A New Arab Advisors Group‘s survey conducted on February 2012 of cellular users in Kuwait reveals some details on smartphones and tablets adoption and usage patterns. The survey probed general cellular usage habits, smartphones awareness in addition to tablets availability among cellular users in Kuwait.
The survey revealed that iPad is the preferred choice of housholds that uses tablets and that 51.3% of the total cellular handsets used by the respondents are smartphones. More than half (58.5%) of smartphone users who use applications prefer the English language for their applications.
Respondents were randomly called through a randomly generated table of cellular phone numbers for each of the three cellular operators in Kuwait: Zain, Wataniya and Viva. The survey results encompass answers from 750 cellular users. The survey yields a confidence level of 99% with a margin of error of less than 5%.
“The survey revealed that 82.2% of the respondents who download applications download social networking applications, followed by games applications (60.7%) and then news applications (41.1%).” Ms. Noura Abdulhadi, Arab Advisors Project Manager, commented.

Saudi Arabia occupied the first rank among the countries with the highest proportion of mobile phone users in the world with a ratio of 188%, followed by Vietnam and Oman in the second and third places respectively, according to a recent study.
The study conducted by the United Nations Conference on Trade and development (UNCTAD) indicated that this percentage is by far the highest when compared to the other Arab Gulf states which in turn filled advanced positions in the list with Oman being ranked second with a rate of 165%, followed by Kuwait (160%) and the UAE (145%) respectively.
In his comment on the results, the Mobile Channels Company’s (MCC) General Manager, Salem Alenzi, said: “The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has scored a high growth percentage in the number of mobile phone users between the years 2005 and 2010. This proportion duplicated three times over this five year period, while it did not exceed a ratio 59% in 2005.”
Alenzi added: “It is remarkable that the Arab Gulf states occupied the world’s first ten positions in the list. This can be attributed to the positive economic situation which these countries are witnessing and the increasing number of consumers with high purchasing power, besides the growing presence of foreign workers who constantly communicate with their employers and countries of origin.”
The specialized report also revealed that the number of mobile phone users is escalating among teenagers and 9-year-old children, and that this trend is chiefly driven by the widespread use of the Internet in the Saudi community. The study explained that the Internet is the main source for hundreds of thousands of the most frequently downloaded applications and programs on smart devices which enable users to browse the web content including social networking sites, business applications, data processors, chat programs, protection tools, games and much more.
Alenzi highlighted the economic aftermaths of the high rates of mobile phone use in the area which, in turn, led to introducing new companies specialized in developing electronic work environments while inspiring old firms, with sound recording and TV production businesses being on the top, to revolutionize their existing electronic platforms to keep pace with the latest mobile phones.
According to Alenzi, the demand for smart phone applications whose market share amounts to almost $12 billion is expected to rise within the few coming years in light of the widespread of low-cost 3G and 4G smart phone devices and the availability of country-wide telecommunication networks offering high connectivity and download speeds for smart devices.

The number of mobile subscriptions in the Middle East (see note) will cross the 250-million mark during 2012, reaching 271.27 million at end-2012 and rising to 352 million at end-2016, according to forecasts by Informa Telecoms & Media.

Additionally, the average mobile penetration rate for the Middle East will cross the 100% mark in 2012: It will rise from 97.72% at end-2011 to 107.09% at end-2012, exceeding the mobile penetration rate in North America (US/Canada) for the first time. (The mobile penetration rate in North America at end-2012 will be 102.77%.)
Iran will continue to be the biggest mobile market in the Middle East by subscriptions with   82.91 million subscriptions forecast for end-2011, rising to 122.13 million at end-2016.

Saudi Arabia has the next biggest mobile market in the region by subscriptions, with a 50.8 million active mobile subscriptions forecast for end-2011, rising to 71.32 million at end-2016.

Despite the take-up of smartphones and, to a lesser degree, mobile broadband in some parts of the Middle East, data services only account for a relatively small proportion of mobile revenues in the region overall. Data accounted for 13% of mobile revenues in the Middle East in 2Q11; the lowest percentage for any major world region other than Africa.

But this low figure also points to the growth potential for data in the region. Iraq and Iran, both of which are substantial markets, have yet to introduce 3G networks, for example.
In the UAE, smartphone penetration is already high and will continue to rise further: The smartphone penetration rate in the UAE is forecast to be 47.23% at end-2011 and to rise to 70.35% at end-2016, according to Informa.

In Saudi Arabia, the smartphone penetration rate is forecast to rise from 25.01% at end-2011 to 48.63% at end-2016.
But the rates of smartphone penetration will be lower in some other markets in the region. In Jordan, for example, the smartphone penetration rate is forecast to be 2.2% at end-2011, rising to 17.98% at end-2016.
While some countries in the region do not yet have 3G services, all three of Saudi Arabia’s mobile operators have unveiled LTE services. Etisalat is also poised to launch LTE in the UAE.
However, it will take some time for LTE to gain momentum. LTE subscriptions in the Middle East will number only 1.94 million at end-2013 but will reach 15 million at end-2016, according to forecasts by Informa.
Fixed-broadband subscriptions are also set to grow strongly in the region: The number of fixed-broadband subscriptions in the Middle East will rise from 6.51 million at end-2011 to 11.6 million at end-2016.
The report categorize Middle East as: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE and Yemen.

More info about the research can be found here.

