News

Oman Plans To Have 22,000 EVs On Its Roads By 2030

The country also aims to distribute 350 chargers across busy arterial and public roads by 2026.

Published

3 years ago

January 4, 2024

Nour Nasir

oman plans to have 22000 evs on its roads by 2030

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As Middle Eastern countries like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia invest huge sums of money into clean transport initiatives, Oman is also beginning efforts to decarbonize its roads. The ambitious plans by transport authorities hope to see an estimated 22,000 electric vehicles on the country’s roads by 2030.

According to the Minister of Transport, Communications, and Information Technology, Said Hamood al Maawali, the lofty goal will require expanding a network of 350 public chargers across the country by 2026.

“Technological advances have led to the development of dual-combustion vehicles, which have been implemented locally within the Sultanate of Oman. These breakthroughs have greatly contributed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, estimated to have dropped by 40% from trucks and heavy equipment,” said Maawali in a recent newsletter.

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Oman’s larger sustainability and decarbonization goals aim to slash annual transport sector emissions (estimated at around 22 million tons) by 3% in 2030.

News

Samsung And Spotify Offer Free Premium Deal In MENA

Nearly seven in ten streams in the region come from 18-to-34-year-olds — the audience Samsung is hoping to entice into its ecosystem.

Published

6 days ago

August 7, 2026

Nour Nasir

Samsung

Samsung has announced a partnership with Spotify spanning the Middle East, North Africa, and Türkiye, bundling Spotify Premium with select devices across its ecosystem. The headline offer — up to four months of Premium for free — is a first for the region.

Customers in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Türkiye who buy any OLED or 98-inch television, or any Galaxy S or Z series mobile device, get four months of Spotify Premium. The offer, tiered by market and device, is available at retail and on Samsung.com, and redeemed through the Samsung Promotion and Samsung Members apps.

For Samsung, the strategy is less about free music than about lock-in. The Korean tech giant’s pitch is continuity: a track starts on a Galaxy smartphone through Galaxy Buds on the commute, moves to a Samsung TV and soundbar in the living room, and stays controllable from a Galaxy Watch. The more seamlessly music travels between those devices, the harder it becomes to swap any one of them for a rival’s.

“Technology should bring people closer to the things they love, and few things connect people the way music does,” said Omar Saheb, Regional VP of Marketing and Online Business at Samsung Electronics MENA. The partnership, he added, gives customers “a genuine reason to choose Samsung for the experience, not only the product”.

Also Read: Shokz OpenFit Pro Review: Open-Ear Audio Finally Grows Up

For subscribers, Premium brings the usual package: ad-free listening, offline downloads, richer audio quality on Galaxy Buds and Samsung sound devices, and Jam, which lets friends build a shared queue.

“At Spotify, we are always working to make every listening moment feel more personal, meaningful, and worth it,” said Rami Jamal, Head of Partnerships at Spotify for South Asia, Middle East, and Africa.

The demographics go a long way to explaining the strategy. Across MENA, Türkiye, and Pakistan, nearly seven in ten Spotify streams come from listeners aged 18 to 34, according to the company — precisely the audience Samsung wants inside its hardware ecosystem before buying habits harden.