Archive for the ‘United Arab Emirates’ Category
Beeyoot, A New UAE Real Estate Property Listing Portal
Mohamed Marwen Meddah | July 2, 2009 – 1:14 pm |
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Beeyoot is a new real estate listings website for the UAE, that was just launched into public beta, and which aims to connect property sellers directly to buyers and renters.
With the current downturn in the real estate market in the country, you’d think this wouldn’t really be best of times to launch a new real estate portal; but Beeyoot believes otherwise and are sure that their model putting property owners and buyers or sellers directly in touch with each other, without any intermediaries, creates room for a new momentum in the distressed real estate industry.
Beeyoot’s platform aims to help buyers and renters save on property searching costs by providing them with a free service, while enabling sellers or landlords to list their properties for a modest fee (AED 50 / USD $15 per month for the basic package), with the benefit of dealing with buyers and renters directly.
More advanced packages for users who want their properties featured more prominently and investors who have multiple properties are also available.
The interface was designed to be simple and usable, in the same time providing users with quite a rich set of functionalities and filters to find what they’re looking for.
The portal’s services are currently exclusive to the UAE market, however they are planning to franchise the platform to other GCC countries.
The service is currently in beta, and is for a limited time allowing free basic property listings.
Beeyoot also has a blog called ‘The Glasshouse’ which will be featuring relevant information articles about the real estate in the UAE by industry specialists.
MasterCard Survey: Online Shopping In UAE Peaks In Fourth Quarter Of 2008
Mohamed Marwen Meddah | June 17, 2009 – 9:29 pm | Comments
Per capita online shopping in the UAE reached $1,193 (Dh4,378) in the fourth quarter of 2008, making it the highest in the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa region, according to the latest MasterCard survey.
Online shoppers made an average of 3.6 purchases in the fourth quarter of 2008, compared with 3.1 during the same quarter in 2007.
Shoppers in the UAE conducted 26% of their overall shopping online, and 59% of them splashed out on airline tickets - the number one purchase according to the report.
Around 37% of people surveyed bought home appliances and electronic products and 30% paid for hotel accommodation online.
Surprisingly, not only have UAE consumers shopped more frequently despite the economic situation, they’ve also showed an increased intention for future online shopping compared to a year ago, with 60% of respondents expressing that were “likely” or “very likely” to shop online.
[Source: Gulf News]
Winners Of The MIT Arab Business Plan Competition 08-09
Mohamed Marwen Meddah | June 12, 2009 – 12:07 am | Comments
The MIT Arab Business Plan Competition is a competition designed to encourage all entrepreneurs in the Arab world to start their own company and, ultimately, create a nest of leading firms in the Arab world.
The current version of the competition officially started on November 10th 2008, by opening up registrations. A few hours ago, the final round took place in Dubai, where the 10 finalists did oral presentations of their business plans to the jury panel, and the awards were handed out.
The winners of this edition of the MIT Arab Business Plan Competition are as follows:
First place: A tie between Syphir (Husain Al-Mohssen, Courtland Allen, Ghassan Fayad, Faisal Alibrahim [Saudi Arabia]) and HAYATI Healthcare LLC (Michael Matly, Tariq El-Titi, David Matly [United Arab Emirates])
Second place: Rice Straw Fertilizer Company (Ibrahim Khater Youssef, Ahmed El Dorghamy, Mohamed Abdel Raouf [Egypt])
Third place: Blog Souq (Ahmad Takatkah, Adey Salamin, Ammar Ibrahim [Jordan])
According to the terms of the competition, the winner of the competition should receive prize money of USD 50,000; which in the case of a tie will most probably be split in two. The members of the winning teams will also be given the opportunity to attend the MIT Global Startup Workshop (GSW).
The first and second runner-ups will receive a check of USD 10,000 and USD 5000 respectively.
Besides the financial reward, the winning teams will be provided with coaching/mentoring from the members and network of the MIT Enterprise Forum who will also help the winners get their businesses up and explore further funding opportunities by introducing them to business development centers, financing institutions, and similar organizations.
Argaam Opens Up To Contributions Through Alpha Beta
Mohamed Marwen Meddah | June 7, 2009 – 3:19 pm | Comments
Argaam, the Arabic financial portal, has just launched Alpha Beta, a section of the portal for informed visitors to contribute through posting their analysis of news and events taking place in the market, as well as any information that they might have that isn’t necessarily common knowledge to everyone interested in the stock market and economy in general.