Telecom research agency BuddeComm has launched its Africa – Fixed and Wireless Broadband and Internet Markets and Forecasts report.
It says that “Large parts of Africa gained access to international fibre bandwidth for the first time via submarine cables in 2009 and 2010. In other parts of the continent, additional fibre systems have brought competition to a previously monopolised market. More cables are expected to go online in 2011 and 2012. This has led to massive investments into terrestrial fibre backbone infrastructure to take the new bandwidth to population centres in the interior and across borders into landlocked countries.
Africa’s Internet and broadband sector is set to benefit the most from these developments. Wholesale prices for Internet bandwidth have come down by as much as 90% from previous levels based on satellite access, and the cost savings are slowly being passed on to the retail level as well. Broadband is rapidly replacing dial-up as the preferred access method, and this process is already virtually completed in the continent’s more developed markets.
Most African countries now have commercial DSL services, but their growth is limited by the poor geographical reach of the fixed-line networks. Improvements in Internet access have therefore been mostly confined to the capital cities so far. However, the rapid spread of mobile data and third-generation (3G) broadband services is changing this, with the mobile networks bringing Internet access to many areas outside of the main cities for the first time.
Many fixed-line incumbents have reacted by rolling out fixed-wireless access networks to expand their geographical reach. The technology of choice has been CDMA-2000 which supports broadband data rates with an upgrade to EV-DO standard. WiMAX technology, however, offers higher data rates and has gained ground in Africa with well over 100 networks already in operation. And also traditional copper fixed lines and DSL have seen a renaissance in some markets on the back of an increasing demand for broadband access.”

Top ten African Internet market penetration rates – early-2011
Country and Market penetration
Morocco
49%
Seychelles
41%
Tunisia
37%
Cape Verde
30%
Nigeria
28%
Egypt
27%
Mauritius
25%
Kenya
21%
Senegal
16%
Libya
14%
(Source: BuddeComm based on ITU data)

Full report can be found here.

#Press Release.

Two-thirds of consumers in the Middle East use the internet to research products and services, according to new research published by Econsultancy and Real Opinions.
The Middle East and North Africa Digital Consumer Report shows that 66% of consumers in MENA are using the internet to look for products or items to buy prior to purchase. Of these respondents, 48% use the internet occasionally and 18% use the web regularly to research products.
The report, which is based on a survey of more than 2,000 consumers across different regions in the Middle East, also shows that a third of consumers are currently purchasing products online, and this includes 27% who purchase occasionally and 6% who regularly buy online.
Online consumers are paying for a wide variety of products. Flights are widely bought on the internet in the Middle East, but other things paid for online include hotel reservations, utility bills and books.

Some 39% of respondents currently do not buy online but report they intend to, indicating that consumer interest in e-commerce is set to grow in the region. Some of the barriers to buying online include a lack of trust in payment systems, unsuitable payment options and the lack of online retailers.
Econsultancy’s Research Manager, Aliya Zaidi said: “The good news is that consumers want to purchase online and interest in e-commerce is rapidly growing, spelling out a clear opportunity for companies investing in digital channels. As more companies launch transactional online sites, consumers will become increasingly familiar with internet shopping.”

Zaidi continued: “Consumers also cited poor website design, unreliable delivery and inability to process customer orders, so a focus on best practice can help to remove some of the barriers to buying online.”

The report also examines in detail how consumers use a wide range of online channels, including mobile, social media, search and email.  Consumers are using the internet on their mobiles with 77% of respondents carrying out social networking, and 70% using email on their smartphone. Other activities carried out using smartphones include instant messaging, watching video clips and playing games.
Real Opinions’ CEO, Dan Healy, said, “Investigating the results by country reveals how diversified Internet usage is across the Middle East. An interesting difference is where respondents access the internet, with 34% accessing via internet cafés in Yemen while only 8% use them in Bahrain as 18% use free public Wi-Fi networks.  There clearly is a challenge for some countries to catch-up with others in the region. ”

Key survey findings:
• The lack of trust in payment is cited as a barrier to buying online by 43% of respondents. The second most cited issue is unsuitable payment options, mentioned by over a third (36%) of respondents.
• Social networking is the most popular online activity across the Middle East with 88% of consumers reporting they use the internet for this daily.
• Facebook is overwhelmingly the most popular social media site in the Middle East, with some 98% of respondents stating they use the site.

About this report
The Middle East and North Africa Digital Consumer Report is based on a survey (commissioned by Econsultancy and conducted by Real Opinions) of more than 2,000 consumers across North Africa, the Levant and the GCC. Respondents came from the Real Opinions online panel across the Middle East from a pool of over 100,000 internet users.
The 55-page report looks at internet usage in the MENA region, including the types of products and services purchased by consumers online. The report also examines in detail how consumers use a wide range of online channels, including mobile, social media, search and email.
The survey results are broken down for North Africa, the Levant and the Gulf states. Certain questions are split out further for Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The results show that cultural, demographic and population differences between countries can have far-reaching consequences for marketers in this region.
Report URL
http://econsultancy.com/reports/middle-east-digital-consumer-report

E-commerce confidence among UAE shoppers is on the rise, according to new research commissioned by Arab group buying site GoNabit, a LivingSocial company. The company partnered with independent research consultancy YouGov Siraj to measure e-commerce sentiment among its registered users in the UAE. The research also shows users prefer to shop with credit cards.

This study comes after a one in March this year, the company now plans to release itquarterly.

“Historically, UAE shoppers have bought confidently from overseas websites, but have not had compelling reasons or opportunities to buy from local or regional websites due to a lack of choice, quality and trust. Our latest research reveals a significant attitudinal shift. The majority of people not only feel confident shopping from local websites, but they are actually buying twice as much online from home-grown sites as they are internationally,” said Dan Stuart, CEO and Co-founder, GoNabit.com.

