Globe’s near-local roaming promo GoRoam expands to more destinations Now covers Japan, Canada, Vietnam, and Australia

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(Philippines) Making travel plans for the upcoming long weekend? Globe’s got some news that will keep you connected on your next trip in a simpler, more convenient way.

Globe has expanded the reach of its country-exclusive offers at never-before-seen rates to popular destinations including Japan, Canada, Vietnam, and Australia.

GoRoam’s expansion builds upon its successful “Roam Like A Local” promos earlier launched in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, UAE, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and the United States.

Now, Pinoy travelers can enjoy the convenience of using their Globe SIM in more countries while paying rates that rival local SIMs— a breakthrough in international roaming.

"This is a complete game-changer for Filipino travelers, saving them time, effort, and even money,” said Paula Rivera-Castillo, Globe's Head of International Business.

"We heard the call of our customers to expand GoRoam to their favorite destinations, and we listened. These -ber months, when you travel to Tokyo, Sydney, or Vancouver, you’ll immediately have access to data packages at prices within your reach without changing your Globe SIM. That's the power of GoRoam."

The new GoRoam offers include:

● Japan: 10GB for 30 days at Php 1,600

● Vietnam: 5GB for 10 days at Php 800

● Australia: 10GB for 30 days at Php 1,000

● Canada: 10GB for 30 days at Php 2,000

Globe has also supercharged existing GoRoam packages for the following destinations:

● Taiwan: 3GB for 5 days at Php 600

● Hong Kong: 5GB for 10 days at just Php 800

● UAE: 10GB for 30 days at Php 1,000

● USA: 20GB for 15 days at Php 2,000 or 30GB for 30 days at Php 3,000

GoRoam is also available in the following countries at current offers:

● Thailand: 15GB for 8 days at Php 800

● Indonesia: 25GB for 30 days at Php 600

● Malaysia: 5GB for 10 days at Php 800

● Singapore: 20GB for 30 days at Php 1,500

● South Korea 30GB for 10 days at Php 1,600

Activating GoRoam is a breeze through the GlobeOne app, with the option to subscribe up to a year in advance. Travelers can also easily track their data usage via GlobeOne, ensuring they stay connected.

GoRoam ensures that Globe customers can share their experiences, stay in touch with loved ones, and manage work responsibilities abroad.

With its unbeatable combination of close-to-local rates, generous data allocations, and the convenience of using one's existing number, GoRoam is poised to become the default choice for Filipino globe-trotters.

Looking forward to more trips this year? Good news: You can now conveniently book your data roaming offers up to 1 year ahead! Simply open the GlobeOne app, click Shop, and look for the Book in Advance banner to enter your country of destination, promo of choice and trip date. Even better is that you can cancel your booked promo for free, should trip plans change.

Download the GlobeOne and GCash apps to subscribe to GoRoam today. To learn more about Globe Roaming, visit glbe.co/roam.

Toshiba Lifestyle Announces Strategy to Strengthen its Market Presence in Asia Pacific and Reveals Innovative Product Launches in Vietnam

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Major Japanese electronics brand, Toshiba, recently announced its strategic plans to tap into the growing middle-class population in Asia Pacific (APAC) and become the number one Japanese home appliance brand in the region, during its dealer conference in Hanoi, Vietnam.

With the event’s theme of Beyond Details, Innovate Tomorrow, the brand also revealed Japandi and Master of Flow, both solution-based and innovative concepts that their products have been designed upon. During the event, Takashi Sorimachi, celebrated Japanese actor and singer, was also unveiled as Toshiba Lifestyle’s new Regional Brand Ambassador, with the aim of strengthening its connection with consumers.

The Toshiba Lifestyle Asia Pacific 2024 Strategic Dealer Conference gave the brand the opportunity to highlight its focus on innovation, and showcase 65 of its latest products that will be available in the market over the next 12 months, some of which are based on its two concepts of Master of Flow and Japandi.

“At Toshiba Lifestyle, we believe we are well-placed in the Asia Pacific region to deliver our innovative solutions to our consumers. Since 1875, we have established ourselves as a household name in the appliances industry in the region, and we aim to accelerate our growth from here, and give our consumers the ultimate convenience in their daily lives. Looking ahead, we will increase our investments to strengthen our research, retail services, digital marketing efforts and consumer engagement in this key region. We will also work closely with our partners and key stakeholders, with the aim of amplifying our presence and achieving our goal of being the number one Japanese home appliance brand in the Asia Pacific region,” said Zeal Jiang, President of APAC Regional, Toshiba Lifestyle.

Two Unique Concepts, Two Innovative Solutions – 

Japandi and Master of Flow

The event’s theme, “Beyond Details, Innovate Tomorrow”, stems from Toshiba Lifestyle’s 149-year track record of invention and innovation in Japan, one that is steeped in rich, craftsmanship spirit, and in a country that is famous for their highest attention to detail and dedication to achieving perfection. The brand’s focus on detail – from product design to development – combined with its expertise in invention and a desire for a better world, are strongly reflected in all its product solutions.

