News

Tech Brand Nothing Enters Saudi Market At Jarir Bookstore

The award-winning Nothing Phone (1) sports a premium aluminum frame and a distinctive LED Glyph Interface.

Published

3 years ago

March 23, 2023

Jarir Bookstore, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s leading consumer tech retailer, has announced an exclusive partnership with UK-based technology brand Nothing, bringing the company’s innovative Phone (1) to the Saudi Arabian market.

The Nothing Phone (1) goes on sale across all Jarir stores from the 1st of March 2023 and will also be available on the company’s website. Through the collaboration, Jarir Bookstore will also offer repair and warranty solutions for all Phone (1) purchases.

“Jarir is excited to partner with another quick-rising tech company offering something unique and different to the Saudi Arabian market. We look forward to bringing the iconic and highly regarded, Nothing tech products to Saudi Arabia,” says Nasser Abdulaziz Alaqeel, COO of Jarir Marketing Co.

The Nothing Phone (1) has received critical acclaim for its innovative design while also scooping a “Best Inventions of 2022” award from TIME magazine for its unique “Glyph Interface” notification system, which uses 900 LED lights to create light patterns for highly-personalized notification alerts.

Nothing Phone (1) Specs

The Nothing Phone (1) is powered by a custom Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+ processor and sports a 50 MP dual camera, 120Hz OLED display, plus Nothing’s custom version of Android.

There’s a strong and light 100% recycled aluminum frame on the outside, while over 50% of the device’s plastic components are made with recycled materials.

Adding Phone (1) to Jarir’s lineup will help the company stay at the forefront of consumer technology and shows a commitment to providing the latest solutions to Saudi customers. The Nothing Phone (1) is available now at all Jarir branches and online at Jarir.com.

News

Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.