The research reveals that 75% of respondents feel confident buying online from local websites, an increase of 18% since the March 2011 pilot study. Respondents are more than twice as likely to buy from the region where they are resident (60% buy once a month or more) than from other areas of the world (25% buy once a month or more).

In addition to revealing a significant rise in local e-commerce confidence, the research also shows a 16% increase in credit and debit card usage since the March study, with 69% of those polled now indicating that they prefer this option. Card providers of choice are Visa with 52% of shoppers using this brand and Mastercard at 38%. GoNabit and Visa currently partner on “Visa Days,” which provide special discounts and rewards to GoNabit members who pay with their Visa card. Third-party payment sites, such as PayPal, are less popular with 17% of respondents electing to use this payment method.

“A well documented distrust of credit cards among shoppers in the Middle East is clearly waning – with GoNabit built on the requirement that purchasers on our website transacts via credit card. This isn’t about small numbers either; the research shows that shoppers are prepared to spend up to $1,000 or more online in a single transaction. Consumers are confident shopping with us and making large purchases and they’re confident using their credit card to do it,” said Sohrab Jahanbani, COO and Co-founder, GoNabit.com.

Local commerce continues to serve as a great entry point into e-commerce for consumers new to online transactions. In the last six months, 38% of users polled have made their first online purchase. Given that the research sample is made up of registered GoNabit users, there is a strong likelihood that a GoNabit deal has introduced these people to online shopping.

Overall, consumers are optimistic about shopping online in the future – 45% claim that they will branch out and buy different kinds of products online and 34% predict they will spend more money on future purchases. Almost 40% of respondents said they plan to purchase more from websites based in the Middle East region and 41% said they would try shopping from a wider range of websites.

GoNabit says that this optimism and increased confidence in shopping online is a positive sign for merchants, as is the purchasing power of those polled: 44% have a monthly income of $5,000 or more.

The survey was conducted by independent research firm YouGovSiraj between 24th and 31st July 2011, using the GoNabit UAE customer database. Total sample size was 2,470 respondents, 50% male 50% female 65% under 35, Asian 52%, Arab 18% and Westerners 24%.

#image credit.

Google has launched Insights MENA an interactive website that provides research data about the online behavior of urban consumers in five key Arab markets: Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and UAE. This tool comes handy for online professionals, entrepreneurs, mobile apps developers and is alarming for tyrant Arab governments who can see how the shift of media usage and information control is going away from their hands to the internet,

as the research reveals that media usage via the internet is close to TV and newspapers.

The research was conducted by The Nielsen Company Dubai.

For Internet usage rates, UAE comes in top with 84% then KSA with 70% then Morocco with 51%.

Most internet users in UAE are not new to the internet as 52% has been online since more than 5 years, followed by KSA with 34% and only 17% of Egypt for being online 5 years and more. As for being only 1-2 years online Egypt comes first with 29%, jordan second with 23%.

In All countries, 83% of internet users access the internet from home, 26% from office, 20% from cyber caffe, 15% family and friends and 14% in the go. 70% access the internet daily for 11.4 hours from home and 8.7 from office.

The most frequent online activities are: visiting an online portal, using a search engine, send/ receive emails, use instant messaging, visit and access a social network. Reading writing a blog post came also as an important activity with happening an average 4 times a week.

90% of users own mobile, KSA and UAE has the highest percentage of internet enabled mobiles 69% then 58%, morocco at 28%, Egypt 41% Jordan 51%.

Again UAE and KSA has the highest internet usage via mobile 57% UAE 54% for KSA, then morocco 24%, jordan 18%, Egypt 22%. Which means targeting both KSA and Egypt with mobile apps is more important than other markets, even though UAE has a higher penetration rate than Egypt, but 22% percentage from a population of 10s of millions is greater than 57% of few millions in UAE.

As for E-commerce 12% form UAE purchased online, while 19% did online research, then comes KSA with 5% buying online, morocco and jordan stand at 2% and Egypt at 1%. What are the reasons for these numbers? GDP per capita is higher in KSA and UAE than other countries.

A new survey by the Arab Advisor Group reveals that 41.6% of mobile handsets in Jordan are Smart phones with Symbian leading with 62% share of smartphones operating systems. iOS and Blackberry share the second place while Android came in third. Smartphone users also prefer the English language for their applications.

The survey revealed that in Jordan 95.8% and 87.5% of iPhone and Blackberry users, respectively, reported using applications through their smartphones, while 57% of Symbian smartphone users use applications. 91.4% of those who use applications prefer the applications in the English language, where only 8.2% of the respondents prefer the Arabic language.

The Arab Advisors Group said it will conduct two other similar surveys in the UAE and Saudi Arabia in the coming 3-4 months.

If you are a developer then you should seriously think about learning one of the mobile programing languages and start developing apps for iOS, android, BB, Symbion phones. As there is a huge opportunity to make money and succeed not only in the international markets but also in the Arabian market specially with Arabic apps as a new study reveals.

If you want to develop mobile apps for the Arab world, you should start with a platform, but the questions is which one you should choose? based on the matrix you decide and a look at the research at the end of the post will help you make a better business decision. However, you should note a major highlight, Nokia is sinking desptie Nokia is a clear leader now, but faces fierce competition in GCC from Apple and BlackBerry. 54% of those in the study who where surveyed, claim to use Nokia smart phone, 45% consider it their main phone for apps and just 22% would consider it as their next smart phone.

The study is done by AppsArabia the UAE based fund for mobile apps entrepreneurs which is part of twofour54, to highlight the business potential of apps in the Arab world. The study was conducted online and surveyed nearly 3,000 people in the region and the highest response rate came from Egypt, which had 14% of the participants.

