BT News Tablet gets even more attractive for Christmas

Singapore

THE Business Times is launching a Christmas promotion for its News Tablet Edition, which has been gaining converts since it was unveiled in the middle of September.

The Christmas promotion was launched on Dec 1 and includes a gift bundle worth up to S$150, comprising a limited edition BT tablet cover, 128GB Samsung EVO Plus microSD Memory Card, a 30-month News Tablet Device Protection Plan and complimentary delivery.

BT readers like Lim Shi Min and Tang Xiaochao are already making the most of their subscriptions to The Business Times News Tablet Edition.

As the head of sales at a logistics company that transports oil and gas equipment around the world, it has become imperative for Mr Lim,34, to "keep abreast of the latest economic news" in Singapore and Asia.

Having been a subscriber of BT since 2016 when he was living with his parents, he continued subscribing in 2019 when he moved into his own place.

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Said Mr Lim: "It's critical that I get to read the newspaper every morning for business news... these are things I need to know because they affect my job."

With physical deliveries, Mr Lim estimates that newspapers could arrive late up to three times a month, especially during the rainy season. With the Covid-19 pandemic, his condominium introduced restrictions on visitor entry, which has resulted in delays of the newspapers.

He recalled how a confirmed virus case in his condominium had also resulted in a lockdown, and only one delivery vendor was allowed in to deliver newspapers to the entire condominium.

When BT launched its News Tablet Edition in September, Mr Lim thought the move towards digitalisation was "a good initiative" that would bring about "more stability and convenience for readers".

"(With the tablet) it's a guarantee that by 6am latest, the paper will be available and I can just download it. There's no more delays caused by human factors, and I have a guarantee that the news is definitely there for me."

Under the subscription package, subscribers will get the exclusive SPHtab e-paper app pre-installed on a Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite (LTE) tablet for S$39.90 a month over 30 months. The 10.4-inch touchscreen on the Tab S6 Lite (LTE) tablet and the bundled S Pen stylus allow for quick zooming, clipping and sharing stories from the BT e-paper, which is an electronic facsimile of BT's print edition.

Although the e-paper is also available on the BT website and apps, the SPHtab makes the reading experience even more seamless by removing the need for user IDs and passwords.

All of this means that readers find themselves reading the paper more with the tablet.

BT reader Tang Xiaochao,35, who runs his own online e-commerce business selling clothes and toys for children, said the news tablet has made it much more convenient to read the news throughout the day. In the past, he would read the newspaper just once in the morning before heading off to work.

Said Mr Tang: "We don't have to flip an old school newspaper anymore... Now we can carry the tablet everywhere and read the newspaper in taxis and buses."

And reading the news more often has helped him make critical "economic decisions" such as including face masks in his store product mix given the high demand amid the pandemic.

Similarly, Mr Lim finds himself accessing the paper more with the tablet, taking it along with him and logging into the app to look at the latest breaking news articles - something he could not do with the physical newspaper.

"I've been looking at BT a lot more now with the tablet. At the end of work, I will just log in to take a look at the latest breaking news just to keep abreast of the latest developments (in the markets)," he said.

Apart from government policy changes and macroeconomic news, Mr Lim pays attention to stock market developments and investment advice. In his words, he isn't "financially trained" and doesn't have the luxury of time to do his own analysis on which stocks to buy.

"There are certain times when BT has made recommendations on certain stocks - I'll just read them and if it makes sense I will invest in them," he said.

For instance, he said he sold some gold options in his portfolio after reading news about soaring gold prices, and invested in Keppel Corporation after extensive reports on the conglomerate. He has also invested in real estate investment trusts (Reits) such as CapitaLand Mall Trust and Ascendas Reit to bring "some stability" to his portfolio.

In his view, these decisions have now been made easier for investors like him with an "added device" like the news tablet.

"There could be a lot of people like me who are too busy to look at the stock market. So we make decisions based on BT's recommendations," he said.

Subscribe now at btsub.sg/btnews.