AIMING to successfully lead Thailand into a digital economy, the Digital Economy Promotion Agency has set ambitious goals, including the country emerging as the Internet of Things (IoT) hub of Asia within five years, and the agency itself taking the lead in helping Asean countries join the digital economy.

Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin, president and CEO of Digital Economy Promotion Agency (Depa), said their goal is to be the leader in driving Thailand’s digital economic development and emerging as the IoT hub of Asia.

Depa’s four-year strategic plan to promote the country’s digital economy through 2021 has four main missions – to promote human development, economic development, social development and infrastructure-fund development.

Depa was established in 2017 with a Bt280-million budget, along with an ad-hoc budget of Bt1.5 billion to drive the digital economy under the government’s Thailand 4.0 strategic plan.

Its 2019 budget will also get an infusion of Bt1.2 billion to oversee the World Expo and to run the agency’s routine projects.

“Each initiative and project that Depa funds [is chosen] to stimulate digital economic development in the ecosystem,” explained Nuttapon. “We do not just invest money, we also join in the development, give advice and assistance and create and expand the market.”

Nurturing talent 

Driving development of the digital economy first requires digital human resources, Nuttapon said, and Depa aims to help nurture the digital talents of up to 100,000 people within four years. To achieve the goal, it has initiated four schemes – Coding Thailand, technology certification, scholarships and digital literacy.

Coding Thailand is a collaboration between Depa and tech giants including Microsoft, Google, and Cisco to develop coding curriculum and encourage Thais to learn coding at codingthailand.org. Depa has joined hands with 2,000 pilot schools nationwide to encourage around 200 students at each school to learn coding with the aim of 400,000 students learning the future-oriented digital language.

Depa has also joined hands with tech giants and universities to encourage students to get certified in special areas of technology, such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence. It aims to certify 4,000 students from 10 universities.

Moreover, Depa will offer scholarship for multidisciplinary mechatronics engineering innovators working on projects that address the painful points of businesses.

Depa will join hands with universities and the private sector to provide funds worth up to Bt1 million for each new mechatronics engineering project. Depa will invest 60 per cent of the scholarship grant, with the private sector putting up the remaining 40 per cent for each project.

Last, but not least, is nationwide digital literacy training.

The agency will work with tech firms, including Google and local startups, to establish a self-learning platform so people can increase their digital literacy on their own, anywhere and at any time.

Seeding and accelerating

Economic development is a crucial part of Depa’s mission to develop a digital economy. The agency will support startups and other businesses, especially small and medium enterprises (SME) and factories.

Depa’s support for startups will begin at the startup idea stage, continue through the vulnerable early-stage and then on to the growth stage, Nuttapon said. Seed money of Bt50,000 will be spread among startup proposals, with the goal of seeding 4,000 ideas.

Depa has invited venture capitalists and corporate capital ventures to sit as judges for startup pitches. Solid startup proposals will receive Bt1 million from Depa – Bt300,000 as a grant and Bt700,000 as investment. Depa will in turn take 25 per cent of the Bt700,000 in shares.

The main evaluation criteria at this stage are innovation, scalability and repeatability. Depa aims to invest in 20 early-stage startups, and has done so with five so far.

Growth-stage startups are also in Depa’s support plan. The agency will inject Bt5 million in startups whose pitches succeed in meeting those same three criteria, and will hold 50-per-cent of the shares. It has so far invested in two growth-stage startups and plans to invest in another five.

“We are not only giving them money, but will also accelerate them and connect them to the world market through collaboration between Depa, government and the private sector in each country,” Nuttapon said. He cited examples of Tripple i in Taiwan, Trust Holdings in China, TechStar in Singapore, CyberPort in Hong Kong, as well as Cisco in the United States and Israel.

In addition to helping startups, Depa has also focused on helping the real sector (the manufacturing and industrial economy but not services), both SMEs and manufacturers. It plans to help 1,000 SMEs through digital transformation with the help of startups in Depa’s list and with a grant of Bt10,000 each.

Meanwhile, larger manufacturers will get a Bt1-million grant to help with their digital transformations that draw on the solutions of startups.