Here is the research highlights :

• 49% of smartphone users expect to upgrade in the next 6 months, 70% in the next 12 months.
• 82% who don’t have a smartphone want one and 54% expect to get their first one in the next 12 months.
• 95% of smartphone users have apps installed.
• Smartphone users have an average of 29 apps installed, while 40% have 10 or less.
• 51% of smartphone users use apps all day long.
• 73% like downloading apps that make their life easier and 57% are interested in game apps.
• 82% of smartphone users with apps download at least once a week.
• On average, smartphone users download 6 apps each month.
• n the coming 12 months, 53% of all smartphone users claim they will be buying apps (30% said they wouldn’t and 17% were not sure)
• In the coming 12 months, 24% of all smartphone users claim they will spend more than USD$50 on apps.
• 58% would trade their usage data and receive targeted advertising in return for free app
• 52% recommend apps to friends while half as many (26%) give a simple rating score for those
• they don’t know to see.
• 33% find out about new apps from their friends while most are discovered doing a search on their smartphone (38%).
• Just 14% would evaluate an app based upon general media coverage.
• 62% of all smartphone users surveyed in the Middle East prefer apps to be in English while
• 39% of users who understand Arabic prefer apps to be in English.

Here is the full research:

It’s arguably proven that the internet had played the most important role as a tool that led to the successful revolution in Egypt, eMarketing Egypt made a study to explore how Egyptians dealt with the internet during the revolution.

Ossama El-Badawy, the Online Competitive Intelligence Manager, stated that it is obvious that the internet in Egypt witnessed a dramatic growth after the revolution; the following figures just give a quick view for the current interment status in Egypt:
- 23+ million Internet users,
- 7.7+ million Facebook users,
- And 100%+ Twitter users growth during recent months

The survey was dedicated to explore in details the way Egyptians dealt with the internet during the revolution, the main findings can be listed as below:
-  28% of internet users purely relied on the Internet to stay tuned with the revolution news and updates
- This percentage goes up to 63% among those who participated in the demonstrations
- The Internet had solely shaped the views of 17% of users regarding the recent events
-  As expected, Facebook had been the prime tool used to tie up with events and news as mentioned be 71% of users
- Finally, 45% of users will increase their reliance on the Internet to tie up with coming news and events

I hope more Arab tyrants are toppled soon.

Egypt’s Ministry of communications and information technology  (MCIT) has released ICT indicators in brief for February of 2011. The report says that there are 71.46 million Mobile subscribers in January growing at 1.13 % from previous month with annual growth at 27.95% while Mobile penetration rate is at 91.32 %.

As for the Internet the report says that there are 23.51 millions internet users in January growing at 2.12% from previous month and growing 39.61% annually. Internet penetration rate in January was 30.05% from the population growing at 8.14% annually. While the Proportion of households using the internet from home was 32.76% growing at 7.25% annually.

Another interesting point from the report is that the number of Internet Mobile subscribers is a growing trend: as in January 11.32% of Mobile subscribers use Internet via mobile handsets that is around 8.09 million mobile internet users, ADSL subscribers are 1429.40 thousand.

As for the number of ICT companies ( Information and communications technology companies) the number is 3972 companies in January growing around 1% over the previous month and 13.49% over the previous year, these companies employed 205.28 thousand people and have issues capital of 44870.5 Million Egyptian Pounds.

To get the full report you can view the embed below:

Between 2009 and 2010 Twitter users from the Arab world were estimated to be around 15,000 to 40,000 but these figures were not official and not very accurate. But after the revolution on Tunisia and Egypt, as Twitter has been used as a tool to fuel the revolution,Twitter become a house hold name in the Arab world just like Facebook. An infographic about Digital Marketing Trends in the Middle East from socialbakers and IQPC estimated the number of Twitter users in the Arab region to be around 5.5 Million users, that is 136.5 % growth rate! The infographic goes to reveal that 40% of them are from UAE.
Other interesting figures from the report is that there is 15 million Facebook users, that number however might not be accurate as in Q1 2010 our sources inside Facebook estimated the number around 16-18 million users.
The complete inforgraghic is below, we have another two reservations, e-marketing budgets from the Arab world does not include banners ads spending as it focus on email marketing, smart phone apps, SMS marketing, social media marketing and google adwords. Another one it does not mention the source of the numbers for Twitter users!
Ari Kesisoglu – Regional Manager, Middle East North Africa said that online ad spending in the MENA region is between 110 to 130 Million, thus the report should include banner ad spending to offer a complete picture. USD annually.

Here us the infographics:

A new Arab Advisors Group’s survey of Jordan’s Internet users revealed that over 15% of Internet users in the country are also e-commerce users.

The Arab Advisors Group estimates the number of Jordan Internet users who use e-commerce to be more than 181,000 which is around 3.0% of the total population in Jordan. These e-commerce users have spent an estimated US$ 192 million in e-commerce transactions (buying products, paying for services and paying bills online) in the past 12 months.

We asked Danya Nusseir, senior research analysis at Arab Advisors about these number and she gave us the following: paying for services is around 75 million USD ( they do not have list of services that users buy), pay bills online around 42 million USD, buying products online around 75 million USD.

The survey also revealed that out of the respondents who have an ADSL connection at home, 13.5% share it with their neighbors. Moreover, the survey revealed that WiMAX operators had a 14.3% share of residential broadband Internet accounts in the country, up from 9.6% in October 2008. The survey also revealed that respondents who have a WiMAX connection at home choose higher Internet speeds than those who have an ADSL connection at home.

The Arab Advisors says that survey results answers were from 1,021 respondent which were used as a basis for the survey.

#image credit.

