AWOK.com: awokdotcom

Showing posts with label awokdotcom. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Cash is still king for majority of online UAE consumers

Only 15% of consumers who buy online pay with cards

Despite all of the talk about paperless transactions, e-commerce or innovations in the financial markets, cash is still king.

The majority of consumers in the UAE are not comfortable paying their new smartphone, perfume, toilet paper and other everyday essentials with plastic, a new study suggests.

Awok.com, an online shopping store in Dubai that sells all kinds of consumer goods, from cameras, phones to kitchen appliances, has been tracking trends in the retail habits of consumers in the UAE.

The company found that among those who buy stuff online, 85 per cent would rather pay cash on delivery, while only 15 per cent opt to use their credit or debit card.

These online shoppers, majority of whom are presumably keeping a stash of cash in their wallets at all times, are mostly men (76 per cent) and between 25 years and 34 years of age.

They spend an average of Dh500 on every purchase.

While online shopping is increasingly becoming popular, consumers in the UAE are quite not ready to fully embrace the culture of cashless payments due to security concerns.

"There is still a huge disconnect in trust for online shopping versus trust for online payment," Ulugbek Yuldashev, managing director of awok.com, told Gulf News.

"Consumers are still uncomfortable sharing their banking details online due to fear of being defrauded."

As to what they mostly shop for online, statistics showed that the most searched categories are mobile phones, tablets, watches, jewellery and perfumes.

Consumers electronics, preferred by 57 per cent of the customers, top the list of popular items, followed by home and kitchen appliances (14 per cent), apparel and accessories (10 per cent), other categories (10 per cent), health and beauty products (5 per cent) and photography and cameras (4 per cent).

The majority of online customers (52 per cent) use their smartphones to shop, while a significant number (44 per cent) place orders through a desktop and a small number (4 per cent) through a tablet.

Payments experts have long noted the slow uptake of cashless payments not just in the UAE but in many markets around the world.

In 2009, 62.4 per cent of total consumer payments were made in cash, compared to 4.9 per cent for card transactions.

Experts had earlier attributed the trend to the low levels of investment in the payment systems infrastructure and concerns over credit card debt and security.

Source:awok.co/r3LmRx

Website: www.awok.com

Post By: Ramiz Ali Khan

AWOK.com Data Shows UAE Consumers Still More Confident of Cash on Delivery Payment for Online Purchases

AWOK.com gathers data on online shopping habits for UAE consumers: infographic

In the last 12 months, UAE-based online retail specialist, awok.com, has been tracking trends in online retail habits, which clearly demonstrate that while people are comfortable with buying online, they still prefer to use cash to pay for deliveries.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150604/748224 )

Awok.com reports that on average, cyber shoppers spend AED 500 minimum per transaction, with consumer electronics taking 57% of the purchases. Home and kitchen appliances come a distant second at 14%, with photography and cameras generating the least sales at just 4%.

"There is still a disconnect in trust for online purchase, versus online payment, as well as accessibility for card payment methods for some segments of society," says Ulugbek Yuldashev, Founder and CEO of awok.com. "However, we appreciate that not everyone wants to pay through a card, and awok.com caters to all preferences."

With the market continuing to mature quickly, males have been highlighted as the predominant force behind 'click and buy'; representing an overwhelming 76% of online shoppers. While the UAE's male-biased population certainly serves to enforce that figure, the social aspect of malls and browsing, still appeal more to the female consumer. 25-31 year-olds make up the biggest proportion at 58%.

Awok.com has seen significant response with returning customers now hitting 59%. Mobile technology plays a big role in supporting site accessibility, with a majority of customers accessing the site through their phones and smart devices. Android users are the most predominant, at 72% of shoppers, while the optimum browsing choice is Google Chrome.

For more information on AWOK, please visit http://www.awok.com

Source: awok.co/XhR4lR
Website: www.awok.com
Post By: Ramiz Ali Khan

Mobile Apps: Is Arabic less popular in UAE?

Saudi leads the list in terms of popularity of Arabic apps

Arabic mobile applications are downloaded far too fewer times in the United Arab Emirates compared to any other country in the region.

Saudi Arabia leads the list in terms of popularity of Arabic apps. About 89 per cent of people in the kingdom download Arabic apps regularly compared to just about 39 per cent in the UAE.

Well, before you can come to any conclusions about the language preference here, the result is a reflection of the cosmopolitan culture and a large presence of expat population in the UAE.

