News

Wisdom Motor Brings First Zero-Emission Bus To GCC

The company is supporting the Abu Dhabi International Transport Centre’s Green Bus Assessment program that forms part of the UAE’s sustainability agenda.

Published

3 years ago

November 30, 2023

Nour Nasir

Wisdom Motor

Wisdom Motor, a Chinese technology company that designs zero-emission commercial vehicles, has announced a cooperation with the Integrated Transport Centre (ITC) in Abu Dhabi.

The partnership aims to provide new green mobility solutions, the first of which, a 12-meter Hydrogen City Bus, uses fuel cells to achieve a range of 500 km, while reducing CO2 by 105 kg per 100 km of travel.

Mr. Cliff Zhang, Chairman of the board of directors of Wisdom Motor, commented: “We are proud to partner with the ITC to bring our cutting-edge technology and customized hydrogen-powered vehicles to Abu Dhabi. This cooperation not only reinforces the quality and competitiveness of Wisdom Motor but is also a significant milestone for our company in entering the GCC market”.

So far, Wisdom Motor’s zero-emission commercial vehicles have achieved several milestones and continue to expand globally. The company builds its highly customizable vehicles at a production hub of over 480,000 sq m in Fujian, China.

Wisdom Motor aims to disrupt the competitive commercial sector with short turnarounds and custom engineering, including state-of-the-art monocoque structures and in-house-made composite materials. So far, the company has won contracts in the UK, Germany, France, the Nordics, Australia, Japan and Korea.

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Near its headquarters in Hong Kong, a fleet of Wisdom Motor tri-axle, hydrogen-powered double-decker buses are already in service, acting as proof-of-concept for long-distance commercial transportation using hydrogen.

Hydrogen offers several advantages over conventional fuels: It is lightweight, nearly three times the energy density of diesel per unit of mass, and produces zero emissions. In each operating market, Wisdom Motor works with partners to develop the infrastructure needed to make hydrogen fuel a viable solution.

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

14 hours 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”.

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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.