Restaurant Review Service Qaym Releases Arabic iPhone App

Qaym, the Arab website for user generated restaurant and coffee shop reviews, that was previously reviewed here, and recently received an investment from N2V, is announcing the launch of their iPhone application.

The online service enables users to rate and review restaurants and coffee shops, in addition to uploading pictures of them and their food items, discussing their positives and negatives and posting relevant information about them.

The newly released iPhone application provides users with the following features:

  • A list of the best ten restaurants in the city they’re in, based on the ratings of its users.
  • The possibility to drill down and find the best restaurants in the city by category or type of cuisine.
  • Access to the restaurants’ Qaym profiles that show the ratings, reviews and photos that other users who visited it shared and uploaded.

This first version of the application supports the following cities: Riyadh, Jeddah, Manama, Dammam, Khobar, Medina, Buraidah, Unaizah and Mecca. But more cities are planned for future releases of the application.

An Android version of the application is underway, and should see the light of day soon too.

The application is available in Arabic only, and can be downloaded for free from the iTunes store here.

Planet of the Apps Arabia 2011 – April 18-20th 2011 – Dubai (UAE)

There’s no arguing that we currently live in a mobile world, and since the launch of the iPhone a few years ago and all the developments that have followed in the smartphone space, contributing to the spread of such devices around the world, mobile apps have taken over as the hottest innovation area in tech.

Planet of the Apps Arabia 2011 is an event that will be taking place at Dubai’s The One & Only Royal Mirage Hotel from 18th to 20th of April 2011, aiming to cover this fast growing and exciting space. It is organized as a two day strategic conference, dedicated developer masterclass and a technology showcase exhibition.

The aim of the event is to bring together the mobile application ecosystem in one location, and get insights into what the spread of mobile applications means for business from some of the industry experts.

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Yalla Apps: Microsoft’s MEA Windows Phone 7 Developer Portal

Microsoft announced the launch of “Yalla Apps“, a regional Windows Phone 7 developer portal that Microsoft hopes will serve as an accelerator for the creation, availability and submission of local Windows Phone 7 applications from the developer community across the Middle East and Africa region (MEA), in addition to enabling them to be part of the growing global Windows Phone 7 developer community.

Through Yalla Apps, local developers can submit, participate and distribute their applications through the global marketplace for Windows Phone 7 and move towards monetizing their applications and creating new revenue opportunities.

Yalla Apps will also offer developers the opportunity to download Windows Phone 7 application templates, sample code and components to get a quick start in their application development. Moreover, developers can also upload their own code and share it with the community either on a free or paid basis.

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Mobily Launches Developers Community To Enrich Arabic Mobile Applications & Content

Saudi Arabia’s second mobile operator Mobily (Etihad Etisalat) has launched a new project dubbed “Mobily Developers Community” that aims to help developers build mobile applications and software that support Arabic content.

It’s been a hot topic in almost every web or mobile event in the region that there is a big lack in Arabic applications and content, and Mobily hopes this project will play a role in enriching the offering of Arabic content available.

The program is focused on encouraging developers, both professionals and hobbyists, as well as software companies, to unleash their talents and develop quality apps with valuable content for the different smartphone platforms. They also wish for it to become a club for Arabian software talent where members can get their hands on all the resources they might need to create innovative mobile apps.

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