The results were revealed by Nader Kobeissi, Managing Director Mena of On Device Research on the sidelines of the ongoing two-day Arabnet Digital Summit 2015 in Dubai.

“Dubai’s numbers are low, simply because of the large number of expat population and a very active app download pattern among Westerners and Europeans,” says Kobeissi.

“About 70 per cent of Westerners, including Europeans download more than 5 apps in a month and did so during the past month and these are mostly apps in English,” he said.

The popularity of Arabic apps among the Arabs in the UAE, however, continue to remain high, at about 68 per cent and on par with Egypt. In Jordan 70 per cent of the apps downloaded are Arabic, compared to 54 per cent in Lebanon.

However, the survey also points out almost 34 per cent of those polled, which covered about 500 users from each country in the region, did prefer international apps, while about 31 to 30 per cent said they did not find what they wanted in Arabic and failed to find good quality Arabic apps.

Gaming apps continue to remain the most popular category in the region, followed by social media and music.

About the most downloaded apps, gaming related apps stood at 60 per cent, compared to 16 per cent of health and fitness related apps and 18 per cent of shopping related apps.

Utility related apps are downloaded mostly by those over 30 years – while, lifestyle, shopping and education are the three most popular categories among female mobile users.

The survey also revealed details about the nature of app purchases. “Majority of those buying apps - about 39 per cent - are doing so not because of its advanced features, but to avoid advertising,” says Kobeissi. About 37 per cent do so for additional content while, 29 per cent buy something which has been previewed on screen.

According to the survey, about 37 per cent of those buying apps go ahead and make in-app purchases and about 53 per cent don’t spend any money on buying apps and majority of them simply because there are not many interesting apps out there in the market.

“Almost 20 per cent don’t trust the payment security system, while 16 per cent cannot find what they want to buy,” he said.

Saudi Arabic again continued to lead the numbers in terms of app purchases with about 51 per cent of users having paid to download apps, compared to 41 per cent in the UAE and Lebanon.

Source: awok.co/wNilNA

Website: www.awok.com

Buy Smart Phones in UAE

Post By: Ramiz Ali Khan

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Popular cooking appliances make meal prep easy for busy home cooks

Whether you’re the best home chef or just the busiest, everyone can use a bit of electric assistance in the kitchen. Rice cookers, steamers, slow cookers and more can cut prep time without cutting back on flavour.

“The manufacturers have given some weight to the fact that a lot of people, they don’t want to have these big oversize pieces,” says KC Lapiana, owner of In The Kitchen. “I think that the manufacturers have spent some time thinking about the profiles of the products and making them not only efficient, but a little bit smaller.”

Slow cookers, for one, are enjoying a resurgence in popularity, especially among younger consumers, says Mary Beth Brault, group manager of corporate and consumer communications at Hamilton Beach. Advancements in technology mean some models are more adaptable to your schedule, and they can be programmed to go into a “keep warm” mode to prevent overcooking.

“Slow cookers certainly picked up in momentum about five years ago when the economy started to go down,” Brault says. “The beauty of a slow cooker is that you can take a cheap piece of meat and turn it into a delicious meal.”

Lapiana recommends “multi-cookers,” which perform slow cooking, rice steaming and pressure-cooking without the hassle of three separate devices.

Rice cookers can also provide convenience for home cooks. “It’s changed in the ease of making rice and getting the right water-to-rice ratio,” Brault says. “And it really allows you to multitask better in the kitchen.” Some models double as food steamers, too.

Immersion blenders are another easy, timesaving kitchen tool ideal for soups and sauces, Lapiana says. “You don’t have to cut up everything into small pieces anymore, just roughly chop them; I’m talking the garlic and the tomatoes. Once they’re cooked through, you put in the immersion blender and it makes it all smooth.”

Source: awok.co/sAPcF5
Buy Home Appliances: http://awok.co/rth6fX
Website: www.awok.com
Post By: Ramiz Ali Khan

Apple says 'Apple Watch,' the world says 'iWatch'

Many consumers still think of Apple's first smartwatch as the 'iWatch,' as evidenced by a recent trip to San Francisco for a wearable technology conference. The branding confusion represents at least a minor marketing misstep for Apple.

"Is that the iWatch?"

