Awalnet’s Al Hussein: A lack of Arabic content is hurting the Middle East

[DavyBUK]

Fahd Al Hussein, the president of Saudi’s largest internet service provider (ISP) Awalnet has claimed that the lack of Arabic content on the internet is hurting efforts to get Saudis online. Speaking exclusively to IT Arabia's sister publication CIO Arabia, Al Hussein, who has headed Awalnet for a number of years, claimed that business should work to addressing the lack of Arabic content on the internet if the region is going to fully benefit from e-commerce and higher broadband penetration. Awalnet's President is also looking to the government to get more companies online and spur the spread of broadband.

According to Al Hussein, ISPs in Saudi Arabia face a number of challenges today, including a lack of infrastructure and high pricing structures from data providers. Despite the obstacles, internet subscription figures are rising rapidly for the Kingdom's largest ISP.

"The market is growing rapidly at 25 to 30 percent year on year. Internet penetration has risen from 8 to 15 percent - this is total internet penetration. Broadband is less than one percent, which is a very low figure. Infrastructure is the challenge that we face in the industry. Saudi is a huge country, and urban centres are spread out. In the country 40 percent of homes are outside the area which we can serve for broadband and they cannot be served well. That is the main cause of the problem we are facing in terms of broadband deployment," claimed Al Hussein.

However, the lack of any meaningful deployment of Arabic language websites is hurting long-term internet development in the region. To date, Saudi Arabia is still lagging behind in areas such as e-commerce, and Al Hussein believes companies should look again at getting online and communicating to the public through the internet.

"If broadband is in place then the economy will boom, e-commerce will boom, and e-transactions will boom. It will be a spur to create content, it will aid in dealing with government departments, and it will empower businesses to take up e-commerce. This will impact the national economy tremendously. In Saudi there are two things you have to remember, in that the corporate scenario is worse than it is for consumers. About 500,000 companies are registered with the Jeddah, Riyadh, and Khobar Chambers of Commerce. The numbers of those companies online are very minimal, in the thousands," added Al Hussein.

Pointing to the effect that Tadawal, online trading, has had on the economy, Al Hussein is looking to push agencies and companies to promote their wares on the internet. Awalnet's top man claims that Saudis are ready for e-commerce, but that there's no local e-portals for users wanting to shop online in the region.

"People want to go online, they want to buy online, and the lack of infrastructure is not helping them. We are behind in terms of development, and we need relevant content. In 2006 one noticeable area was Tadawal, the stock market boom. This was the killer application to make the Saudi population go online. We had old people who had never used a computer coming into the office to ask for internet. They wanted to go online and trade, and this is an example of how good content will make people go online. They were fighting with STC to go online, they were shouting and screaming for the service. Because of Tadawal, our industry grew incredibly quickly," added Al Hussein.

As of today, there are still no e-commerce sites in general use in the country. Logistics providers such as Aramex operate shipping services for users who wish to buy off Amazon.com in the US, but anyone looking for an e-commerce experience locally may be in for a long wait.


http://www.it-arabia.com/news.php?cs=news&c=29&s=true&id=253

[seamo]

A golden opportunity awaits for someone.

Many of our forum members own key generics that could be the first Arabic URL to gain a dramatic and lucrative foothold in this market.

The question is then begged - who here is meeting this challenge and has seriously started development with Arabic sites?

[Rubber Duck]

Problem is, what this guy is asking for is for fully fledge e-commerce businesses. I guess it is a bit chicken and egg. No one is going to make the kind of investment to affect physical delivery of goods, whilst much of the basic infrastructure is not in place.

Adsense sites will frankly not have much impact if they don't have a bit more than poorly translated extracts from Wikipedia, indeed it may just serve to convince many that the Internet is a waste of time.

IDN will have a positive impact once IE7 is out there. This is the fundamental problem and as I have said many times, Microsoft is crippling the economic development in Asia. In my view, it is the clearest and most mindless abuse of monopoly power, and the fact that most information being fed to the market by Microsoft on the subject is clearly inaccurate only gives weight to the idea of a conspiracy.