Today Yahoo! Maktoob Research, in collaboration with InterMedia Survey Institute in Washington DC, announces the results of its latest poll among 937 respondents from Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Saudi Arabia.

The poll explores the Arab World’s views on the outcomes of the recent Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship, which took place at the end April 2010. AC covered the Summit live and I view it ” disappointing.”

According to a press release from Yahoo!, the Yahoo! Maktoob Research poll shows that Arabs are “quite informed” when it comes to US activities involving the Muslim world, as almost six out of ten respondents (62%) were aware of U.S. President Obama’s speech to Muslim entrepreneurs, out of which there were significantly more men and Egyptians.

The research reveal that there are very little trust about US intentions towards the Muslims world:

-Less than three out of ten respondents (26%) believe that the United States is either very or somewhat committed to improving economic conditions in the Muslim World. Out of the countries surveyed, believability seems to be the lowest among Jordanians.

-The same percentage is being achieved when asked how optimistic Arabs are that the United States will be able to help improve economic conditions in the Muslim World. Just over a quarter (26%) are very or somewhat optimistic. Men, North African and Levant Nationals are the least optimistic.

-The largest percentage of respondents (82%) states that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the most important issue for the United States to address to prove its commitment to improving relations with individual citizens in the Muslim World.

-The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is followed by democracy and justice in the Muslim World (40%) and the war in Iraq (37%). The other issues are being ranked as follows: human rights (29%), nuclear proliferation (27%), economic development/jobs (24%), religious freedom (24%) and women’s rights (3%). On average three main issues are being mentioned by the respondents.

-A larger number of women seem to be concerned about the war in Iraq (45% versus 35%) and religious freedom (34% versus 20%) compared to their male counterparts.

At ArabCrunch we do not know how accurate Maktoob Yahoo research is and if it truly represent the main stream  opinion in the Arab world..

What is your views?

#Image by AJC1.

Mobile devices are being used in many ways and every day they are getting smarter, as a result there  are new markets being opened by the abilities of smart phones. Today, Juniper Research published a report that estimate a “mobile retail market” to exceed $12 billion by 2014.

The mobile marketing and retail strategies report found that the mobile retail sector – defined by Juniper as comprising mobile coupon redemption values, smart poster fees and advertising expenditure – would initially be dominated by coupons.

The report found that mobile advertising expenditure would exceed coupon redemption values by 2013 as digital adspend is increasingly transferred into the mobile space.

As the retailing industry and brands are becoming aware of, and implementing the mobile device into, the retail cycle. According to report co-author Howard Wilcox, “Retailers have recognised that, even ahead of their wallets, people will usually make sure they do not leave home without their mobile device.

The mobile channel offers merchants the opportunity to differentiate from their competition and acquire customers that become loyal.” Meanwhile, additional factors such as the growth of the mobile web, the availability of high speed mobile broadband networks, and the ever-growing usage of SMS were offering retailers, brands and merchants new opportunities to communicate with customers and potential customers and to offer the ability for them to shop by mobile.

Other findings from the Juniper report include:
·         For brands and retailers, mobile offers the ability to change campaigns quickly (for example by time of day), and crucially the ability to track the success and customer acquisition rates.
·         Usage of the mobile in a live shopping situation can be particularly effective – for example for product price comparisons.
·         While the mobile will be an effective channel for younger users who organise their lives around their mobile phones, older demographic groups are likely to be less receptive to using their mobiles in a retail situation.

#image by hiromy.

According to a recent Arab Advisors Group Mobile Handsets Retail Tracking Reports, Pakistan is the largest mobile handsets market of the four countries (Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya).

In terms of handset models, the research has also revealed that Nokia is the market leader in Iraq with varying performance depending on region and with serious competition from fake Chinese brands and other brands. In Libya, Nokia remains the market leader with noticeable and serious competition by Samsung, the traditional Korean competitor. Nokia is also the number one selling brand in the Pakistani market.

Nokia’s leadership in the Mobile market in the Arab world was also confirmed by Opera’s State of the Mobile 07- 2009 report. (Note that for iPhone users, Safari is the default browser for most users and iPhone remains officially unavailable in Pakistan, Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan.)
Arab Advisors Group report does not specify which type of mobiles are the most popular, entry level or smart phones, We also do not know if Arab Advisor Group counts US and other occupying forces in Afghanistan and Iraq in their report,(As  there are hundred of thousands of foreign soldiers making from 2,000 USD to 30,000 USD a month) But my guessing, is that entry level  phones are the most popular among indigenous population in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan because of high level of unemployment and low GDP rates, even though the first country sits on a sea of oil!

#photo by barnoid.

Jeeran one of the popular social media communities in the Arab world has  recently launched a new subsidiary called Jeeran Research a research agency tailored to the Arab world (they call it MENA !) that competes directly with Yahoo’s Matoob Research.

The new company is using a new reward based Arabic/English survey community called Nazrati –(Arabic meaning: my point of view) to collect consumer data and analyze research for participating companies.

Nazrati is using opt-in methods for users to participate in online surveys, polls and community discussions. In return Jeeran Research will offer its members rewards. Currently it is offering giveaways that value rang from 1000$, 500, 400 down to 100$. According to Nazarti’s website the reward scheme will be based on  monthly and quarterly prize draws.
Like Yahoo’s Maktoob Research, Jeeran Research will be used primary by companies operating in the Arab world, to gauge users’ opinion and feedback which would help companies fine tune their product and marketing strategies.

(Next post the Story of Jeeran.)

New research has shown how the mobile handset market is becoming increasingly polarised between low cost handsets for emerging markets and high-end smartphones for developed regions – with the mid-range handset market being squeezed.