Alpha Beta is open for direct contributions in the form of articles, news, opinions, analysis about regional or worldwide stock markets, investment opportunities; as well as comments and followup on articles published on the portal.
Argaam hope to create a vibrant open environment for discussion and sharing of new ideas, enabling the portal’s visitors to connect, interact and exchange opinions and information that will help enrich and develop the investment culture in the Arab world.
The portal’s editors will go over submitted material before it is published to make sure of its quality, accuracy and reliability, as well as its adherence to the guidelines for these articles, which ask for them to be focused, unbiased and precise among other criteria.
It’s an interesting move from Argaam, attempting to tap into the knowledge of the crowds for insider information about a financial market where there’s more to each story than what figures in the official press releases and news, in addition to all that takes place behind the scenes.
As with the parent portal Argaam, Alpha Beta is available in Arabic only.
Over 69% Of UAE Consumers Have Bought Something Online
Mohamed Marwen Meddah | June 4, 2009 – 10:31 am | Comments
Google recently hosted a day for the top agencies in UAE, in an initiative to point businesses to the hotspots in online media.
In preparation for the Agency Day, Google surveyed 1,410 consumers in UAE about their purchasing behaviour, and was able to build an accurate picture of online/offline research and purchase segmentation, use of search engines and attitudes to online shopping in UAE in 2009.
The data gathered from the survey was revealed to the agencies as part of the training, aiming to stress on the importance of getting online. The results reflected the increasing sophistication of consumers in purchasing behaviors and the need for businesses to update their online presence to capture this market.
The main highlights from the UAE report are:
- More than 69% of respondents have bought something online.
- Amongst UAE residents, the Internet is the ‘information tool’ used most often when researching possible purchases across a range of categories including digital cameras/camcorders, mobile phones, cars as well as hotel reservations.
- Search engines are the most used source of online research information (81% of respondents). Manufacturer websites (49%), Directories and local listings (27%), retailer websites (26%), and online auction websites (25%) are also very popular.
- Search engines are used most for research in relation to technology (67%) and travel (48%) products.
- Google is the preferred search engine in the UAE with (58% preferring google.com and 38% preferring google.ae)
- In general, as a mean average across the 20 products listed in the survey, 11% of all product purchases were researched and purchased online; 28% were researched online but purchased offline; 5% were researched offline but purchased online; and 56% were researched and purchased offline.
- Credit and debit cards (64% of respondents) are the most common payment method when making online purchases
- 74% of the UAE online users notice sponsored links, and of those who do notice them 7% almost always, 6% regularly, 45% sometimes and 22% seldomly click on them.
- While one third of UAE respondents say the current economic crisis has not changed their shopping habits, an almost equal proportion say the recent financial turmoil has led to less of their shopping being done online. This may be related to the fact that many of their online purchases may have fallen more into the ‘non-essential/leisure’ categories (i.e. travel and event tickets) which people choose to cut out during difficult economic times.
- In the UAE, English (76% of respondents) is by far the most popular ‘search’ language (likely to be related to the highly multinational nature of UAE society) vs. 23% preferring to search in Arabic.
Nokia Offers $100,000 To Top Arabic Ovi Developer
Mohamed Marwen Meddah | June 2, 2009 – 11:12 pm | Comments
Nokia, through its developer community effort Forum Nokia, has launched a competition called Bil3arabi ‘Calling All Innovators’, inviting all Arab developers around the region to take part by creating local Arabic content for their Ovi Store.
The Bil3arabi competition was announced at the official launch event for their new Nokia N97 phone in Dubai.
Bil3arabi is open to all mobile and web application developers in the region who can submit local content to any category within the Ovi Store, from applications to widgets, video, personalization, games, audio, flash & active idle widgets, with a focus on internet innovation, flash, and mobile games.
The window for submissions opened today June 2nd and will run until October 30th, with the winners to be announced December 7th.
Submissions will be judged both by customers who download and rate the application and experts from Forum Nokia, with the grand prize winner taking home $100,000 for their efforts.
For more details about the competition and how to apply check the site: Bil3arabi ‘Calling All Innovators’
[Via: ITP]
Etisalat Launches Own New Instant Messaging Service
Mohamed Marwen Meddah | June 2, 2009 – 10:54 pm | Comments
Etisalat, the UAE telecoms operator, announced the launch of its own IM (Instant Messaging) service for its mobile phone and internet customers.