Last but not least, it is to help attain Thailand emergence as the IoT hub of Asia over the next five years. Nuttapon said, after setting up an IoT institute, Depa plans to spearhead an IoT Innovation Centre, to be located in Digital Park Thailand in the Eastern Economic Corridor of Innovation (EECD). That centre would include facilities for research and development across the new “S-curve” industries such as IoT, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), data analytics and mathematics. It will also offer the IoT testing standard and provide space for developing prototypes.

“It will be the turning point of digital economy development for the country,” Nuttapon predicts. “It will enhance the power of digital services and hardware makers by adding in the value of the design stage in order to create new products and service.”

From local to Asean-wide

Society’s digital economy development is an another important focus. Depa encourages communities nationwide to join hands with startups to create a local community digital-economy project focused on tourism, agriculture or local business. Subsidies of Bt500,000 are available.

To spur social digital-economy development, Depa will inject money into infrastructure projects that draw on digital technologies to enhance social infrastructure in smart cities. Currently, there are seven smart cities including Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, Phuket, Chon Buri, Rayong and Chachoengsao.

Depa will provide budgets ranging from Bt5 million to Bt50 million for each social infrastructure project. The initial focus will be on projects in three smart cities – Chon Buri, Rayong and Chachoengsao. Potential projects could include smart mobility, smart port, smart living, smart farming and smart environment. Funding could be paid back to Depa within three years or 49 per cent of shares could be transferred to the agency.

“Our role in promoting the digital economy is to be a co-creator, co-investor and co-partner with our stakeholders, including people, businesses, communities and society. We play the role of facilitator and ‘angel investor’ for them,” Nattapon summed up.

Finally, Depa aims to lead in helping Asean countries move towards developing the digital economy. They will initiate the Asean Smart City Network in 2019 as a key step in paving the way for all Asean countries to work together to develop a regional digital economy.

A leading scientific organisation, Geneva-based CERN uses the world’s largest and most complex scientific instruments to investigate the fundamental structure of the universe. Their mission has attracted many of the world’s foremost particle-physics scientists.

The International Cooperation Agreement (ICA) was signed by CERN’s director for international relations, Charlotte Warakaulle, and permanent secretary of the Science and Technology Ministry, Soranit Siltharm, in a ceremony presided over by Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.

The ICA builds on a decade-long relationship and collaboration between Thailand and CERN. In the first initiative of Her Royal Highness, the first six memoranda of understanding (MoUs) were signed between Thailand’s universities and institutes and CERN.

Suvit Maesincee, Minister of Science and Technology, said the ministry will develop human resources as well as technology and innovation in line with CERN’s objective. This latest, higher level of cooperation is expected to open up more opportunities for Thai scientists to participate in world-class research and thus develop the country’s science capabilities, as well as further develop applied research to benefit the real sector.

Pairash Thajchayapong, secretary-general of the Information Technology Foundation, paid tribute to the Princess for initiating cooperation with CERN in 2000 and through five visits to the facility that led to six contracts between Thai universities and institutes and CERN. The Information Technology Foundation is an initiative of Her Royal Highness.

Warakaulle noted the three mutual elements of the ICA – strengthening Thailand’s scientific participation through working with CERN; training a new generation of scientists, engineers, technicians and teachers, and helping build Thailand’s capacity for science, and particularly in particle physics.

“The relations between Thailand and CERN have been strengthening over the past decade, with Thai scientists working in our two experiments, CMS and ALICE [A Large Ion Collider Experiment],” Warakaulle said. “This is the first government-level agreement that we’ve had. Previously, we had agreements with the universities and institutes in Thailand on their scientific participation.”

This latest government-level agreement is an important step and has raised the collaboration to a higher level. Similar agreements have been adopted by all 22 member states of CERN.

“It is a very significant step in relations between Thailand and CERN. And it allows us to have much deeper cooperation and to spread it much more widely, particularly once they come to the scientific exchange between CERN and Thailand,” Warakaulle added.

Given that this is a framework agreement, it is not yet possible to discuss the specifics of the scientific exchange, she said. There are three pillars to the ICA – to enhance scientific collaboration; enhance training and education for scientists, engineers, and teachers; and to increase capacity building. Though not yet detailed, the agreement opens up opportunities for developing the three areas.