Low-cost handsets and Smartphones will together account for almost 79% of all new mobile phones by 2014, or just over 1 billion units in all. Operators and vendors are preparing to deal with a massive influx of new users from low-income socio-economic groups in developing markets and a rising demand for complex ‘smart’ devices from affluent users in developed markets.

Vendors such as Nokia, Apple and RIM (makers of Blackberry) are well positioned to benefit from these trends whilst players operating more in the mid range market such as Sony Ericsson and Motorola are having to rethink their strategy.

According to Low-cost handsets report author Andrew Kitson: “Low-cost handset shipments will number more than 700 million in 2014, up by 31% from levels seen in 2008, albeit down slightly from a peak of 716 million in 2012 as some users begin to upgrade to costlier devices. At the same time, smartphone shipment volumes will grow continuously across the forecast period, reaching almost 360 million by the end of the period. We therefore expect that mid-range device sales volumes will fall by more than 41% over the period”.

Other findings from the Low cost handsets research include:

· In 2008, the Indian Sub Continent region accounted for the majority (23%) of low-cost handset sales, due to efforts by operators such as Vodafone to meet low-income users’ needs in markets such as India: by 2014, the region will account for 22% of sales

· Take-up in emerging markets will be boosted by the availability of low-cost, highly targeted localised information services, such as Nokia’s Life Tools offering.

#image by sean dreilinger.

More than half of the region’s employers (52%) have said that using top jobsites is their preferred method of sourcing talent, according to the results of a recent online poll series conducted by the Middle East’s number one jobsite, Bayt.com.

Traditional methods of recruitment have now been relegated according to the results: just 11% of recruiters favor newspaper adverts, 9% prefer talent recommendations via word of mouth and 7% prefer finding talent via their own career website. Interestingly, careers fairs, seen as the mainstay method for finding employees in the region, was the preferred method by just 5% of those surveyed.
The ‘Using Online Job Sites’ June poll series conducted by Bayt.com sought to understand from employers just how significant a role online recruitment plays in their organisations and what they consider the benefits of online recruitment to be.

When it came to employers’ opinions on what the main advantages of online recruitment are, it was felt that there was a combination of advantages, but most pertinently was the fact that it is faster than other recruitment methods to which 21% of employers agreed.

Another advantage that 10% of employers found is that it is easier than other methods, while 9% agreed it was more far reaching than other methods of recruitment. A further 5% felt it was the cheapest method for recruitment, while 4% considered it more efficient. Unsurprisingly, many of those that participated in the poll (40%) considered that there wasn’t one main advantage to online recruitment – its advantage lay in a combination of factors.

When asked how many professionals they have managed to source online in the past year, the employers had varying levels of success. A quarter of those that participated in the poll said that they have managed to source between one to five professionals, while 23% said they had managed to source more than 15 professionals. Additionally, 6% of employers sourced between six and fifteen employees.

“The fact that the vast majority of employers surveyed have successfully recruited online, suggests that it has so far been a very beneficial method for finding top talent” commented Amer Zureikat, Bayt.com.
Furthermore, employers were asked how many professionals they aim to recruit online over the next year. More than three quarters of employers that participated in the poll answered they were going to recruit online: 30% stated they aim to recruit between one and five professionals, 12% aim to recruit between six and ten professionals, 7% between 11 and 15 and 29% more than 15 professionals.

“That so many are planning to recruit online this year makes it very clear that organisations trust it as a method for sourcing talent, and that it will likely have an increasingly fundamental role to play in the recruitment strategies of HR departments across the region. It would be interesting to see over the course of the next couple of years how these figures change: the trend of online recruitment is currently gaining momentum for all kinds of reasons – including greater internet penetration and literacy in the region – and it is likely that soon the vast majority of organisations will use online recruitment for some, if not all, of their talent-sourcing requirements,” said Amer Zureikat.

In terms of how recruitment practices have changed between this year and the last, most organisations have made some adjustments, perhaps as a result of the economic downturn.

A total of 16% said they were using the most cost effective hiring methods, 13% said they have hiring freezes and another 13% said they were only replacing staff that leave. Surprisingly however, another 16% said they were hiring more staff than last year, suggesting some organisations are thriving, even during these challenging economic times.

“The data that we glean from polls such as these, which take the pulse of the region’s employers, provides very real and up to the minute insights into the region’s business environment and the current trends in recruitment. Not only is this of great interest to businesses around the region, but it can serve as a tool for HR professionals and other industry stakeholders to understand how recruitment practices can be improved – to secure the best talent for greater competitive advantage,” concluded Amer Zureikat.

Data for the ‘Using Online Job Sites’ employer poll series was collected online between the period of 31st May and 13th July 2009, with a total of 564 employers across the Middle East. This and other Middle East human resources research is available online at www.bayt.com.

The number of LTE next generation networks is set to grow significantly with the number of subscribers exceeding 100 million by 2014, according to a new report from Juniper Research.

The LTE report found that these market numbers will be buoyed by the embedding of broadband capabilities within consumer electronics devices such as MP3 players, Netbooks and digital cameras.

If you do not know what LTE (Long Term Evolution)is? Well it is a set of enhancements to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and is based on 3GPP standards.  LTE is a continued evolution of GSM/CDMA/WCDMA/TD-SCDMA (i.e. 2G and 3G). LTE provides downlink peak rates of at least 100Mbit/s, 50 Mbit/s in the uplink and RAN (Radio Access Network) round-trip times of less than 10ms. LTE supports flexible carrier bandwidths, from 1.4MHz up to 20MHz as well as both FDD (Frequency Division Duplexing) and TDD (Time Division Duplex) according to Wikipedia.