Early on an unseasonably brisk morning last week, a purposefully stern TSA agent in the JetBlue terminal of the Boston's Logan International Airport posed that question after I used my Apple Watch as a boarding pass and moved through security on the way to a wearable technology conference in San Francisco.
state of cios
State of the CIO 2015

More than 500 top IT leaders responded to our online survey to help us gauge the state of the READ NOW I considered the question for a moment, showed a hint of smile and said simply, "Yeah, it is," even though the nit-picky editor in me wanted to inform the gentlemen that it's an Apple Watch, not an iWatch. Had I chosen to correct the agent — it's never a good idea to correct a man in uniform, by the way — my efforts would have been futile. For better or worse, the Apple Watch is still the iWatch to lots of people, thanks in no small part to the seemingly endless deluge of "iWatch rumor" stories that led up to Apple's official announcement last fall.

The TSA example is just one of many instances during the past week in which I watched complete strangers refer to the Apple Watch as the iWatch. The second incident occurred on the same day, inside an infamous beer bar in San Francisco's Lower Haight neighborhood, called Toronado. The surly, tattooed bartender was showing his Apple Watch to another patron, and I overheard the barfly refer to it multiple times as an iWatch. (The bartender didn't correct him either.)

A couple of days later, I called Capital One customer service to activate Apple Pay on my Watch. After I successfully answered a handful of security questions and verified my identity, the bubbly female representative said, "Congratulations on your iWatch! Enjoy using Apple Pay."
At the Wearable World Congress event, the Apple Watch was front and center, and guess what? More than a few attendees unconsciously referred to the smartwatch as the iWatch.

In other words, Apple appears to have a slight branding issue.

If the company had its way, the Apple Watch might have been the next great iProduct, falling in line with the iMac, iBook, iTunes, iPod, iPhone and iPad. Apple even filed for trademark on the name "iWatch" in a number of countries, including Columbia, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Taiwan and Turkey, according to 9to5Mac.com.

Other entities have attempted to trademark the term in the United States and Europe during the past years, according to CNBC, and Swiss watchmaker Swatch, initiated a few different legal filings to block the use of the name iWatch, which it says is too similar to its trademarked "iSwatch" name.
Apple is a marketing and branding juggernaut. It puts just as much energy and attention to detail into the way it presents its products as it does designing them to function as seamlessly as possible. And its failure to secure and use the name iWatch seems like an unfortunate misstep for a marketing team that doesn't make many of them.

Of course, the fact that lots of folks are calling Apple's first smartwatch the iWatch, even though that is not its name, isn't really a big deal. The name won't significantly affect sales, and it also won't fix many of the software bugs spotted by early users. (My Apple Watch's fitness tracking features pale in comparison to my Fitbit, and in some cases don't work at all, for instance.)
Regardless, I can't remember the last time I saw a technology product on par with the Apple Watch so frequently "misidentified" in the market, and it's hard to believe Apple didn't see this branding confusion coming — or do something more to avoid it.

Source:awok.co/sCz5n7
Check Apple Watch or iWatch price in UAE* >>>awok.co/q9xuJR

Website: www.awok.com
Post By: Ramiz Ali Khan

Awok.com -Blog: Top 5 Features To Expect: iPhone 6s

Awok.com -Blog: Top 5 Features To Expect: iPhone 6s: While the iPhone 6 was a huge success, some expect its successor, the iPhone 6s, to be leaps and bounds ahead of it. From Force Touch ...

Website Support: www.awok.com

Post By: Ramiz Ali Khan

Awok.com -Blog: Apple Is Building Google Now Rival 'Proactive' Int...

Awok.com -Blog: Apple Is Building Google Now Rival 'Proactive' Int...: Rumors about a new Apple search engine have been doing the rounds since the start of the year. For once, this tech rumor seems to have had...

Website Support: www.awok.com

Post By: Ramiz Ali Khan

Awok.com -Blog: King of Games (PS4-PS3-Xbox1-Xbox 360)

Awok.com -Blog: King of Games (PS4-PS3-Xbox1-Xbox 360): King of Games (PS4-PS3-Xbox1-Xbox 360) : Buy Battle field Games from UAE No.1 Online shopping site Awok.com Buy Battllefield game>&g...

Website Support: www.awok.com

Post By: Ramiz Ali Khan

Awok.com -Blog: Apple Watch: how scratch resistant is the screen?

Awok.com -Blog: Apple Watch: how scratch resistant is the screen?: Cheapest model lacks hard sapphire screen, instead relying on hardened glass similar to smartphones. But is it scratch resistant enough for...

Website Support: www.awok.com

Post By: Ramiz Ali Khan

Awok.com -Blog: Aluminium battery to charge mobile in 1 minute?

