2:48AM
Earlier today, TEC opened their Blajat project, and just a few moments ago, they also launched their TEC booking app.
It’s a one stop app for all their projects including Blajat, Winter Wonderland, as well as their second entertainment park, the South Subahiya Park which is opening right after Winter Wonderland.
Currently, this app is only available for iOS devices but the Android version is coming soon. To download the app, head to the app store and search for TEC Kuwait.
The pre-orders for the new iPhone 15 and 15 Pro will go live tomorrow September 22nd, but some authorized resellers like Xcite are going to go live from midnight tonight.
So if you were hoping to be one of the first to get the new iPhones at retail prices, you most likely need to pre-order to get your hands on one early. Here are the list of authorized Apple resellers in Kuwait according to Apple:
Alpha
Carrefour
Digits
Eureka
Gait
Lulu Hypermarket
Virgin
Xcite
Yesterday I posted that the new iPhone 15 and 15 Pro will be launching in Kuwait on September 29th and now I have the prices. These prices were sent to me by Gait and are the official Apple prices, so all authorized Apple resellers will have to follow them. Here they are:
iPhone 15
iPhone 15 128GB KWD 294.9
iPhone 15 256GB KWD 329.9
iPhone 15 512GB KWD 399.9
iPhone 15 Plus
iPhone 15 Plus 128GB KWD 329.9
iPhone 15 Plus 256GB KWD 362.9
iPhone 15 Plus 128GB KWD 329.9
iPhone 15 Plus 512GB KWD 436.9
iPhone 15 Pro
iPhone 15 Pro 128GB KWD 372.9
iPhone 15 Pro 256GB KWD 406.9
iPhone 15 Pro 512GB KWD 480.9
iPhone 15 Pro 1TB KWD 552.9
iPhone 15 Pro Max
iPhone 15 Pro Max 256GB KWD 442.9
iPhone 15 Pro Max 512GB KWD 514.9
iPhone 15 Pro Max 1TB KWD 587.9
If you’re wondering if the price is cheaper if you order it from the US Apple store, it is. I’m interested in the 15 Pro 256GB version and I just did a quick rough calculation and if I order it online it would cost me around 377KD after taxes and shipping versus 407KD here in Kuwait. The more expensive the phone, the bigger the difference will be.
If you’re interested in getting it locally, Gait will start taking preorders next Friday, September 22nd.
Last night Apple announced the new iPhone 15 and 15 Pro and I just got word from Gait that all the new phones along with the new Apple Watches will be launched in Kuwait on September 29th.
The prices haven’t been announced yet but they should be available before they open pre-orders on September 22nd.
I’m currently using an iPhone 13 Pro so I’m planning to upgrade to the 15 Pro. I’m not sure its worth the upgrade if you have a 14 Pro, I tend to upgrade every other year but since the phone is something you use all the time, it could be worth the upgrade I guess.
Although Apple Maps originally launched back in 2012, it only started working in Kuwait last week. I don’t know what took Apple so long but I’m glad its now finally working here. While I’m a fan of Google Maps, I find the interface of Apple Maps not only easier to read and follow, but also significantly faster to use.
If you’ve never used Apple Maps before you can now try it out.
Back in October Xcite gave me an Apple Watch Ultra to review which I did, and it was a positive review. But, since I got the watch, I haven’t removed it and as someone who loves mechanical watches and vintage Casios, that’s a problem.
The fact I’m now wearing an Apple Watch full-time and no longer putting on different watches depending on my mood or outfit is frustrating. I had the fancy SVN event a couple of weeks ago which I’d usually put on one of my nice watches, but I ended up keeping the Ultra on. When I travel, I usually like wearing my vintage 1978 Casio World Time but instead I wore my Apple Watch to Istanbul last week. It’s not just me, I have friends who are way more into watches than I am who also haven’t worn any other watch since getting the Ultra.
I think the biggest feature about Apple Watches that has me hooked is the ability to change watch faces automatically depending on various variables I’ve set up. Not sure if you’re aware of this but using the Apple Shortcuts App, you can set up automated tasks that can change the watch face based on conditions. So for example, my main watch face has my next event of the day as the main complication, but if I don’t have any more reminders for the day, that prime real estate is being wasted. So I set up an automated shortcut that checks to see if I have any events and if not, it will swap my watch face to a different one. At night before I sleep I have it automatically change my watch face into one with various sleep-related shortcuts like my Pillow app, alarm, moon phases etc, and remove stressful information like the news or the performance of my stocks. Then once I do fall asleep I have my watch face automatically change again to one with just the digital clock in x-large and in red to make it super easy to read the time if I wake up in the middle of the night.
How can any of my other watches compete with that? They can’t, so that’s why my advice is, if you’re into watches, do yourself a favor and don’t get an Apple Watch.
I’ve been trying all morning to add my NBK debit card to my Apple Wallet but it didn’t work until just right now (around 3:30PM). I was able to add my credit card in the morning without a hitch but the debit card just wouldn’t work, every time I added it I’d never get the OTP code. Then while watching the video below by @talalalyagout I realized there is a way to add it through the bank app.
His video talks about his experience with his bank (which is AUB), but I checked my NBK app and I also found the option to add my card to the wallet through the app and it worked. So if you’re an NBK customer and had the same issue as me when adding the card and not getting an OTP, try adding the card to your wallet through the NBK app.
From my understanding, only 6 banks initially will have Apple Pay and they are:
AUB
Boubyan
CBK
Gulf Bank
KFH
NBK
If you’re ABK or Burgan Bank you’re out of luck for now. From the banks listed, it seems AUB, Boubyan and KFH were the earliest to get Apple Pay working today while NBK seems to be the last.
Whatever the case, finally, we now have Apple Pay in Kuwait.
I just added my NBK debit card to Apple Pay on my phone and watch, but couldn’t activate it. To activate the card it says I need to verify it by calling NBK but when I did, they told me to check the card in a few hours and then call back. I couldn’t add my NBK credit card or my American Express, only my debit card.
The NBK Apple Pay page is still down as of now. Officially, Apple Pay is meant to launch tomorrow (Dec 7) which is why everything isn’t working right yet.
This definitely isn’t a coincidence, after posting about the lack of news on Apple Pay this morning, it was just announced that Apple Pay will be launching in Kuwait on December 7th. Source
Last month the Ministry of Finance and the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority reached an agreement with Apple to operate Apple Pay in Kuwait after removing all the obstacles that prevented the service from operating here.
That announcement was followed by a lot of hype with banks testing Apple Pay and even launching the service on their websites. But, that was a month ago and since then the Apple Pay pages were pulled down from the bank websites and there hasn’t been any news, not even leaked videos or photos.
I wonder what happened since it looked like they were set to launch at the start of the month.