Market Momentum

Juniper Research forecast that whilst subscribers will largely use handsets such as smart phones, and laptops, consumers will be motivated to connect devices in the home by LTE.

Report author Howard Wilcox commented: “There is intense activity in the LTE market right now, with in excess of 30 network operator commitments. Operators and vendors alike are moving rapidly to jump on the road to LTE, attracted by the connectivity-based opportunities that the technology offers. Sony, for example, announced that network connectivity is one of 3 top priority actions.”

Uncertainties Ahead

However, the report determined that there are still several open issues that need addressing before the market takes off. One of these is the issue of device convergence: what will a smart phone look like, and be capable of, in three years’ time?

Further report findings include:

•        Whilst early LTE adopters will be enterprise subscribers, consumers will begin to take up LTE based services towards 2012/2013.

•        There will be multiple millions of LTE subscribers as early as 2011.

•        Embedded LTE chipsets will become the second most popular means of access behind SIM cards by 2014.

LTE Whitepaper and further details of the study, “LTE Mobile Broadband Strategies: Consumer & Enterprise Markets; Devices & Chipsets 2009-2014” can be freely downloaded from the Juniper Research website.

Seven service providers in six countries in the Arab World offer commercial IPTV services in May 2009, up from four service providers in three countries offering IPTV in August 2007. As broadband adoption increases in the region, several operators in the Arab World have plans to implement IPTV in the near future, according to a new report published by the Arab Advisors Group.

IPTV is in its initial stage of penetration in the Arab World, and is still developing. Seven service providers in six countries in the MENA region offer commercial IPTV services. These are: Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Qatar and UAE. Reportedly, there are ongoing or planned projects by service providers and/or governments in seven other countries, which will, in the future, enable offering local IPTV services. These are: Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Tunisia, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.  

Senior industry executives debated the IPTV issue at the Arab Advisors 6th annual media and telecoms convergence conference held in Amman on June 1 and 2, 2009. They pointed to the massive supply of FTA channels and the widespread piracy of DVDs and Pay TV as obstacles facing IPTV providers. They also noted that ongoing FTTH projects in some countries should enhance the fortunes of future IPTV uptake as media broadcasters leverage its interactivity. 

The new report, “An Overview of IPTV in the Arab World” was released to the Arab Advisors Group’s Media Strategic Research Service subscribers on May 13, 2009. The report provides an overview of IPTV in the Arab World. The report includes details of IPTV services that the above mentioned operators offer; furthermore, the report includes fiber optics projects of the other operators in the region that are preparing to launch the service in the future. 

“Internet Protocol TV also called TV over IP (IPTV); delivers scheduled TV programs and video-on-demand (VoD) via the IP protocol and digital streaming techniques used to watch video on the Internet.,” Faten Bader, Arab Advisors Senior Research Analyst wrote in the report. She aded “The IP-based platform offers significant advantages such as: Video on Demand (VoD), the advantage of triple play, the automatic archiving of the Video broadcast in Real Media format, making the TV viewing experience more interactive and personalized, the opportunity for integration and convergence, and it allows the operator to report statistics of programs/channels/adverts watched.” which also represents a significant privacy risk for the average user.  

#Photo by YLE Uudet.

Growth in user spend on mobile entertainment services will slow dramatically over the next two years unless key markets emerge from recession, according to a new report from Juniper Research. In addition, the report argued that slower deployment of content services meant that revenues were likely to be lower than previously forecast even after markets emerged from the downturn.

The Mobile Entertainment report found that, under a worst case scenario of a prolonged global recession, mobile entertainment revenues would increase by nearly $13 billion over the next five years, against a pre-downturn forecast of more than $26 billion. It argued that the decline in consumer discretionary spend was likely to lead to both reduced adoption of, and churn away from, subscription-based content, while the frequency of ad hoc, one-off downloads of games and music would also be adversely affected.

Furthermore, according to report author Dr Windsor Holden, other factors continue to constrain growth, notably ease of access and the cost of data services:

“While operators have made significant strides in reducing the costs of bundled data, the overwhelming majority of mobile users are prepaid customers who want to sample mobile Internet usage before committing to a bundle. And in most cases, data costs are so high that they act as a disincentive to such initial usage.”

Nevertheless, the Mobile Entertainment report notes that despite the downturn in growth, the revenues derived from Mobile Entertainment Services will still be significant. Andrew Bud, global chair of the Mobile Entertainment Forum, said:

“We concur with this report’s identification of so many factors driving growth in mobile entertainment worldwide.  It is clearly positive that Juniper concludes this market will grow so substantially over the next few years despite the recession.”

Other findings from the report include:

·        Mobile TV is likely to be the most severely impact sector of mobile entertainment, followed by music and user-generated content.

·        The Far East & China region will generate the largest share of entertainment revenues.

A new report from Arab Advisors Group analyzes the UAE’s Internet and data-communications market. The country, a regional leader in advanced services adoption, is on track for more growth especially as the market entered a competitive stage.  

The UAE’s telecommunications market was officially closed to all but Etisalat, which has been the telecommunications service provider in the UAE since 1976. Etisalat offers fixed line services over the Next Generation Network (NGN) which enables it to offer voice, video and data over one single source.  

In 2003, the situation changed with the announcement of Federal Government Decree No. 3 for the year 2003. It declared the end of Etisalat’s monopoly status and paved the way to the partial liberalization of the UAE telecom sector. The second telecom operator du was licensed on February 12, 2006. Etisalat’s new competitor, du, is an integrated service provider offering voice, data, video and content services over fixed and mobile networks to residential and business users.  