Some scientists are already working on CERN-related research, but under the agreement more universities and their scientists will come on board, either joining existing groups or forming new ones, and strengthening the country’s participation in current experiments or working on new ones.

“We hope to see more Thai teachers, more Thai students come to CERN with these agreements,” Warakaulle said. “We would like to see a great outreach in particle physics and fundamental research here in Thailand. So, we cannot yet quantify that, but we can see the potential, this is the best agreement we’ve had for expanding the cooperation.”

CERN is a physics lab focused on using an accelerator to accomplish high-energy particle physics experiments. Thailand’s opportunity is to participate in particle physics experiments, which is on the very cutting edge of science today, and brings with it cutting-edge technological development. The cooperation has both a scientific component and a technological-development component.

“We really hope very much that the cooperation agreement, through strengthening its relationship with CERN, will open up for Thailand both experiments in particle physics and science, and also advance technology development.

Advancing research

Fundamental research is an important element in any country’s development, and this agreement is signed not only within the context of the momentum of particle physics research, but also that of fundamental research more broadly in Asia.

Thailand is deliberately joining in that momentum and consolidating its participation, because a strong base in fundamental science is needed for the country to continue to develop. It is important to have scientists working on fundamental research in order to later participate in applied research that draws on the fundamental research.

“There is a good balance between fundamental research and applied research – it is great science that adds to the dynamism of Thailand,” Warakaulle explained. “There is so much focus on fundamental research, we see that as very positive and very encouraging, and see real opportunities for Thailand to continue its development. It is a very important component of the healthy economy and healthy growth, and the long-term sustainable perspective for Thailand.”

The Kingdom has great potential to be the leader in the Asia region for fundamental research, and this cooperation now brings a framework allowing Thailand to develop that leadership, she says. With a lot of scientific research underway, Thailand will focus on specific areas and develop them to world-class status.

The agreement is the basis for Thailand and CERN to develop together, Warakaulle said, “and for Thailand to really take a step forward when comes to particle physics and also fundamental research more generally”,

Three key factors

Meanwhile, there are three important elements for Thailand. One is the government’s clearly strong support and that of the Princess, who is very engaged in this area.

The second is the international outlook in an era in which big science requires big intellectual collaboration.

Third is the vital need for the country’s institutes and universities to collaborate and ensure coherent studies, as is done under the CERN umbrella and other international collaboration.

“Strong government support, international outlook, and a strong course at the national level are really important,” Warakaulle said. “I think Thailand has all of that. Now we just need to continue.”

Meanwhile, Professor Emmanuel Tsesmelis, chief of associate member and non-member state relations at CERN, sees the ICA as a springboard to strengthen the cooperation between Thailand and his organisation.

“I look forward to a future together,” Tsesmelis said.

“The areas we continue to work together are in the science programme and technology development, R&D projects – we hope this ICA strengthens those areas. But it will also bring more young people to CERN to get training and develop skills in a high-tech environment. This is part of capacity building.”

And that capacity building now has recognition at the highest levels from the government of Thailand, and in particular the ministry, in terms of activities involving CERN and Thai scientists and teachers. The next step is to strengthen that institutional relationship.

One thing is certain, everyone agrees – the ICA will help Thailand develop its science and technology.

A visitor experiences 5G remote driving at the 15th China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning city, South China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Sept 13, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]

Photo taken on Sept 13, 2018 shows bus models at the 15th China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning city, South China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. [Photo/Xinhua]

Visitors interact with a robot at the 15th China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning city, South China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Sept 13, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]

A visitor experiences virtual reality live broadcast at the 15th China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning city, South China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Sept 13, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]

A boy interacts with a robot at the 15th China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning city, South China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Sept 13, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]

Photo taken on Sept 13, 2018 shows a civilian drone at the 15th China-ASEAN Expo Nanning city, South China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. [Photo/Xinhua]

Visitors watch robot dance at the 15th China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning city, South China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Sept 13, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]

A visitor looks at a meteorological radar at the 15th China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning city, South China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Sept 13, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]

Photo taken on Sept 13, 2018 shows a model of high-speed railway at the 15th China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning city, South China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. [Photo/Xinhua]

Thailand has long been a haven for foreign criminals, a convenient base to plot and commit crimes or just to hide out.