[seamo]

Problem is, what this guy is asking for is for fully fledge e-commerce businesses. I guess it is a bit chicken and egg. No one is going to make the kind of investment to affect physical delivery of goods, whilst much of the basic infrastructure is not in place.

Adsense sites will frankly not have much impact if they don't have a bit more than poorly translated extracts from Wikipedia, indeed it may just serve to convince many that the Internet is a waste of time.

IDN will have a positive impact once IE7 is out there. This is the fundamental problem and as I have said many times, Microsoft is crippling the economic development in Asia. In my view, it is the clearest and most mindless abuse of monopoly power, and the fact that most information being fed to the market by Microsoft on the subject is clearly inaccurate only gives weight to the idea of a conspiracy.

Well said RD.

Local development is the key to IDN Revolution.

It is a shame to see opportunity go begging though...

[Rubber Duck]

What is further pissing me off this morning is that I can get any site I want on IE7 this morning except this one. I can get this using FF no problem, but I have tried everything using IE7 to no avail. It just won't do it. What a piece of shit!

[domainguru]

"The market is growing rapidly at 25 to 30 percent year on year. Internet penetration has risen from 8 to 15 percent - this is total internet penetration. Broadband is less than one percent, which is a very low figure. Infrastructure is the challenge that we face in the industry. Saudi is a huge country, and urban centres are spread out. In the country 40 percent of homes are outside the area which we can serve for broadband and they cannot be served well. That is the main cause of the problem we are facing in terms of broadband deployment," claimed Al Hussein.

However, the lack of any meaningful deployment of Arabic language websites is hurting long-term internet development in the region. To date, Saudi Arabia is still lagging behind in areas such as e-commerce, and Al Hussein believes companies should look again at getting online and communicating to the public through the internet.



That says to me Arabic IDNs are going to lag significantly behind other markets. Let's face it, Japanese, Chinese, Thai developers have been producing native language web sites since day #1. It really surprises me there is a lack of Arabic language websites out there, but they will definitely come before Arabic IDNs are used, not the other way round.

Also the broadband penetration rate is nothing short of terrible. Arabic IDNs are still a definite long-term BUY, but don't get excited short and medium term. Just my opinion though :)

[Fka200]

That says to me Arabic IDNs are going to lag significantly behind other markets. Let's face it, Japanese, Chinese, Thai developers have been producing native language web sites since day #1. It really surprises me there is a lack of Arabic language websites out there, but they will definitely come before Arabic IDNs are used, not the other way round.

Also the broadband penetration rate is nothing short of terrible. Arabic IDNs are still a definite long-term BUY, but don't get excited short and medium term. Just my opinion though :)

Exactly what I've been trying to say on the forums for a while but get scolded everytime.

[domainguru]

Exactly what I've been trying to say on the forums for a while but get scolded everytime.

I'll put my crash helmet on now then :p

[Rubber Duck]

That says to me Arabic IDNs are going to lag significantly behind other markets. Let's face it, Japanese, Chinese, Thai developers have been producing native language web sites since day #1. It really surprises me there is a lack of Arabic language websites out there, but they will definitely come before Arabic IDNs are used, not the other way round.

Also the broadband penetration rate is nothing short of terrible. Arabic IDNs are still a definite long-term BUY, but don't get excited short and medium term. Just my opinion though :)

Yes, Arabic has lagged significantly behind, but it is catching up fast.

Arab economies are now very much on the up again after a decade of very low oil prices.

There is not particularly a lack of websites, as some of my domains throw up 100 Million pages, and that is not what the guy said. What he is saying is that there is a lack of e-commerce websites. In other words people are not at the moment looking for Arab Dollars. Frankly, that is not terribly surprising but once the introspective nature of western commerce leaves our companies struggling to catch up, it will be too late. The Chinese will be supply all their requirements.

