation of hardware, the Xbox Series X. This means gamers will see faster load times, improved frame rates, and experience Xbox Series X|S optimized games.
Games, Developers
With more than 23 studios worldwide creating games for Xbox, our goal is to release at least one new, first-party game into Game Pass every quarter. Role-playing games, shooters, strategy titles, adventure games, and more are all being built by our first party teams. To ensure that there is a steady stream of compelling exclusive content to explore.
Our independent developer program ID@Xbox has earned developers over $2B dollars since the program’s inception, with over 2000 titles launched and many more on the way. This model is now being used for ID@Azure, allowing independent devs to build cloud-based experiences. These programs bring new voices from diverse backgrounds into the world of game development.
What Satya Nadella and Phil Spencer’s conversation on why Microsoft is all-in on gaming below.
[jetpack_subscription_form subscribe_placeholder=”Enter your email address” show_subscribers_total=”false” button_on_newline=”false” submit_button_text=”Hi, sign up so you can get the latest in breaking news, reviews, opinions, events, opportunities and community updates right in your inbox. ” custom_font_size=”16px” custom_border_radius=”0″ custom_border_weight=”1″ custom_padding=”15″ custom_spacing=”10″ submit_button_classes=”” email_field_classes=”” show_only_email_and_button=”true”]
Check out other stories making the news in the technology ecosystem in Africa and the Middle East.
Future Ni Digital, an initiative to equip over 50,000 owners of Micro Small Enterprises (MSEs) with relevant digital skills by the end of this year kicks off in Nairobi. With plans to be expanded to multiple counties across the country. The initiative launched earlier this year also plans to put two thousand Kenya youth in jobs by the end of 2021.
Key partners of the Future Ni Digital initiative include the Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development (MoITED), the Micro and Small Enterprise Authority (MSEA), Stanbic Kenya Foundation, Microsoft Philanthropies and the African Center for Women, Information and Communications Technology (ACWICT).
Speaking at the Kariobangi Center of Excellence during the start of the training, the Chief Administrative Secretary at the Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development, Mr. Lawrence Karanja applauded the partners for supporting the government in its efforts to promote digital technologies and ICT. As a way of creating employment opportunities and improving on public service delivery.
Speaking during the event, the CEO of MSEA, Mr. Henry Rithaa said, “Our mission is to create an environment that makes our MSE sector globally competitive, and we are honoured to partner with such noble stakeholders who are appreciative and aligned to meeting this National goal. Continuous skill improvement is key for survival in today’s dynamic market environment, that is why we have come together to address the knowledge and skill gaps in digital literacy that will benefit 50,000 MSEs. This partnership is timely and oriented to the Authority’s strategic direction of focusing key service delivery functions on digitization and innovation to better serve the MSE sector.’’
The Future Ni Digital initiative will offer online digital entrepreneurial skills to assist these MSEs to expand and grow their businesses in the ever-changing digital market. As part of this, 192 trainers have already undergone the requisite training in a bid to kick off the mass training of the entrepreneurs. Stanbic Kenya Foundation and Microsoft Kenya have also deployed an online learning platform to enable learners to access content and further develop their skills.
The trainers are drawn from the Micro and Small Enterprise Authority (MSEA), the Kenya Industrial Business Training, Uasin Gishu and Nakuru counties as well as County Industrial Development Officers from around the country. In total, over 1,000 trainers from different government agencies will be trained to become instructors who will then engage with the various MSE’s and upskill them on how to leverage on online and digital platforms to grow their businesses.
The Stanbic Kenya Foundation donated ten laptop computers to the MSEA Training Center at Kariobangi and are set to donate a total of 400 computers to the other training centers across the country.
Speaking on behalf of the bank, Stanbic Bank Kenya CE, Charles Mudiwa noted, “As a bank, we seek to elevate businesses and individuals and empower them to achieve their dreams. Many enterprises in the country are still struggling to recover from the effects of the global pandemic, and we have seen that having digital skills is key to survival. Building the capacity of Kenyan citizens by providing access to resources and knowledge is in line with our objectives as part of our non-financial support.”
Microsoft Country Manager for Kenya, Kendi Ntwiga said the organization’s involvement in the initiative stems from its mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
“Microsoft has operated in Africa for close to 30 years. In that time, we’ve built strong partnerships across the continent, helped bridge gaps in infrastructure, connectivity, capability, and we are working to assist the continent to digitally transform while creating sustained societal impact,” Kendi said. “It also represents our desire to support the Kenyan talent create innovative solutions for local and global impact while also addressing the existing gap in some of the required digital skills for the new age.”
