... and now Blogger goes Arabic too !

Several weeks ago, Google’s free blogging service, Blogger.com (Blogspot) shifted its default interface to Arabic for all users logging in from Arab countries.

This irritated many users, and actually resulted in blog posts from disgruntled non-Arabs living in the Gulf, who went on about how the GCC was multicultural.

It was interesting, but the over-riding issue was that Google was finally going to give popular blogging platforms in the Arab World a run for their money. Jeeran.com, Maktoob.com and Al Bawaba.com stand out as major Arab blogging communities,which basically do exactly what Blogger does, but in Arabic.

Having established sizable communities- Jeeran claims over 50,000 blogs- you can imagine that they’re somewhat prepared for this development.

However, if you think about it and notice the continuos evolution of Arabic language services from Google, you will see that a ‘complete e-life solution’ is Google’s aim. You’ve got your search engine, gmail, Google Apps, Arabic News, blogging platform and you can use Adsense and Analytics for your blog too.

You could soon be totally Googled, and all of it is happening in your mother-tongue.

To be honest, I personally feel that the best blogging platform is Word Press, and it’s available in Arabic, and is a great example of why an open source engine, rather than a blog community like Blogger, Maktoob or Jeeran could be the way ahead.

Back to the launch of Blogger in Arabic, Google already has offices in the region, in Cairo and Dubai, and has appointed a marketing manager for the Middle East and North Africa, Yasmina Brihi.

Unlike the old days, when Google would Arabize its products silently, they now want to announce such moves and demonstrate commitment to the region.

Ms. Brihi said “It's great to reach out to the Arabic-language community with the launch of Blogger in Arabic. There's a great deal of interest in and excitement about blogging in Arabic on the internet.”

More Google officials are lining up to speak to Arabia, including Siobhan Quinn, Product Manager at Google, who says that "[We're] really excited to be launching blogger in Arabic. Blogger's always been about allowing people to communicate, connect with each other, and share ideas in an easily accessible way; it's great to bring this platform to this community."

Google plans to update and enhance Blogger Arabic over the coming year and also launched the service in Persian and Hebrew.

So, again, this heightened interest by Google in our region is good news for consumers, as far as choice is concerned, but means some serious re-strategizing by major Arab blog communities who benefited from Google’s absence so far. It’s a tough, globalized world.

It’s not inconceivable that one of the home-grown blog communities we’ve got is offers a better blogging platform than Blogger. What is needed is some marketing clout and dollars to ensure that it can compete on all levels.

Then, with an even playing field, may the best blog platform win!

zanasser@gmail.com

The annual Apple hysteria by Jobs: Any point getting excited in our region?

It's now become the annual opportunity for hysteria among technology geeks and quite a few consumer gadget enthusiasts too.

The annual Steve Jobs address at the Macworld conference creates such a buzz on the web and through the media that it sometimes doesn't live up to its own billing, like this year, I'm afraid.

Last year it was the iPhone which, obviously, turned out to be worth the hysteria with its unique user interface and slick design. Having sold over 2 million units no one can say it didn't succeed!

This year on January 15, we had the somewhat 'lower key' thin MacBook 'Air', which even good old Steve tried to muster a smile about upon announcing. The bigger news, with long term ramifications for the movie industry, and the traditional video store too, was the announcement that Apple would be offering movies for download (obviously for a fee) at iTunes. The announcement was big because Apple revealed that it had every major movie studio on board.

Such is the pulling power of the Apple brand and Steve Job's personality, who by the way is the biological son of a Syrian immigrant to America but who was adopted by the Jobs family. I don't really know the relevance of this to anything, expect for the fact that it gives any brilliant Arab hope, provided he/she is surrounded by a conducive environment like San Jose's Silicon Valley, where Steve has lived all his life!

Anyway, back to the impact of the newly announced products on our region of the world, it goes without saying that a hardware product, like an ultra thin Macbook, would arrive in the region, clock up sales and probably add to the surprisingly growing Macintosh user base in a region where we all thought the Mac was dying!

As for iTunes, unfortunately, we still can't enjoy its services as we are still considered a 'back-water' market for Apple, and I can't understand why it's taking them so long to open an iTunes store for a country in the Middle East. Some 'experts' tell me it's due to 'payment gateway' issues and the fact that Apple has to come in and look at every market.

Apparently, iTunes is still not available in every European or Asian market either, so maybe that's a consolation.

In the meantime, regrettably, everyone's pirating music and video through Peer-To-Peer (P2P) networks, but that's another story.

So, how has Jobs touched our lives- excuse the pun with the iPod Touch?

In several ways actually, not least contributing to the creation of the personal computer revolution 30 years ago in his parent's garage, but also by launching products which can make any person, anywhere in the world excited.

I've got an iPod and iTV, many of my friends have MacBooks, I actually know a couple of people using 'hacked' iPhones- another example of us still being a 'back water' to Apple, but the enthusiasm is there and Apple has had a regional office in Dubai and an dealership in Jordan for nearly two decades.

We expect more attention from Apple, we deserve more and we'll throw in the Syrian-origin card if we have to!

Mr Jobs, are you listening?

Published in The Star newspaper
zanasser@gmail.com

Google's juggernaut reaches the Middle East

If you’ve followed Google for the past decade, the only way to describe the company is that it is a ‘juggernaught’!

Product after product, breakthroughs and revolutions every month and it’s all perfectly summed up by the company’s performance on the stock market. How I wish I had bought Google stock years ago!

Anyway, up until 2006, it didn’t look like the Middle East had properly registered yet on Google’s radar.

Apart from the fact that Google efficiently Arabized its services and was gaining users, there was very little direct involvement in the region, or at least we couldn’t see it!

Then, sometime in 2006, we started hearing whispers like ‘watchout, Google is coming to the Middle East’, mostly from the region’s online portals and communities who have to pay attention when the goliath comes to town.

Soon enough, Google’s intent was revealed.

In June 2006, Google launched Arabic News, and it emerged that they’d appointed a regional director for Europe, the Middle East & North Africa, Dennis Woodside, who said “The launch of Google News in Arabic demonstrates Google’s commitment to bring localized products to users across the globe.”

Within a year, by summer 2007, Google opened its first office in the region in Cairo, Egypt.

Several ‘onliners’, myself included, stated that it was the first step in Google’s efforts to boost revenues from Arab clients for Google’s advertising solutions, and maybe even launch an Arabic-language contextually-targeted AdSense service.

At the time, the president of Google’s operations in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), Nikesh Arora, said: “MENA is a region with 300 million people, speaking the same language. We hope our products, and the Internet as a whole, will bring useful and beneficial tools to our Arabic users. We can see potential for industries like tourism and travel which are important to Egypt’s economy.”

Then, later in the year, Google popped up in Dubai, hiring a marketing team, appointing a country manager, and holding a Google AdWords Seminar in November 2007. So, it seems to only be a matter of time before Google will be ‘doing the rounds’ across the region.

At the risk of sounding like I’m courting Google’s attention, I’ll say that Google’s interest in Arab users and markets is good news because it means we’ll get better localized services, more online service choices and we’ll have a regional channel to provide feedback about these services.

What’s wrong with more choice? Nothing at all.

In today’s global economy, Arab online players need to rise to a global challenge, from the likes of Google.

In countries like Russia and Korea, local players still lead in search engines and, surely, there will be certain online applications which our home-grown onliners will lead.

But, for everything else, there’s Google!

Published in The Star newspaper

zanasser@gmail.com