I would also not write of Arabic IDNs so quickly, at present they are still out performing both Chinese and Japanese in terms of type-in revenue.

[domainguru]

There is not particularly a lack of websites, as some of my domains throw up 100 Million pages, and that is not what the guy said. What he is saying is that there is a lack of e-commerce websites.

Well this is exactly what the article said.


However, the lack of any meaningful deployment of Arabic language websites is hurting long-term internet development in the region. To date, Saudi Arabia is still lagging behind in areas such as e-commerce, and Al Hussein believes companies should look again at getting online and communicating to the public through the internet.

Everyone can interpret that as they see fit.

[touchring]

The secret of all investment - Location, location, location.

1. First consideration is the number of internet users and the future potential number of internet users.

Top Ten Languages Used in the Web:
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats7.htm

2. Second consideration is the relative strength of the .com and .net TLD for the languages.

3. Third consideration is the number of natives with extreme wealth and spending power (if i were to cash out at $xxx,xxx for an IDN, the buyer has to be native - this point has become more crucial, possibly even elevated to primary factor, since we knew Moniker brokered that 7-figure Hebrew sale. ;) ).

[Prodigy]

The secret of all investment - Location, location, location.

Top Ten Languages Used in the Web:
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats7.htm

When i started buying IDNs, i used this list as a guide.

The next consideration is the relative strength of the .com and .net TLD for the languages.

Mad props to you.

Also correct about location location location.

Now execute the same strategy for domain extensions ;)

[Rubber Duck]

I think Arab World has lagged in a lot of areas and some of it is linked in with the US foreign policy.

Nearly all US policy towards the Middle East has always revolved around their dependence on oil.

If there is one thing that scares them more than the US being dependent on Middle East Oil supplies, is the fear that the Arabs will become less dependent on the US dollars that the oil supplies bring in. That means it is likely that CIA and others regard it as distinctly against the US national interest for the Arabs to become economically robust in other areas.

However, we are now at the point where the economies of the Arab World are at the point of being far more tied in with those of Europe and Asia than those of North America.

The secret of all investment - Location, location, location.

1. First consideration is the number of internet users and the future potential number of internet users.

Top Ten Languages Used in the Web:
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats7.htm

2. Second consideration is the relative strength of the .com and .net TLD for the languages.

3. Third consideration is the number of natives with extreme wealth and spending power (if i were to cash out at $xxx,xxx for an IDN, the buyer has to be native - this point has become more crucial, possibly even elevated to primary factor, since we knew Moniker brokered that 7-figure Hebrew sale. ;) ).

This is really only reflects the kind of sloppy research that the US is famous for. Unfortunately, such data is affecting the formation of opinions there.

1,143,218,916 is the Figure for English Speakers. This represents the total number that can manage "Hello, How do you do?". This data is totally meaningless when it comes to predicting browsing behaviour.

I think Arab World has lagged in a lot of areas and some of it is linked in with the US foreign policy.

Nearly all US policy towards the Middle East has always revolved around their dependence on oil.

If there is one thing that scares them more than the US being dependent on Middle East Oil supplies, is the fear that the Arabs will become less dependent on the US dollars that the oil supplies bring in. That means it is likely that CIA and others regard it as distinctly against the US national interest for the Arabs to become economically robust in other areas.

However, we are now at the point where the economies of the Arab World are at the point of being far more tied in with those of Europe and Asia than those of North America.



This is really only reflects the kind of sloppy research that the US is famous for. Unfortunately, such data is affecting the formation of opinions there.

1,143,218,916 is the Figure for English Speakers. This represents the total number that can manage "Hello, How do you do?". This data is totally meaningless when it comes to predicting browsing behaviour.

On the extremely Rich Individuals Level, you should be looking at Russia. They are only behind the US and Germany in terms of the number of Billionaires!

[touchring]

Mad props to you.

Also correct about location location location.