ACWICT, the implementing partners of the digital program, developed the curriculum for the trainings and are currently rolling out the training sessions with the MSEA members.
Speaking on behalf of the implementing partners, ACWICT Executive Director, Constantine Obuya said, “the goal of this program is to accelerate skilling and employment prospects for 50,000 underserved, out of school youth in Kenya to ensure an inclusive economic recovery post COVID-19 pandemic. The project responds to the challenge of high youth unemployment in Kenya, which has further been compounded by the outbreak of the pandemic. The impact we hope to achieve is a skilled, resilient, and thriving youth effectively optimizing digital opportunities for improved livelihoods”.
MSE’s contribution significantly to economic growth of the country, yet a number of them are still struggling to survive. The digital skilling program aims to address this gap by providing individuals with access to and knowledge of innovate tools for their sustainable development and equal opportunities.
[jetpack_subscription_form subscribe_placeholder=”Enter your email address” show_subscribers_total=”false” button_on_newline=”false” submit_button_text=”Hi, sign up so you can get the latest in breaking news, reviews, opinions, events, opportunities and community updates right in your inbox. ” custom_font_size=”16px” custom_border_radius=”0″ custom_border_weight=”1″ custom_padding=”15″ custom_spacing=”10″ submit_button_classes=”” email_field_classes=”” show_only_email_and_button=”true”]
Check out other stories making the news in the technology ecosystem in Africa and the Middle East.
Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) is collaborating with pricing and rebate management experts Flintfox, and Microsoft to modernise how it uses technology. This is part of an ongoing digital transformation programme at its bottling plants. The collaboration will help the bottling giant retire legacy solutions, to better manage pricing and overcome existing challenges at all stages of the supply chain.
The collaboration between Microsoft and Flintfox helps CCBA to accelerate its digital transformation journey, via seamless digital systems that enable the entire business to operate as one.
“Flintfox’s Trade Revenue Management and RMx pricing extended the capabilities of our Finance and Operations solutions. Enabling CCBA’s digital transformation“, notes Gavin Holme, consulting services director at Microsoft South Africa. “With Dynamics 365, Microsoft 365, and Azure, CCBA will achieve their goal to unify operations and intelligently adjust processes in real-time. He adds.”
Trade Revenue Management and the RMx pricing engine provide CCBA with the ability to manage advanced pricing and promotions, reduce operating costs and monitor margins. By extending the capability of Microsoft Dynamics 365 and integrating with existing e-commerce and sales force automation platforms, Flintfox will enable real-time hyper-speed pricing and help deliver accurate pricing across the supply chain.
“It’s an exciting time to be working with CCBA, as they bring their digital transformation vision to life via Microsoft Dynamics 365 and set out on a path of accelerated growth“, says Flintfox EMEA Director Mark Conway. He adds, “Our intelligent solutions will reduce operating costs, create productivity gains and future-proof operations. What’s more, we will provide real-time pricing accuracy across CCBA’s channels and deliver significant, measurable ROI to the business.”
Coca-Cola Beverages Africa Chief Information Officer Joshua Motsuenyane notes: “Because CCBA was born out of a merger of different companies, there are a number of infrastructure redundancies, supply duplications, and lines of accountability that were blurred. We needed to perfect the overall business’ ability to operate as one and improve pricing transparency and visibility. Flintfox and Microsoft helped us strategize how to better manage advanced pricing, promotion management, and complex supply chain pricing, as well as provide a roadmap for the future. This integration with Flintfox and Microsoft modernizes the way we use technology across our entire IT landscape and allows us to completely retire legacy systems“.
[jetpack_subscription_form subscribe_placeholder=”Enter your email address” show_subscribers_total=”false” button_on_newline=”false” submit_button_text=”Hi, sign up so you can get the latest in breaking news, reviews, opinions, events, opportunities and community updates right in your inbox. ” custom_font_size=”16px” custom_border_radius=”0″ custom_border_weight=”1″ custom_padding=”15″ custom_spacing=”10″ submit_button_classes=”” email_field_classes=”” show_only_email_and_button=”true”]
Check out other stories making the news in the technology ecosystem in Africa and the Middle East.
The Egypt Ministry of Justice’s (MOJ) Economic Courts (EC) will be able to provide quicker and more accessible justice to Egyptians using the Microsoft Dynamics 365 based digital justice platform. This is a collaboration between the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), Microsoft Egypt and local Microsoft partner, Link Development.