Thai law enforcers have fought back, joining with their counterparts overseas to arrest a string of notorious terrorists, criminals and gangsters on our soil.

The list runs from “Bali Bomber” Hambali, al-Qaeda’s chief in Southeast Asia, to Mozambican Momade Assif Abdul Satar, Interpol’s prime suspect for more than 50 kidnappings and murders, to infamous Lao drug kingpin Xaysana Keopimpha. The latest big fish netted on Thai soil is Alexandre Cazes, founder of the “darknet” marketplace AlphaBay.

The size of the haul is impressive, but it attests to huge holes in our perimeter security. Thailand’s borders are notoriously porous. Criminals travelling on fake passports ease through Immigration with the help of well-placed bribes. Others bypass checkpoints altogether and sneak in unnoticed via jungle or sea.

Once inside, evading the attentions of police is much easier, making efforts to bring them to justice difficult or near impossible.

The challenge for police has become trickier still with the advent of untraceable cryptocurrency, which is oiling international crime.

At a recent Bangkok seminar on Internet criminality, government agencies pleaded for new legislation to fight a growing wave of cybercrime that, they said, is about to skyrocket.

An early warning came with the arrest of Cazes, aka DeSnake, in Bangkok last year.

AlphaBay and the FBI

The Canadian was the focus of an FBI investigation, accused of  co-founding and running AlphaBay, a darknet hub for drug trafficking and money laundering. The website sold class A drugs, illegal pornography, stolen credit cards and weapons of war.

AlphaBay was shut down on July last year after two years in operation, and transactions in bitcoin and other digital currencies worth more $1 billion. Cazes had left no paper-money trail for the police to follow or identify him.

The FBI lavished huge resources and manpower to flush out the 26-year-old fugitive but came up empty-handed. Finally, after several years of investigations, he was tracked to Thailand. The Feds then asked for help from the Thai police.

Initially, the FBI lacked evidence to secure an arrest warrant, explained Pol Colonel Pisal Erb-Arb, deputy commander of Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB), who took part in the joint operation.

Thai police did some digging and discovered Cazes was married to a Thai woman and enjoying and a life of luxury unsupprted by any visible business concerns.

Police found he had paid cash for an Bt80-million home at the Private House estate in Bangkok’s Thawi Watthana District and also owned a Phuket villa worth Bt200 million. Parked in the driveway were a gleaming set of luxury cars. None of the property was in his own name.

Thai breakthrough

Police asked the court for an order to access his IP address to monitor his financial transactions. Not long after they spotted a huge amount of bitcoin transferred to the couple’s account and Cazes sending Bt30 million to an account in Cyprus.

The evidence confirmed FBI suspicions and US authorities promptly issued an arrest warrant, Pisal said.

Cazes was arrested at his home in July last year, in what US Attorney General Jeff Sessions called “one of the most important criminal investigations of this entire year”.

The darkweb mastermind was found dead a week later in a cell at the NSB. Police said all evidence pointed to suicide. Authorities then confiscated more than Bt726 million of Cazes’ Thai assets.

The saga sounds like the plot for a Hollywood movie, but NSB officers certainly played the starring role.

“The FBI said we had to capture him alive, with his computer online and his mobile phone unlocked,” said Pisal.

Plan A was to have a police officer disguised as a postman deliver mail to his home – but Cazes never showed up to take delivery. It was always his wife or the maids that picked up the mail.

Pisal then came up with the idea of faking an accident in front of the house in hope that the suspect would rush down to check any damage to his cherished supercars.

The hunch paid off.

Cazes arrived at the door and the police pounced. He rushed to tell his wife to turn off the computer, but officers got their first to make sure the machine was still online.

There was still the problem of the locked phone, though. Police already knew that Cazes had been having an affair. They told him he was being arrested on a charge of having an affair with another man’s wife.