Now execute the same strategy for domain extensions ;)


Ah, you quoted me before i completed the 3 Ls. The 3rd factor is also very important, IMO, perhaps even more important than the first 2 factors at this stage.

[Rubber Duck]

Then you should look at Russia.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/BUSINESS/03/08/forbes.billionaires.reut/index.html

Ranks third in terms of Billionaires. Two behind Germany.

[alpha]

yes there is an issue around the lack of e-commerce sites in the Arab speaking world.

however i don't see this as a problem, but more of an opportunity.

Don't kid yourself, Arabic names are a long hold - to be tucked away in a drawer until their day comes.

Ideally you should have a have a diversified portfolio - where you can concentrate on the short term wins and come back to these another day.

JMO

[Rubber Duck]

Which is precisely why it probably makes sense to buy Arabic rather than sell it.

[touchring]

Then you should look at Russia.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/BUSINESS/03/08/forbes.billionaires.reut/index.html

Ranks third in terms of Billionaires. Two behind Germany.


I think the number of millionaires is more important than billionaires:
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/BUSINESS/06/21/btn.globalrich/index.html

After the U.S. figure of 2.67 million millionaires, Germany had 767,000, the UK had 448,000 and China had 320,000 in 2005, according to the survey. Brazil had 109,000, Russia had 103,000 and India had 83,000. Australia was home to 146,000 millionaires, while Canada had 232,000.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=364632

"There are no unions, no taxes and administration is very easy. Barriers to entry are going lower and lower," Bazzy said. Overall, the UAE counts 59,000 millionaires, while neighboring Saudi Arabia had 80,000, Bazzy said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000080&sid=aAyXEXQ8IaDo&refer=asia

Singapore millionaires rose 22.4 percent to 48,500, the report said. In the U.S. the number increased 10 percent to 2.5 million and in Hong Kong they rose by 18.8 percent to 67,500.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2064633,00.html

The report has Germany tailing the US, with its 2.6 million millionaires, and Japan, with 1.4 million -- while world-wide, the number of HNWIs climbed 6.5 percent to a total of 8.7 million.

[Rubber Duck]

A Million Dollars won't get you a house in London!

World wealth is greatly distorted by exchange rates.

US has historically managed to keep it currency much higher than any level for which there is any real economic justification thereby grossly distorting the figures.

The level of the US currency has been used substantially to subsidise government spending and project military might.

Unfortunately, those rose coloured spectacles are going to have to come off real soon before the economic position of the US simply implodes.

[touchring]

A Million Dollars won't get you a house in London!

World wealth is greatly distorted by exchange rates.

US has historically managed to keep it currency much higher than any level for which there is any real economic justification thereby grossly distorting the figures.

The level of the US currency has been used substantially to subsidise government spending and project military might.

Unfortunately, those rose coloured spectacles are going to have to come off real soon before the economic position of the US simply implodes.


The definition of millionaire is usually your assets (excluding the house you own and live in).

[bwhhisc]

The definition of millionaire is usually your assets (excluding the house you own and live in).

I have heard the same, but the assets have to be classified as "liquid assets".

[Rubber Duck]

I have heard the same, but the assets have to be classified as "liquid assets".

That rules out IDNers then!

Answers dot com does not come up with any definitions that take account of liquidity of assets from what I can see. Doing so would make the whole thing very subjective.

A Million bucks just ain't a lot of money these days unless you live somewhere, were the value of assets is very low in dollar terms due to bizarre exchange rates.

The bottom line is that exchange rates in the World are massively out of line with underlying economic fundamentals. A correction is inevitable and the longer it takes to achieve then the greater the fallout is going to be. And simply blaming China is not going to solve anything.

[drbiohealth]

Well, that's the catch. Exploit the unexploited before everyone does! Remember, the apex of the domain pyramid is one and only one, sex.com. Alas, that represents just one domain not many...:(.