Egypt’s EC is a specialized court that focuses on resolving economic and commercial disputes. Entrusted with serving citizens and safeguarding local and foreign investments in Egypt. The EC is the first judicial body to take a full digitalization leap to boost the justice system’s performance and improve the county’s worldwide bank ranking.
Based on D365, Link Development has delivered a flagship digital justice platform with a powerful backend that automates and integrates end-to-end judiciary processes and services. Including legal case filing, assignment, scheduling, distribution, transfers, management, and others.
Through an integrated online portal, citizens, lawyers, and legal case stakeholders can register, e-file new cases, follow up on cases’ progress, set appointments, receive judges’ decisions, make e-payments, and more.
“Automating Egypt’s Economic Courts is part of the government’s digitalization strategy to create a more productive and transparent justice system that citizens and investors can rely on“. Says, Counselor Ahmed Khairy, Assistant Minister of Justice, Egypt Economic Courts. It’s a national project driven by his excellency Abd El Fatah Al Sisi’s directives to realize Egypt’s 2030 vision. We are happy with the measurable performance improvements delivered by the digital justice platform since its launch. We are very impressed too with Link Development for facilitating our digital transformation”, he adds.
Mirna Aref, General Manager, Microsoft Egypt: “We believe that Egypt Economic Courts’ Digital Justice Platform is a key milestone in accelerating digital transformation across the judiciary system in Egypt. The digital justice platform will empower EEC’s and the Ministry of Justice to serve justice with greater efficiency and transparency, in an integrated, secure and intelligent way. At Microsoft, we stand ready to partner with government entities in Egypt to promote the adoption of digital services across all sectors, enabling a competitive digital economy in line with Egypt Vision 2030. We trust that our partners, such as Link Development, can achieve more success stories in driving the government’s digital transformation.”
“We are honored to cooperate with Egypt’s Economic Courts“, says Joseph Sameh, Business Solutions, General Manager, Link Development. He adds, “The automation, customization, and integration of such a matrix of mission-critical judicial processes and legal case practices have been an invigorating mission. We will continue to enrich the D365 e-justice platform and put our resources, knowledge, and expertise to help Egypt’s Economic Courts achieve their digital vision and growth.”
The first phase of digitalization of the Economic Courts was launched during Cairo ICT 2020. The fresh milestone includes the roll-out of new e-services and tools.
[jetpack_subscription_form subscribe_placeholder=”Enter your email address” show_subscribers_total=”false” button_on_newline=”false” submit_button_text=”Hi, sign up so you can get the latest in breaking news, reviews, opinions, events, opportunities and community updates right in your inbox. ” custom_font_size=”16px” custom_border_radius=”0″ custom_border_weight=”1″ custom_padding=”15″ custom_spacing=”10″ submit_button_classes=”” email_field_classes=”” show_only_email_and_button=”true”]
Check out other stories making the news in the technology ecosystem in Africa and the Middle East.
Huawei introduces a number of new products powered by its HarmonyOS at today’s Live Smart with Huawei launch event. These include the Huawei FreeBuds 4, MateView and MateView GT monitors, Watch 3 and MatePad pro. It also announced that about one hundred devices in its ecosystem will be able to upgrade to the new HarmonyOS 2 operating system.
First Impressions
The Huawei Watch 3 series comes with a 3D rotating crown and independent eSIM communication capabilities. That allows you to make and receive phone calls as well as listen to music using the same number and data plan as your phone. The company says it supports 100 workout modes and can monitor skin temperature. It can even double as a hands-free camera remote for your phone.
The MatePad Pro is a tablet with a 12.6 inch OLED FullView display and a 90 per cent screen to body ratio. It is powered by a Kirin 9000 series chipset. The company says it supports the new Tablet-PC Multi-Screen collaboration. This lets you mirror a connected Windows PC screen to the display of the tablet, with three different capability modes. It also comes in a 10.8-inch variant.
Here is everything Huawei announced at the event.
https://youtu.be/TBho5yekskE
[jetpack_subscription_form subscribe_placeholder=”Enter your email address” show_subscribers_total=”false” button_on_newline=”false” submit_button_text=”Hi, sign up so you can get the latest in breaking news, reviews, opinions, events, opportunities and community updates right in your inbox.” custom_font_size=”16px” custom_border_radius=”0″ custom_border_weight=”1″ custom_padding=”15″ custom_spacing=”10″ submit_button_classes=”” email_field_classes=”” show_only_email_and_button=”true”]