As part of its growth strategy in Asia Pacific, and staying true to its innovation roots, Toshiba Lifestyle announced Master of Flow, their innovative water technology concept and Japandi, their new product line dedicated to design innovation. Both concepts are aimed at bringing the right production innovation to life to solve consumers’ pain points and improve their quality of life, as well as delivering affordable, premium household solutions to the rising middle-class in APAC.

Master of Flow

The Takumi Spirit[1] is embedded in Master of Flow, Toshiba Lifestyle’s whole house water solution category, which aims to enhance everyday life by improving domestic water quality for drinking, cooking and living with its leading water technology and products. It aims to help consumers achieve a healthy lifestyle, enable easy housework, and ensures long-term durability of water-related home appliances, thus setting new standards for living comfort and efficiency.

Japandi

A blend of Japanese Fuji White and Scandinavian aesthetics, Japandi perfectly embodies the philosophy of Beyond Details, Innovate Tomorrow as it emphasizes minimalism, functionality and aesthetic harmony, serving as the foundation for future innovations in interior design. By meticulously considering every detail, the Japandi concept ensures quality and durability, and with the comfort and well-being of consumers as its priority, the Japandi style anticipates evolving lifestyle demands through its human-centric designs. Thus, making the Japandi style a testament to how timeless design principles can be reimagined to meet future challenges and opportunities.

Toshiba Revolutionizes Rice Cooking with its new series of Advanced Rice Cookers

In Asia where rice is a daily essential, Toshiba also unveiled during the event its latest innovation in the form of a series of digital rice cookers that have been designed to revolutionize rice cooking. Based on 69 years of studying rice and its culinary techniques in various countries in Asia, Toshiba Lifestyle created these state-of-the-art appliances that offer unparalleled control over cooking quality, ensuring each grain is perfectly textured, richly aromatic, and optimally nutritious in terms of sugar content, all to the household members' preferences.

Achieving Greater Heights in a Sustainable Fashion

While Toshiba Lifestyle aims to be the number one Japanese household appliance in the region, the brand is committed to environmental, social and good governance for sustainable growth. For example, under the Green Factory Initiative, the brand only uses energy-saving products with high efficiency, with 28 factories under its remit that are certified as a National Green Factory.

#BeyondDetailsInnovateTomorrow

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[1] In the Japanese culture, when an individual has developed his skills with experience, judgement and expertise, he receives the title of “Takumi”, meaning, master craftsman. Whether it’s about the time, the effort or the attention to the smallest details, the Takumi Spirit is a cherished manufacturing philosophy, brought to life by the pride of both the creator and the recipient of his creation. Source.

Jollibee's joy of #MaagaAngPasko overseas

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Jollibee shares the joy of Maaga angPasko overseas! On its 20th year, the Jollibee Maaga ang Pasko sought to spread holiday cheer to even more children not just in the Philippines but overseas as well.

Jollibeeu2019s annual toy and book drive made its way to Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, enabling schoolchildren to experience the joy of giving.

For the second year in a row, Jollibee stores in Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuwait once again opened their doors to accept donations and engage global Pinoys to send gifts for their youngkababayans.

Jollibee Vietnam did its own adaptation of the campaign (“Christmas is Coming”) to benefit local kids. The store teams in Vietnam led a tour in primary schools in Ho Chi Minh to gather toy and book donations. Making the first international caravan even brighter is a special appearance of everyone’s favorite friend, Jollibee. The fast-food chain’s growing network paved the way in bringing the campaign to foreign shores.

To date, Jollibee has 50 branches in Vietnam, three in Kuwait and one each in Hong Kong and in Singapore.

Filipino communities in Singapore readily opened their hearts to donate toys and books to the Maaga ang Pasko campaign.

Filipino communities overseas also shared their blessings by making online donations through the Jollibee Maaga ang Pasko microsite (www.jollibee.com.ph/MaagaAngPasko). 

With the help of partners Toy Kingdom, Goodwill Bookstore and Blink, they were able to donate book bundles and toy packs to the Philippines.

“Through the continuous help of various individuals and organizations, naging tunay na pinakamaaga, pinakamahaba at pinakamasaya ang Pasko. ( The recent Christmas truly became the earliest, longest and jolliest),” said Jollibee Vice President for Marketing Harvey Ong.

Since it was launched two decades ago, Maaga ang Pasko has brought early Christmas cheer to over 300,000 children nationwide, through the gift of over 1.5 million toys and books. Generous Filipinos also signed up as Jolly Family Toy Scouts, volunteering their time and energy to clean and prepare donations during the campaign’s clean-up phase.

GrabTaxi secures additional funding from Vertex Venture Holdings

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Number one mobile taxi booking app by downloads and bookings in Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, and The Philippines

The future of taxi booking is now, as more markets embrace mobile taxi booking in Southeast Asia.