Great opportunities are generally created by asymmetric nature of information spread. One glaring example of how illinformed people are about India (the so called one of the poorest countries),

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/09/business/AS-FIN-Asia-Forbes-Billionaires.php

I am surprised that Japan is not on top even though it is assumed to be the richest in Asia. Actually that's the problem with evaluating a country on the basis of pure GDP numbers.



however i don't see this as a problem, but more of an opportunity.
JMO

[alpha]

...Exploit the unexploited before everyone does....

actually i didn't mean that. I meant if there is little penetration today, then there is scope for a whole load more at an exponential rate - vs a mature market where real term growth may be less and the competition intense.

[although your quoted method works too :p ]

[Rubber Duck]

actually i didn't mean that. I meant if there is little penetration today, then there is scope for a whole load more at an exponential rate - vs a mature market where real term growth may be less and the competition intense.

[although your quoted method works too :p ]

This is precisely why the intellectually challenged are struggling to get to grips with IDN. They are still in awe over the opportunities that have been exploited rather than actively searching out where the next set of opportunities lie.

[drbiohealth]

Well, I meant that in relative terms. I seriously doubt there is any language which is 100% virgin.


actually i didn't mean that. I meant if there is little penetration today, then there is scope for a whole load more at an exponential rate - vs a mature market where real term growth may be less and the competition intense.

[although your quoted method works too :p ]

[touchring]

Well, that's the catch. Exploit the unexploited before everyone does! Remember, the apex of the domain pyramid is one and only one, sex.com. Alas, that represents just one domain not many...:(.

Great opportunities are generally created by asymmetric nature of information spread. One glaring example of how illinformed people are about India (the so called one of the poorest countries),

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/09/business/AS-FIN-Asia-Forbes-Billionaires.php

I am surprised that Japan is not on top even though it is assumed to be the richest in Asia. Actually that's the problem with evaluating a country on the basis of pure GDP numbers.


Japan is mostly a middleclass working class society, income disparity is less??

[blastfromthepast]

Lacking in content? Because people want to browse in English not Arabic?

[Rubber Duck]

Lacking in content? Because people want to browse in English not Arabic?

Well, that might explain why we get one of the highest type-in rates from the one language with the lowest levels of connectivity - NOT!

As if to underline my earlier point:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6492833.stm


I think Arab World has lagged in a lot of areas and some of it is linked in with the US foreign policy.

Nearly all US policy towards the Middle East has always revolved around their dependence on oil.

If there is one thing that scares them more than the US being dependent on Middle East Oil supplies, is the fear that the Arabs will become less dependent on the US dollars that the oil supplies bring in. That means it is likely that CIA and others regard it as distinctly against the US national interest for the Arabs to become economically robust in other areas.

However, we are now at the point where the economies of the Arab World are at the point of being far more tied in with those of Europe and Asia than those of North America.

[domainguru]

Well, that might explain why we get one of the highest type-in rates from the one language with the lowest levels of connectivity - NOT!


The crucial point, as always, is whether this really is "type-in traffic" or search engine traffic. I suspect the latter. The markets producing good levels of traffic are the same markets where google search has high market share. That is no coincidence. IDN traffic is very largely search-engine based, not type-ins, and we should all stop pretending otherwise.

Because of that, IE7 penetration is not relevant to current traffic levels for parked IDNs. Which is a good thing in the Arabic-speaking world if only 1% have broadband. You wouldn't expect many people to update Windows regularly on a dial-up.

[Rubber Duck]

The crucial point, as always, is whether this really is "type-in traffic" or search engine traffic. I suspect the latter. The markets producing good levels of traffic are the same markets where google search has high market share. That is no coincidence. IDN traffic is very largely search-engine based, not type-ins, and we should all stop pretending otherwise.

Because of that, IE7 penetration is not relevant to current traffic levels for parked IDNs. Which is a good thing in the Arabic-speaking world if only 1% have broadband. You wouldn't expect many people to update Windows regularly on a dial-up.

With Thai I totally agree.

With Arabic, I totally disagree. The limited information I have suggests that is primarily type-in rather than search.