Awok.com -Blog: Aluminium battery to charge mobile in 1 minute?: ‘Won’t catch fire, even if you drill through it’ London: US scientists said they have invented a cheap, long-lasting and flexible batter...

Website Support: www.awok.com

Post By: Ramiz Ali Khan

Sunday, May 31, 2015

Awok.com -Blog: Apple Is Building Google Now Rival 'Proactive' Int...

Apple Is Building Google Now Rival 'Proactive' Into iOS 9

Rumors about a new Apple search engine have been doing the rounds since the start of the year. For once, this tech rumor seems to have had some basis in truth as the company looks set to launch a new discovery tool for iOS 9.

Code-named "Proactive," the tool isn't a traditional search engine but is more of a rival to Google Now that aims to provide iOS users with any information they need.

9to5Mac reports that Apple is set to reveal Proactive as a vital part of iOS 9 at the company's annual worldwide developer conference on June 8. Proactive will reportedly combine information from Siri, Contacts, Calendar, Passbook and third-party apps to create an evolution of the Spotlight search feature that provides users with information when they need it, similarly to how Google Now operates. It will also work with Apple Maps to display points of interest personally relevant to the user in an augmented reality display and integrate with a third-party Siri API code-named "Breadcrumbs."

The report claims that Apple has been working on the tool since the 2013 acquisition of personal assistant app, Cue. Proactive will be located to the left of the home screen, where Spotlight lived in iOS7. Usage of Spotlight, Apple's system-wide search, dropped when it was hidden at the top of the screen in iOS8.

Within the Proactive screen there will be a search bar at the top, below which there will be content based on the user's Apps, Contacts and Maps. For example, if a user has a flight scheduled in his calendar and a boarding pass printed in Passbook, a bubble will show in Proactive close to the flight time to allow him to access the boarding pass quickly. It will also learn a user's habits and suggest apps based on those routines. For example, if you always check Twitter when you wake, a notification will appear in the morning allowing you to open your Twitter app with one click. It will also give restaurant or bar recommendations based on your phone's location.

Then there's the augmented reality maps that arise from the acquisition of Spotsetter, a social search engine. Using this feature a user can hold his phone up to a street and Proactive will display a virtual view of businesses on that street, including restaurant and cafe menus and shopping directories.

9to5Mac's sources also suggest that Apple will allow third-party developers to integrate their apps with iOS search results and Siri. The scaled down Siri API code-named "Breadcrumbs" is apparently a limited version of Siri as Apple believes integration with a full Siri API could lead to personal data being sent to the wrong third-party apps.

If the report proves to be true it would be a huge improvement over current versions of Siri and Spotlight and be a genuine rival to Google Now. It would make for some interesting news on June 8 when Apple is also expected to unveil its new streaming music service.

Source: awok.co/dkY0oa

Buy Apple gadgets at Awok.com

Post By: Ramiz Ali Khan

Awok.com -Blog: Google and Qualcomm releasing a Project Tango smar...

Google and Qualcomm releasing a Project Tango smartphone this year - Like a tablet but smaller

Qualcomm has announced it's helping Google stuff its Project Tango tech into a smaller form factor - specifically a smartphone set to be released in the third quarter of 2015.

Project Tango is focused on augmented reality (digital graphics placed on top of the real world) and virtual reality (entirely digital worlds). Up until now, it's only been available through an Nvidia tablet.

Like the tablet, the smartphone will be aimed at developers rather than the general public - this isn't really ready for consumer use yet, though anyone in the US can buy a dev kit if they want to.

3D space

A Project Tango device needs to know exactly where it is and where it's pointing in 3D space, much more so than a regular mobile, so getting this kind of technology into a smartphone is no mean feat.

Qualcomm says the upcoming smartphone is going to be powered by the Snapdragon 810 and the Adreno 430 GPU, the same kind of setup found in many of this year's flagships.

"We're excited to work together with Google and Android developers to help deliver new, innovative visual experiences using depth-sensing technology on mobile devices," said Qualcomm's Raj Talluri as the device was announced at Google IO.

Source: awok.co/ogF98t
Buy upcoming mobiles at Awok.com
Post By: Ramiz Ali Khan

Awok.com -Blog: Top 5 Features To Expect: iPhone 6s

Top 5 Features To Expect: iPhone 6s

While the iPhone 6 was a huge success, some expect its successor, the iPhone 6s, to be leaps and bounds ahead of it.