Etisalat Messenger is similar in concept to other chatting applications like Yahoo! Messenger, MSN and Google Talk, allowing subscribers to send messages in both Arabic and English between mobile phones and computers.
With this move, Etisalat aims to target the young generation in the UAE with whom instant messaging is one of the more popular forms of communication.
Conversations in Etisalat’s messenger can also include multimedia; for example pictures, video and sound clips. Messages sent while recipients are offline are delivered to them as SMS or MMS messages.
Etisalat Messenger comes in two packages; one with unlimited usage at a fixed monthly rate and another which enables users to send and receive unlimited messages for a fixed session period of 15 minutes at a per session cost.
For more details about Etisalat Messenger, pricing and activation; check the product page on the official site: Etisalat Messenger.
[Via: ITP]
H2O New Media Announces SODA CMS With Support For Location Based Services
Mohamed Marwen Meddah | May 16, 2009 – 12:55 pm | Comments
H2O New Media has just announced the availability of the SODA Content Management System which they describe as the first Web 2.0 Content Management system to support location based services.
These location based services should allow members of any social community built on the SODA content management system to send its users emails, SMS messages and alerts based on a users physical location.
Steve Vaile, CEO of H2O New Media, says that “The SODA CMS allows any community member to receive notifications either by SMS, MMS, Video or by email to their mobile phone based on their location. The development will enable our publishing and corporate customers to offer innovative new services and applications to their customers and internal based on location and vicinity on their mobile phone. Social communities should operate seamlessly between both web PC & mobile handsets, and with SODA taking advantage of location based services its really one of the first social media technology platforms to create a bridge between the online and the physical world.”
He continues to say that “with SODA a customer can deploy a social media platform that will allow its users not only to communicate with each other but to know where each other are, based on their preferences of course. For example if you are a member of a social community you can receive an SMS text when you are close to your friends, marketers can use it to message users are close to a store that has a promotional offer.”
H2O New Media provides social media applications based on software as a service (SaaS) model to corporate companies in the Middle East. H2O New Media clients include United Business Media, Sian Events, Channels Exhibitions, CSM, G2 Publishing and many other leading events and media companies.
Conservus International Wins Red Herring 100 Europe Award
Mohamed Marwen Meddah | May 6, 2009 – 9:09 am | Comments
Red Herring recently announced that Conservus International was named a winner of the Red Herring 100 Europe, an award given to the top 100 private technology companies based in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region each year.
Conservus International is responsible for the conceptualization, design and development of a digital targeted advertising medium known as the MyConservus Portal.
The MyConservus Portal is an e-concierge service which highlights services available at a single location and provides advertisers with direct access to potential consumers while generating revenue from these advertisements.
Conservus International has similar e-concierge portals that can be used in the Hospitality, Business and Community sectors, and seeks to expand the MyConservus portal’s reach internationally by entering into potential franchise discussions with technology companies.
Conservus was one of the three UAE based technology companies that got an investment from Intel Capital earlier this year, and are also an IV Holdings portfolio company.
Red Herring’s lists of top private companies are an important part of the publication’s tradition of identifying new and innovative technology companies and entrepreneurs. Companies like Google, eBay, and Skype were spotted in their early days by Red Herring editors, and touted as leaders that would change the way we live and work.
Vignette to Hold Middle East Web Convention 2009 In Dubai
Mohamed Marwen Meddah | April 24, 2009 – 10:22 pm | Comments
Vignette, the web content management software company, will be holding the first edition of the Middle East Web Convention along with its main partners on the 27th of April at the Madinat Jumeirah hotel in Dubai.
The event organizers say that it will be bringing together a multitude of senior executives from across the region and across various industries, to talk about how enterprises can maintain a competitive advantage by using innovative web technologies that provide dynamic web experiences.
According to Yahya H. Zeitouneh, General Manager of Vignette Middle East: “… The Middle East Web Convention 2009 has been shaped to bring into focus all the most modern web technologies available, whilst providing attendees networking opportunities with leading technology experts.”
Looking at the agenda though suggests that it will mainly be revolving around Vignette’s own solutions, and how those can be put to use in organisations to manage their online presence, engage their customers and more, making it a Vignette convention more than anything else.
On the other hand, results of an interesting report on web usage and trends in the Middle East across 12 countries as compared to Western Europe will be presented during the event by Chris Averill, Managing Director of we are:london.