“We told him that the husband [of the woman] would settle the case if he [Cazes] phoned the husband,” Pisal recounted.

Cazes was stunned to hear his lover was married. He promptly phoned the husband – in reality, a policeman – and offered to pay Bt100,000 as compensation. The “husband” demanded Bt1 million and without missing a beat Casez asked for his bank account code.

As the conversation ended the police seized his phone – which he had unlocked.

“If his computer or mobile phone had been found locked and encrypted, it could have taken around 300 years to crack the code,” Pisal said.

Cazes’ life of crime may have ended in capture and death, but the story of international cybercrime is only just beginning in Thailand.

In Thailand, eBay SEAPaSS allows for faster handling of paid orders, saving eBay sellers time and money through an easy-to-use system that is available to them at no charge. eBay is also collaborating with Thailand Post to offer special discounts and privileges to sellers who use eBay SEAPaSS together with Thailand Post’s ePacket service to send items to selected international destinations, Boonphan Boonprayoon, country manager for eBay Thailand, said yesterday.

eBay sellers can use the eBay SEAPaSS platform at SEAPaSS.eBay.com. From now until December 31, eBay sellers will get a special Bt10 discount on ePacket shipping fee for each item shipped (for an unlimited number of items) using SEAPaSS labels with the LX and LP tracking codes, which are only generated by SEAPaSS.

Thailand Post’s ePacket service is currently available for shipping items to 12 destination countries: China, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Maldives, Vietnam, Indonesia, Australia, and the United States. An additional five destinations – Germany, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and Macau – will be added to the ePacket service on October 1.

The California tech giant said it would begin selling its 5.8-inch iPhone XS and 6.5-inch iPhone XS Max later this month, keeping the starting price of the company’s top-end model at $999 but bumping the entry price for the version with the larger screen.

Apple also announced a new iPhone XR starting at $749, available in October, with a 6.1-inch display to broaden its pool of buyers.

The phones are updates to last year’s iPhone X (“10”), which marks the 10th anniversary of the smartphone — stretching the screen while keeping the overall handset size at or near that of previous models.

“I think Apple did extremely well here,” GlobalData analyst Avi Greengart said after checking out the new offerings at the unveiling at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California.

“Overall, this is going to be a very good year for Apple.”

The analyst expected the line-up to be a hit, pushing up the average selling price of Apple smartphones.

The new iPhones have more powerful processors and cameras, and a dual-SIM card feature for top-of-the-line devices. Home buttons were replaced with screen swipes, taps and facial recognition capabilities.

“We are going to take iPhone X to the next level,” chief executive Tim Cook said.

While the iPhone has made Apple the world’s most valuable company, worth more than $1 trillion, it has slipped to third place among smartphone makers as Chinese-based Huawei has grabbed the number two spot behind Samsung.

Analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy said Apple had done enough “to keep its smartphone growth going until the competition responds.”

Apple said the XS models would be sold from September 21 and the XR from October 26.

New smartwatch features

Apple also introduced a fourth generation of the Apple Watch with a major redesign — and a series of features designed to improve its performance as a medical and health device.

The watch, sold in the United States from $399 and up, will be available in stores on September 21.

“Apple Watch has become an intelligent guardian for your health,” chief operating officer Jeff Williams said.

The smartwatches are able to detect hard falls, and an electrical heart rate sensor can take an electrocardiogram.

“This is the first ECG product offered over the counter directly to consumers,” Williams said.

“Now you can take an ECG any time, anywhere, right from the wrist.”

The fall detection upgrade is expected to appeal to worker safety concerns in factories or other industrial settings, as well as to elderly or disabled users.

“Identifying a fall may sound like a straightforward problem, but it requires a lot of data analysis,” Williams said.

If a person falls, and then is motionless, the watch will call emergency services, he added.

Moorhead said the health features for the new devices were notable.

“I can see kids buying one for their parents and grandparents,” he said of the smartwatch.

“I believe Series 4 will sell better than all previous models.”

The current version of Apple Watch is the most popular watch in the world, according to Cook.

Apple stressed its devotion to data privacy, saying all health information gathered is encrypted on the smartwatch to be shared only as users see fit.

