Challenges To Web 2.0 In The Arab World

This guest blog is by Mohamed Nanabhay , Head of New Media at the AlJazeera Network based in Doha, Qatar.

Launching an internet company in the the region can be a challenging endevour. While there is lots of startup activity going on, it is worthwhile looking at what those challenges are when starting up or assessing the success rate of the newest kid on the block. The three big challenges facing entrepreneurs in the region are:

  1. Low internet penetration
    Across the entire Middle East and North Africa (MENA), you’re looking at approximately 25 million internet users (of which less than 6 million have broadband). But that doesn’t give you an accurate figure for the size of the market – to get that number we need to remove Iran and Israel which leaves us with an astonishing figure of under 10 million internet users and about 3 million broadband users.Whichever way you look at it, 10 million is not a big number. To put it into perspective, France alone has nearly 16 million internet users (with 12 million broadband users) but entrepreneurs are finding it difficult to start-up just for the French market. Loic Le Meur tells the story of Richard Branson telling him that his problem was that he was French which limited his market. Loic has moved to decided that it was too small a market to start Seesmic in so he moved to San Francisco.

    This of course does not mean it is impossible to build a company or site for the Arabic interweb, it just means that there is a problem of scale.

  2. Online advertising market immature
    So even if you managed to capture a sizable chunk of the online audience, you’re faced with a problem of revenue generation. Forget trying to build a business based on a subscription model (which is so 1.0 anyway) since credit card penetration is probably lower than internet penetration. So what you’re left with is seeking out online advertising or sponsorship.I have yet to see a serious player in this market (if you know of one please let me know ASAP) which sadly means that there is no serious underlying business model. This is changing slowly – Google has setup shop in the region and has been promoting Adwords to the marketing folk but I suspect it will take some time before we see impressive CPMs.
  3. The environment is not conducive for startups
    But even if there was an advertising model that worked, we’re still left with the fact that there isn’t a strong internet startup culture and most online plays lack any serious innovation. Even the sweet services from the TootCorp gang are more or less localised versions of Silicon Valley startups (Ikbis = Youtube & Watwet =Twitter).Of course, this problem isn’t limited to the region but it should be something people are concerned about. I’ve seen people being put down in so many ways when trying to launch something new and novel. I have two university students interning for me – they are super-smart, motivated and hardworking. There is no reason that they couldn’t build a rockin’ internet company. Unfortunately I’ve seen many people (from lecturers to people who should get it) continually being totally hostile to the web projects they work on. Definitely not the way to foster innovation….

    And lest we forget the bureaucracy…

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Why I Don’t Trust Arab Online Services

This guest blog is by Qwaider of Memories Documented.

I just can’t get my self to trust the Arab online services for many reasons. They’re emerging, they’re growing, but this one area that I fear that I’m never going to venture to.

And here is why…

Privacy
Privacy is the next big buzzword that you’re going to be hearing about from now on. It will by synonymous with security and is a great concern for great deal of researchers and experts mainly because the world as we see it today. Is going to continue to morph to depend more on alternate methods of identity. With Privacy as it’s cornerstone. Someone who has your information has the ability to steal your identity. Which will be catastrophic in the future. But that’s not all.

Lets face it, for Hotmail, I’m just a figure, no one is going to be interested in what I have in my inbox. But I sadly can’t say the same about Arabic services… That’s just the way it is. All you have to do is cross the wrong people. Who may not even be the decision makers or the admins themselves but they know a friend of a friend of their girlfriend, and now …. they know everything about you.

When I establish an account at Google, Facebook or even my space. I know that my private information is going to continue to be my private information. Someone accessing it illegitimately might be subject to very harsh disciplinary actions, and might do jail time.

I can’t feel the same about my information on ANY Arabic social or online server. So I stay away.

Quality
The Quality of a service that is pumping millions into their online presence is something you can feel. Even though the services grow and prosper. Their quality usually gets better as economies of scale starts kicking in. Sadly, this is not the case for Arabic online services and the results are disappointing.

Accountability
When something goes wrong. I know where to go to normally when dealing with an international company. I deal with a company and not an individual. So I know that even if someone is not there, things will still function. But sadly that’s not the case with Arab online services where accountability is really not that clear, and knowing people is the only way to get things done.

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