Bolt enters North African market to challenge uber, inDrive. 2 other stories and a trivia

This line-up of stories will help you discover the latest happenings around the tech world, today.

1. Bolt enters North Africa market to challenges uber, inDrive

Ride-hailing giant, Bolt, has launched its services in Cairo, Egypt, positioning itself in direct rivalry with counterparts like Uber and inDrive.

Haitham Mansour, Bolt Egypt’s Country Manager, confirmed this move in a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Tuesday, March 5, 2024.

The move reflects Bolt’s strategic expansion agenda in Africa, as it seeks to broaden its market presence on the continent.

To entice drivers, Bolt is implementing a departure from its usual 15% commission rate and offering a half-price discount for a six-month period, fully covered by the company.

This announcement follows Bolt’s recent foray into Zimbabwe and Botswana.

Haitham, while speaking on the development, he said: “By keeping our commissions considerably lower than our competitors’, we ensure higher earnings for our drivers, while also offering customers attractive service fees.”

Having commenced operations in South Africa in 2016, Bolt’s expansion into Egypt marks its 15th market entry in Africa, following ventures in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Cameroon, Zambia, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Trivia: Video games often provide new content called what?

A. MAC
B. GMC
C. DLC
D. NPC
Find answer below

2. Egypt’s Fawry partners PayMe to simplify transactions for Egyptian expats

Egyptian fintech company, Fawry, has announced its partnership with PayMe to streamline remittance services for Egyptian expatriates worldwide.

Waleed El-Sayed, General Manager of Fawry, confirmed this partnership in a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Tuesday March 5, 2024.

The collaboration claims to intend to empower Egyptian expats to effortlessly conduct financial transactions and settle bills electronically in Egypt from overseas, leveraging the PayMe smartphone app, readily accessible across all app stores.

Established in 2008 by Ashraf Sabry, Fawry specializes in providing payment solutions catering to both banked and unbanked individuals in Egypt.

Meanwhile, PayMe functions as an e-payment platform with a focus on facilitating bill payments for foreign residents abroad.

Waleed stated: “Fawry is committed to an ambitious expansion strategy into global markets and establishing diverse partnerships across various sectors. Our aim is to provide Egyptian expatriates worldwide with a suite of innovative digital solutions to facilitate their financial transactions.

“Additionally, we are dedicated to solidifying Fawry’s position as the foremost platform in the digital payments landscape, preferred by Egyptian citizens living abroad.”

3. EU hits Apple with record fine of $2 Billion for restricting music apps

The European Commission has imposed a historic fine of $1.95 billion (€1.8 billion) on Apple for breaching EU antitrust rules in the music streaming sector on its App Store, exceeding earlier forecasts.

The fine stems from an investigation initiated in 2020 following a complaint by Spotify, alleging that Apple was unfairly stifling its music service to gain an advantage over competitors like iTunes and Apple Music.

According to the Commission, Apple has been preventing developers of music streaming apps from adequately informing iOS users about cheaper alternative subscription services available outside the app. This practice, termed ‘anti-steering,’ is deemed unlawful under EU antitrust regulations.

According to the EU, developers were barred from providing guidance on how to subscribe to these alternative offers, and Apple prohibited them from disclosing price differences between in-app and online subscriptions or displaying actual internet subscription prices.

The Commission’s probe revealed that Apple’s practices, in place for nearly a decade, may have led to users paying higher prices for their music streaming subscriptions due to the fees imposed on developers.

The imposed fine significantly surpasses the speculated €500 million penalty, serving as a substantial deterrent against Apple repeating such actions, as asserted by the European Commission. However, Apple intends to challenge the ruling.

Trivia Answer: DLC

DLC Stands for “Downloadable Content.” DLC refers to additional content that can be downloaded within a video game. It has become a common feature in PC, console, and mobile games.

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