GrabTaxi, an automated smartphone taxi booking platform, is poised to extend its leadership position and expand into new markets in the region.

Grab Taxi will be able to support an even larger number of taxi drivers and commuters, thanks to additional funding from investors including Vertex Venture Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings.

Vertex Venture is the lead investor in additional funding into GrabTaxi, while another group of angel investors from Malaysia are providing financial support to this young start-up. CIMB, a leading ASEAN universal bank, headquartered in Malaysia has been appointed the main financier by GrabTaxi. 

The GrabTaxi concept was developed by two ex-Harvard Business School students back in 2011 to solve two main issues in the taxi industry – create safer and reliable rides for passengers and improve drivers’ livelihood.

GrabTaxi Founder and Group CEO Anthony Tan said, “From our humble beginnings, GrabTaxi has become the largest and most widely used taxi booking mobile app in the region. In fact, we have fifteen times more booking volume than our nearest competitors. Our own regional survey showed that we’re at the top of our consumer’s minds. More than 50 percent of them aren’t aware of any other service available except for GrabTaxi.”

“The additional investment will allow us to tap into new markets and cement our leadership position as the best and biggest taxi booking mobile app in the region. Our teams are growing and passionate about providing the best service to taxi drivers and commuters. We continue to invest in the best local talent in each market because we want to build a world class team that responds to local demands.”

Around the region

GrabTaxi is the clear industry leader in the five countries that it currently operates in. More than 250,000 people in the region use GrabTaxi at least once a month with the app already being downloaded onto more than one million mobile devices to date. There is a taxi booking through GrabTaxi every two seconds across the region.

As a humble for-profit social start-up, GrabTaxi believes that business and social value can be achieved in parallel. They believe that being a double bottom line company, which focuses on social good as well as economic benefit and enriching the lives of our two key stake holders – taxi drivers and passengers – have enabled us to come this far. 

GrabTaxi’s ‘Share your Ride’ function, which allows users to share their journey through social media or messaging apps with friends and family, has provided extra security for passengers that has never been available before. GrabTaxi also allows users to rate their drivers and view their information, giving users peace-of-mind when booking taxis. Drivers under the GrabTaxi network have experienced a 30% to 300% increase in revenue and our passengers feel safer with our service.

Tan was keen to point out that GrabTaxi takes all customer feedback seriously. 

“It is our policy to suspend any drivers and passengers found guilty of wrongdoings upon thorough investigation. Our stakeholders are always pleasantly surprised when we call them to say that action has been taken,” said Tan.

The funding

This additional investment is a testament to the effectiveness of GrabTaxi and how it has made a significant impact in the markets that they have entered. Vertex Venture funding has provided the impetus to ensure GrabTaxi moves ahead at a strong pace in each market. 

“GrabTaxi is a start-up that has shown tremendous potential and we’re confident that it will continue to dominate the taxi booking industry in the region. We invest in potential champions which have developed new technology platforms or business models that disrupt the incumbents and old inefficient ways of doing things. We clearly see GrabTaxi as one such champion in the making. We are very happy to be an investor in GrabTaxi and we will continue to provide strong support both financially and in strategic value-add to strengthen GrabTaxi leadership position in this region,” said Chua Kee Lock, Group President & CEO of Vertex Venture Holdings.

On being the proud financier of GrabTaxi, Dato' Lee Kok Kwan, CEO, Corporate Banking, Treasury and Markets, CIMB Group said, “From a home-grown start-up, to becoming a dominant Southeast Asia powerhouse in the taxi booking industry today in just 2 short years, this is a clear testament of GrabTaxi’s foresight and resolute tenacity. Similar to how CIMB had grown to become the leading ASEAN bank from our humble beginnings as a small Malaysia investment bank, we are glad to be able to support start-ups like GrabTaxi in achieving their greater aspirations.”

About GrabTaxi

GrabTaxi is a for-profit social start-up with a mission to revolutionise the taxi industry. GrabTaxi started in Kuala Lumpur and now has operations in Singapore, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Runner-up in the 2011 Harvard Business School Business Plan Contest, its core product is a taxi-dispatch service with GPS-enhancements, allowing passengers to hail the nearest taxi with extreme ease. Since year 2012, tens of thousands of taxi drivers have been using the GrabTaxi smartphone-based technologies to receive bookings. 

Passengers can book taxis on their smartphones and tablets (tablets (iOS: http://bit.ly/myteksi-ios, Android: http://bit.ly/myteksi-android, Windows: http://bit.ly/myteksi-windows and Blackberry: http://bit.ly/myteksi-blackberry). with ease and great user experience.

As a humble start-up, GrabTaxi believes that business and social value can be achieved in parallel. It hopes to make a difference in Singapore’s public transportation, by making it easier, safer and more efficient to book taxis. For more information, please visit: http://www.grabtaxi.com.