News
Spotify Rumored To Be Taking Over Rival Anghami
The Abu Dhabi-based music streaming service was listed on the Nasdaq back in February of this year.
Music streaming giant Spotify is believed to be gearing up for a potential takeover of Abu Dhabi-based Anghami, which went public on the Nasdaq stock market in February, according to undisclosed sources.
Rumor has it that Anghami went public knowing that Spotify had shown interest in acquiring them. However, a Spotify spokesperson insisted there was no news to report on the matter, and Anghami representatives have also been tight-lipped.
Anghami, was the first Arab tech company to list on the Nasdaq, and recently moved its headquarters from Beirut to Abu Dhabi, after entering into the Abu Dhabi Investment Office’s Innovation Programme, to the tune of $545 million.
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So why would a takeover make sense for Spotify? Well, for one, Anghami has a vast library of Arabic music and has signed deals with Egyptian star Amr Diab, and Saudi Arabia’s Rotana record label, the largest in the Middle East. The Abu Dhabi-based streaming service also has nearly 60% of the Middle Eastern market share, with 1.28 million paying subscribers and almost 20 million active users.
As Anghami continues to expand its reach, including a recent acquisition of Spotlight Events, a company that specializes in live events and concerts in the MENA region, interest from tech giants like Spotify will surely continue over the coming years.
News
Nano Banana 2 Arrives In MENA For Google Gemini Users
Google brings its latest image model to Gemini and Search, adding 4K output and tighter text control for regional users.
Google has opened access to Nano Banana 2 across the Middle East and North Africa, pushing its newest image model into everyday tools rather than keeping it inside the exclusive (and expensive) Pro tier.
The rollout spans the Google Gemini desktop and mobile apps, and extends to Google Search through Lens and AI Mode. Developers can also test it in preview via AI Studio and the Gemini API.
Nano Banana 2 runs on Gemini Flash, Google’s fast inference layer. The focus is speed, but also control. Users can export visuals from 512px up to 4K, adjusting aspect ratios for everything from vertical social posts to widescreen displays.
The model maintains character likeness across up to five figures and preserves fidelity for as many as 14 objects within a single workflow. This enables visual continuity across scenes, iterations, or edits — supporting projects like short films, storyboards, and multi-scene narratives. Text rendering has also been improved, delivering legible typography in mockups and greeting cards, with built-in translation and localization directly within images.
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Under the hood, the system taps Gemini’s broader knowledge base and pulls in real-time information and imagery from web search to render specific subjects more accurately. Lighting and fine detail have been upgraded, without slowing output.
By embedding the model inside Gemini and Search, Google is normalizing advanced image generation for a mass audience. In MENA, where startups and marketing teams are leaning heavily on AI to scale content across languages and borders, that shift lands at a practical moment.
The move also folds creative tooling deeper into search itself, so that image generation is no longer a separate workflow. It now sits right next to the query box.
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Toufic Zoughaib
November 6, 2022 at 12:52 PM
Would be nice if Spotify went through and bought Anghami! Hope it happens.