‘Crossroads’

Research firm CB Insights said Apple is at a “crossroads” a decade after introducing the iPhone.

“Looking for the next wave, Apple is clearly expanding into augmented reality and wearables with the Apple Watch and AirPods wireless headphones,” the firm said.

“But the next ‘big one’ — a success and growth driver on the scale of the iPhone — has not yet been determined. Will it be augmented reality, auto, wearables? Or something else entirely?”

Apple’s event comes with the global smartphone market at near-peak saturation, and without a major catalyst for sales ahead of a likely rollout of 5G, or fifth generation, wireless networks, expected in 2019.

Research firm IDC expects worldwide smartphone shipments to decline 0.7 percent in 2018 to 1.455 billion units, with growth likely to resume as 5G devices become available.

Cook said Apple was nearing the two-billion mark for devices with its mobile operating system known as iOS.

“We are about to hit a major milestone. We are about to ship our two billionth iOS device,” he said.

“This is astonishing — iOS has changed the way we live.”

“Personalization must be at the core of every customer experience. If it isn’t, brands risk losing customers’ loyalty and business,” said Loni Stark, head of Adobe Experience Manager and Adobe Target.

“Adobe has introduced AI and machine learning innovations for over a decade, and these new personalization capabilities further our mission to help companies successfully cater to customers at the individual level, no matter the screen, device or channel.”

Adobe said in its press statement that new capabilities in Adobe Target and Adobe Experience Manager and forward-looking projects from Adobe Research allow marketers to:

Enhance voice interactions: A recent Adobe survey found 64 percent of consumers expect to increase their usage of voice assistants in the next five years, underscoring the growing importance of voice as a brand engagement channel. With Adobe Target, companies can iterate and test voice-based content and offers for assistants such as Amazon Alexa to deliver personalized, voice-driven customer experiences. An airport, for example, can use Alexa to update a traveler on a flight status and provide an offer for a rain coat at a terminal screen based on the weather forecast at the destination.

Optimize for the highest likelihood of an action: Adobe Target now allows marketers and data scientists to dynamically compare a customer’s likelihood of taking an action, such as a purchase or churn, and factor the highest possibility into the customer profile. This enables brands to deliver the most relevant experience based on the desired action. A furniture retailer, for example, can assign a score correlating to an individual’s likelihood to purchase a bed and another for a table. The retailer will automatically promote the item with the higher score when that person visits its website.

Personalize AR shopping experiences: Adobe is previewing an Adobe Research personalization project in development for potential future product integration. Using AI, brands can dynamically change product recommendations in an augmented reality (AR) setting based on customers’ facial expressions. A company selling sunglasses, for example, can provide a selection of aviator-style glasses after the customer furrowed her eyebrows trying on round glasses.

Automate layout design for best performance: Determining a design and layout that will perform best for each customer is a major challenge for brands. With Smart Layout in Adobe Experience Manager, marketers can automatically compose the best performing layout for each customer that adapts to the individual’s behavior. For example, a vacation resort can automatically serve a different design for golf enthusiasts compared to a visitor more likely to use the spa services.

Refine recommendations with AI-powered decisioning: Delivering personalized recommendations to a variety of different audiences at scale is challenging. With Auto-Target marketers will be able to automatically choose the best algorithm to deliver personalized recommendations to a broader spectrum of audiences. A home improvement company, for example, can equally tailor recommendations to its key customer, the home builder, as well as secondary audiences, such as DIYers, within a single campaign. Adobe is also releasing a new recommendations algorithm that automatically factors customer attributes, such as geography or favorite color, that are most predictive of a desired behavior.

Collaborate to refine customer experiences: Marketers are quickly realizing that working in tandem with AI can produce faster, more dynamic customer experiences that drive business value. New Personalization Insights reports in Adobe Target provide marketers with analysis on how algorithms are performing. Insights include what visitor attributes were most influential, what offers resonated most and more. This data can be used to develop more sophisticated tests and further refine AI-driven personalization to ensure the most optimized digital experience for customers.