From Force Touch to a better processor, there are a number of big upgrades to be expected in the iPhone 6s. In fact, some even suggest that, because of the number of upgrades, Apple will skip the iPhone 6s name and jump straight to the iPhone 7. For now, we will refer to the device as the iPhone 6s. Here are some of the upgrades that we might see from Apple.

1. Force Touch

Force Touch is perhaps the biggest upgrade we should expect from the iPhone 6s, offering users a completely new way to input information into their devices. The inclusion of Force Touch into the iPhone 6s follows its addition to the MacBook line, which has largely been hailed as a positive decision by Apple. The technology itself was created in development of the Apple Watch. Only time will tell exactly what kinds of gestures Force Touch will enable, but it's sure to open up a whole new world of possibilities.

2. 12 Megapixel Camera

Apple's iPhone has long been hailed as having one of the best smartphone cameras on the market. While image quality is great, as our display resolution gets better and better, our photo resolutions also need to be getting better. Apple has remained a little behind in terms of megapixels over the past few years, however, it seems as though the company will address this problem with the iPhone 6s, including a 12 megapixel shooter rather than an 8 megapixel one.

3. A9 Processor

Apple will, as usual, be upgrading its processor for the next iteration of the iPhone, including a new A9 processor in the device. While the processor may certainly improve, Apple is reportedly going to keep the 1 GB of RAM found in the current iterations of the iPhone.

4. A Rose Gold Color Option

To keep in line with the Apple Watch, Apple is reportedly planning on including a rose gold color option to the iPhone lineup. This will bring the total number of color options to four, adding to the silver, gold and space gray versions currently available. This suggests that Apple may bring the "Edition" name to the iPhone, likely along with higher prices.

5. Improved Fingerprint Scanner

Apple will reportedly be offering an improved fingerprint scanner in the next iPhone, enabling users to more quickly and easily scan their fingerprints to access their data and to pay for items via Apple Pay. A better recognition rate for the fingerprint scanner will likely also help improve the adoption rate of Apple Pay.

Source: awok.co/GETJ1N
Website: www.awok.com
Buy I Phone6
Post By: Ramiz Ali Khan

Awok.com -Blog: Apple Is Building Google Now Rival 'Proactive' Int...

Apple Is Building Google Now Rival 'Proactive' Into iOS 9

Code-named "Proactive," the tool isn't a traditional search engine but is more of a rival to Google Now that aims to provide iOS users with any information they need.

Source: awok.co/dkY0oa

Buy Apple gadgets at Awok.com

Post By: Ramiz Ali Khan

AWOK.com

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Cash is still king for majority of online UAE consumers

AWOK.com Data Shows UAE Consumers Still More Confident of Cash on Delivery Payment for Online Purchases

Mobile Apps: Is Arabic less popular in UAE?

Saudi leads the list in terms of popularity of Arabic apps

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Popular cooking appliances make meal prep easy for busy home cooks

Apple says 'Apple Watch,' the world says 'iWatch'

Awok.com -Blog: Top 5 Features To Expect: iPhone 6s

Awok.com -Blog: Apple Is Building Google Now Rival 'Proactive' Int...

Awok.com -Blog: King of Games (PS4-PS3-Xbox1-Xbox 360)

Awok.com -Blog: Apple Watch: how scratch resistant is the screen?

Awok.com -Blog: Aluminium battery to charge mobile in 1 minute?

Awok.com -Blog: Best Comedy on Technology - Unbelievable Mobiles....

Awok.com -Blog: Amazing people with Un-believable Stunts- Watch la...

Awok.com -Blog: This man is Amazing with his flexible body move.

Awok.com -Blog: This man is Amazing with his flexible body move.

Awok.com -Blog: my time to gift Dad some thing special.(Iinspirati...

Awok.com -Blog: Dubai Rotating Tower, Have a look rotation of Rota...

Sunday, May 31, 2015

Awok.com -Blog: Apple Is Building Google Now Rival 'Proactive' Int...

Apple Is Building Google Now Rival 'Proactive' Into iOS 9

Awok.com -Blog: Google and Qualcomm releasing a Project Tango smar...

Google and Qualcomm releasing a Project Tango smartphone this year - Like a tablet but smaller

Awok.com -Blog: Top 5 Features To Expect: iPhone 6s

Top 5 Features To Expect: iPhone 6s

Awok.com -Blog: Apple Is Building Google Now Rival 'Proactive' Int...

Apple Is Building Google Now Rival 'Proactive' Into iOS 9

Blog Archive

About Me