There is substantial evidence of ISP level IDN support in the Middle East, which permits IE6 type in, but there is also quite a bit of Firefox and Safari.

In any event if were Search which I doubt, it is not generated from Search on English Keywords!

[g]

With Thai I totally agree.

With Arabic, I totally disagree. The limited information I have suggests that is primarily type-in rather than search.

There is substantial evidence of ISP level IDN support in the Middle East, which permits IE6 type in, but there is also quite a bit of Firefox and Safari.

I start to see that arabic traffic is affected by events or news

for example my IDN alahli.com ( soccer team ) traffic is increased to double when there is a hot match for alahli ..... so we are seeing seasonal traffic which is most probably generated by typeins

another thing adds to typein theory is that I have never found arabic IDN while searching google ...never ....

but I think the decrease in typeins is mostly due to absence of IDN knowledge rather than IE7 penetration

[Fka200]

With Thai I totally agree.

With Arabic, I totally disagree. The limited information I have suggests that is primarily type-in rather than search.

There is substantial evidence of ISP level IDN support in the Middle East, which permits IE6 type in, but there is also quite a bit of Firefox and Safari.

In any event if were Search which I doubt, it is not generated from Search on English Keywords!

I hate to burst the bubble, but it is mainly search engine right now. I am 99.99% confident in my stats, and this is across a number of "tests." Some sites that get random traffic seem to be typed-in, but for the most part, it seems traffic is flowing in from SEs as opposed to the release of Windows Vista and IE7 (I have been monitoring the progress), but I do expect this to change by next year quite a bit.

[Rubber Duck]

I hate to burst the bubble, but it is mainly search engine right now. I am 99.99% confident in my stats, and this is across a number of "tests." Some sites that get random traffic seem to be typed-in, but for the most part, it seems traffic is flowing in from SEs as opposed to the release of Windows Vista and IE7 (I have been monitoring the progress), but I do expect this to change by next year quite a bit.

Funny, that I get the Verisign Pluggin showing up quite a bit on Analytics. If it were random search events that were throwing up this pluggin then I would expect very much higher levels of traffic in general, because as we all know virtually nobody has downloaded and installed this plug-in.

Anyway trying to get back on topic we this started out as a discussion about whether they were using English or Arabic. Clearly the question is absurd. Why would I be getting traffic on parked IDN if everyone is searching in English?

[domainguru]

I start to see that arabic traffic is affected by events or news

for example my IDN alahli.com ( soccer team ) traffic is increased to double when there is a hot match for alahli ..... so we are seeing seasonal traffic which is most probably generated by typeins

another thing adds to typein theory is that I have never found arabic IDN while searching google ...never ....

but I think the decrease in typeins is mostly due to absence of IDN knowledge rather than IE7 penetration

What's your top trafficked Arabic domain this month?

[blastfromthepast]

Anyway trying to get back on topic we this started out as a discussion about whether they were using English or Arabic. Clearly the question is absurd. Why would I be getting traffic on parked IDN if everyone is searching in English?

What is the reason then? Government repression of freedom of speech? People are too shy to make sites? Lack of interest in expressing yourself? Lack of computers?

[domainguru]

Funny, that I get the Verisign Pluggin showing up quite a bit on Analytics. If it were random search events that were throwing up this pluggin then I would expect very much higher levels of traffic in general, because as we all know virtually nobody has downloaded and installed this plug-in.

Anyway trying to get back on topic we this started out as a discussion about whether they were using English or Arabic. Clearly the question is absurd. Why would I be getting traffic on parked IDN if everyone is searching in English?

If you have Google Analytics installed for your Arabic domains, you should be able to see very easily number of search visits vs direct visits.

Nobody said Arabic visitors were searching in English, that would clearly be absurd. What the report said was there is a lack of developed Arabic language websites.

What is the reason then? Government repression of freedom of speech? People are too shy to make sites? Lack of interest in expressing yourself? Lack of computers?