A new report, “United Arab Emirates Internet and Data Market” was released to the Arab Advisors Group’s Telecoms Strategic Research Service subscribers on February 11, 2009. This report can be purchased from the Arab Advisors Group for only US$ 950. The 83-page report, which has 74 detailed exhibits, provides a comprehensive analysis of UAE’s Internet and data market, online content players, e-commerce and financial services and enabling operators and organizations. 

 ”The Internet penetration in the UAE is one of the highest in the region. Internet accounts penetration of total population increased from 20% by end of 2007 to an estimated 25% by end of 2008. ADSL/broadband accounts penetration of total population reached around 11% by end of 2008. By end of October 2008, Etisalat’s ADSL accounts constituted around 36% of the operator’s total fixed lines.” Miss Noura Abdulhadi, Arab Advisors Senior Research Analyst commented.  

“The period from 2003 till 2008 was very fruitful for the UAE in terms of accounts and users. The Arab Advisors Group projects the growth to continue from 2008 to 2012. Much of the new growth will be in ADSL/broadband accounts as dial up subscribers upgrade to using ADSL or new customers adopt the broadband service. The Arab Advisors Group believes that as du expands its coverage areas, an increase in competition will result, bring down ADSL rates and will cause a substantial churn from the dial up into the ADSL service.” Miss Noura Abdulhadi, Arab Advisors Senior Research Analyst added. 

PS: Image by Matt Werner.

A new report from Arab Advisors Group analyzes the cellular tariffs for 46 cellular operators in 19 Arab countries. Operators in Lebanon have the highest average cost of prepaid cellular minutes in the Arab World while those in Morocco have the highest average cost of postpaid cellular minutes. Egypt and Yemen offer the lowest average cellular minute costs for prepaid and postpaid respectively. 

The Arab Advisors Group has analyzed the cellular rates in the following nineteen Arab countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, and Yemen. In order to allow for comparisons, the report focuses on the average cellular rates of these countries’ 46 operational cellular providers. In calculating the average cellular rates, the Arab Advisors Group relied on the simple average for all relevant packages and offers in each market. The average peak and off peak minute rates in the report include the tariffs for on net and off net traffic. The report also covers the airtime billing methods that the cellular operators use. 

A new report, “Cellular Rates in the Arab World: A Regional Comparison” was released to the Arab Advisors Group’s Telecoms Strategic Research Service subscribers on February 5th, 2009. This report can be purchased from the Arab Advisors Group for only US$ 950.

The report covers the following cellular operators that were operational by end of December 2008. These are Algerie Telecom Mobile (Mobilis), Orascom Telecom Algeria (Djezzy), Wataniya Telecom Algeria (Nedjma), Batelco, Zain Bahrain, Vodafone Egypt, MobiNil, Etisalat Misr, Asiacell, Korek Telecom, Zain Iraq, Zain Jordan, Orange, Umniah, XPress (iDEN operator), Wataniya Kuwait, Zain Kuwait, VIVA, MTC Touch, Alfa, Libyana, Mattel, Maroc Telecom, Medi Telecom, Wana, Nawras Telecom, Oman Mobile, Jawwal, Qtel, Saudi Telecom (AlJawal), Etihad Etisalat (Mobily), Bravo (iDEN operator), Zain Saudi Arabia, Zain Sudan, MTN Sudan, Sudatel, MTN Syria, Syriatel, Tunisie Telecom, Orascom Telecom Tunisia (Tunisiana), Etisalat, Du, MTN Yemen, Sabafon, Yemen Mobile and HITS-UNITEL (Y). Al Madar Aljadid in Libya, Mauritel and Chinguitel in Mauritania were not included in the report, as reliable information on rates could not be collected.  

“Increased competition in Arab cellular markets is driving operators into adopting billing per second or fractions of a minute. As of October/November 2009, an array of 13 different billing methods were in use by 46 cellular operators in the 19 covered Arab countries. 14 operators still use the traditional (and most profitable) per minute billing. Although the majority of operators have abandoned this method, it is still the most common billing method utilized, as it is utilized in 39% of postpaid billing methods and 37% of prepaid billing methods. Per second billing, which offers the best value for end users, is the basis for a total of 8 operators in the Arab World.” Mrs. Faten Bader, Arab Advisors Group senior research analyst commented. 

The Arab Advisors Group analyzed the ownership structure and revenues of all fixed PSTN line and cellular operators in sixteen Arab countries. The analysis aimed at examining the “actual” level of privatization and state ownership in each country measured by the proportionate share of each operator of total market revenues. The analysis also revealed that the Palestinian market is the most privatized market.  

The Arab Advisors Group has analyzed the ownership structure and revenues of all fixed line and cellular operators in the region. This was intended to shed a light on the actual level of privatization and state ownership in each country measured by the proportionate share of total revenues for the first nine months of 2008.  

A new report, “Privatization Levels in Arab Fixed and Cellular Operators” was released to the Arab Advisors Group’s Telecoms Strategic Research Service subscribers on January 19, 2009. This report provides a detailed analysis of the ownership structures and revenues and the level of privatization by revenues of all the cellular and main fixed operators in the countries covered. Please contact the Arab Advisors Group to get a copy of the reports Table of Contents.  

 “Lebanon and Libya have the least privatized telecom markets, with 100% government share (ownership) of PSTN and cellular telecom revenues. The public sector in Kuwait had the highest share of the PSTN and cellular revenues amongst all examined public sectors. In terms of local private sector revenue share, Palestine and Kuwait had the highest shares. Finally, in terms of foreign ownership proportionate share of revenues, Jordan had the highest share of 75% of proportionate PSTN and cellular revenues, followed by Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria.” Ms. Hadeel Sakkijha, Arab Advisors Sr. Analyst commented.