Adobe Experience Cloud empowers brands to deliver compelling, consistent and continuous experiences across any customer touch point – all while accelerating business growth. Adobe Target is an experience optimization solution in Adobe Marketing Cloud that lets data-driven brands rapidly experiment and create personalized experiences that can be leveraged across any digital touchpoint, including web, mobile, email, IoT devices, call center and more. Adobe Target is used by major brands worldwide including Lenovo, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Philips and Sprint. Adobe Target helps customers address obligations for data governance and privacy design features to comply with GDPR. Adobe was named the only leader in “The Forrester Wave™: Experience Optimization Platforms, Q2 2018” and “The Forrester Wave™: Digital Intelligence Platforms, Q2 2017” reports.

Apple has remained mum about revelations planned for the event at its spaceship campus in Silicon Valley, but the timing fits its pattern of annually introducing iPhone updates.

In a first for Apple, the event will be streamed live on Twitter.

Speculation includes talk that Apple will introduce three new iPhone models infused with features from a premium iPhone X that debuted last year with a $1,000 price tag.

Top among those features will likely be edge-to-edge screens that promise to provide about 30 percent more viewing space without increasing the size of overall handsets.

“I think they are trying to set a new high bar,” analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy said of new iPhones expected to offer more display without increasing the size of the handset.

“The big thing is going to be how they fit such a massive screen into such a small device.”

One new iPhone was likely to be priced slightly lower than the X model to “capture the next wave of buyers” in markets such as China, western Europe and the US, according to Moorhead.

While the iPhone has made Apple the world’s most valuable company, worth more than $1 trillion, it has slipped to third place among smartphone makers as Chinese-based Huawei has grabbed the number two spot.

Still, analysts say Apple has a formula that works with a loyal customer base and steady sales.

“Apple doesn’t have to prove anything, other than that they are willing to segment the market more,” Technalysis Research chief analyst Bob O’Donnell said, while pointing out that the company will likely be “offering a wider array of choices.”

Two of the iPhone models predicted to debut on Wednesday were expected to have prices higher than the iPhone X, which has been a hot seller.

While iPhone sales have slowed, Apple profits have risen along with the average purchase price of its handsets.

The newest and priciest iPhone “didn’t help Apple grow its user base but handsomely contributed with dollars to top line, bottom line and market cap,” Counterpoint Research analysts said in a note Tuesday.

– Taking on Galaxy –

Samsung, the world’s biggest smartphone maker, last month unveiled its latest flagship handset, the Galaxy Note 9, and next month Apple rival Google will hold an event at which it is likely to showcase new Android-powered top-end Pixel phones.

Google took to making its own smartphones to showcase the capabilities of the Android operating system that it makes available free of charge to handset makers. Android smartphones have come to dominate the market.

Apple’s event comes with the global smartphone market largely saturated, without a major catalyst for sales ahead of a likely rollout of 5G, or fifth generation wireless networks, expected in 2019.

Research firm IDC expects worldwide smartphone shipments to decline 0.7 percent in 2018 to 1.455 billion units, with growth likely to resume as 5G devices become available.

“We still believe the smartphone market has some healthy growth in the years to come, although finding and competing in those markets and segments is increasingly more challenging,” said IDC analyst Ryan Reith.

Apple has sold more than a billion iPhones since the first model was unveiled by late co-founder Steve Jobs in 2007.

The company is in the unique situation of controlling the hardware and software in its mobile devices, with content for users required to go through its App Store that takes a percentage of revenue.

Finding new streams

With the smartphone market showing little room for growth, Apple has been working to diversify its revenue streams with software, services and other devices including its smartwatch.

The event may see the Apple Watch getting its first significant redesign since its launch three years ago.

“I think that in the long run the watch will be a much larger business than people give it credit for; where Apple can iterate and grow,” analyst Stephen Baker of NPD said.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook has touted fitness and health features of the company’s smartwatch, which dominates that market.

The culture-changing company behind the iPod, iPhone and iPad hit a historic milestone last month, becoming the first private-sector company to surpass $1 trillion in market value.

The landmark was the latest victory for Tim Cook, who faced skepticism when he took over as chief executive in 2011 from Jobs just before his death.