Well if only 1% of Arabic users have broadband, that suggests a lack of Internet infrastructure. Also bear in mind, in many Arabic countries such as Saudi Arabia, you aren't exactly encouraged to express your individual views ....

[Rubber Duck]

Lacking in content? Because people want to browse in English not Arabic?

It would seem that nobody is actually reading the previous posts here!

Actually most of my top traffic domains are single characters. It is almost impossible to comprehend, how that could possibly be the consequence of search.

The other thing that tends to suggest is it is type in rather than search is the overwhelming preponderance to dot com.

Not only that the picture has been fairly consistent even before Google started displaying unicode in the URLs. In Thai we noticed a changed in the profile when Search Engines started indexing the Unicode in the URLs. In Arabic I never noticed such a change.

[Fka200]

Lack of broadband in the middle east is what is holding me back from really even caring about "major" development. Websites need to be built well -- and if they are going to be built well, you need images + a great user experience. I can't seem to accomplish that accommodating to people using 14.4k (not going to get into arguments with anyone about the speed -> when I was there, it took me MINUTES to load Sedo).

Till the internet is built up, flash + high content websites will take a long time to load, which is a major problem. I had a friend in the mid east visit one site I developed and he closed it since he said it was taking forever to load, when it takes 5 seconds here to fully load.

[blastfromthepast]

Is the lack of broadband an issue because of a price point, or is it simply not available?

[IDNCowboy]

just develop the porn name flak......... ;-)

lets make some money

[Fka200]

Is the lack of broadband an issue because of a price point, or is it simply not available?

Both. No money = no incentive to product broadband lines. You have 10 people sharing one dial up line for crying out loud. Broadband would work well IF people in a "building" (houses are almost always stacked on top of each other) were to invest in ONE broadband line, then have a wireless router and split the line and cost between 4 or so families. I am planning on introducing this idea to some people... trends catch on in the Middle East, IMO.

We'll see what the future holds.

[touchring]

Both. No money = no incentive to product broadband lines. You have 10 people sharing one dial up line for crying out loud. Broadband would work well IF people in a "building" (houses are almost always stacked on top of each other) were to invest in ONE broadband line, then have a wireless router and split the line and cost between 4 or so families. I am planning on introducing this idea to some people... trends catch on in the Middle East, IMO.

We'll see what the future holds.


The middle east biggest growth factor will be china and india, the chinese and indians will build up middle east infrastructure in exchange of oil. The relationship has just started and the booming Asian economies will ensure high oil prices for decades to come. In antiquity, the silk route led to a strong and prosperous middle eastern and persian empire.

The 21st century will be north east asia's century.

19th century - British Empire
20th century - USA
21th century - NE Asia

[charley]

How about developing an Arabic domain with English content ? Would that work out or would you do Arabic content ?

[Fka200]

How about developing an Arabic domain with English content ? Would that work out or would you do Arabic content ?

I think it would defeat the purpose, but you never know... actually --- it would defeat the purpose!

[clipper]

This is a really interesting thread, lots to learn here.

Why develop at all if there is no customer base?

Further, if you are going to develop for the Saudi market, do it really minimal because of connection speeds... no php, databases... just static with basic html standards.

OTOH, SA is only a fraction of the Arabic-speaking world, and the distribution of wealth there is rather severe, as I understand it. The actual percentage of the population that is capable of consumption on a Western scale is probably very low, compared to, say, Egypt, Jordan, or even those Arab minorities living in Western Europe and the states.

And growth, well, in terms of numbers that will only happen on a broad scale if there is a broader distribution of wealth.

Just some thoughts.

BTW, any of you looked into this?
List of Arabic Domain under امارات. (http://nic.ae/english/arabicdomain/index.jsp)

[Rubber Duck]

Valid comments. The main focus of traffic at the moment is Egypt and UAE rather than Saudi at the moment.

[g]

What's your top trafficked Arabic domain this month?

movies.com ..... always