Dubai Police have tweeted their BBM PIN as part of their Awareness Campaign. We’re not sure how this will develop but we’re loving it all the same.
Read the full article on TNW Middle East.
read more respondRIM are hosting the first BlackBerry Developer Day on Wednesday 26th January at Art Sawa in Al Quoz, Dubai.
“The BlackBerry Developer Days bring together experts and industry insiders to provide local app dev communities with the latest news and opportunities in the world of apps. With in-depth technical sessions and expert advice, local developers can soon be on the road to creating successful BlackBerry applications. The event is perfect for anyone seriously interested in app development: whether they are a business partner, content generator or developer, if they’re looking to get the most effective and commercial results this is an event not to be missed.”
The event will run from 10am to 5pm and includes the following agenda:
In addition to the opportunity to learn about developing for the BlackBerry platform, RIM are also running a competition for PlayBook developers to win a free PlayBook.
Click here to register (English).
Click here to register (Arabic).
See you there! 
Here’s an informal interview with David Ashford, GM @ AppsArabia, recorded live at GITEX 2010 in Dubai. Magnus Nystedt, Group Editor Consumer Technology @ CPI Dubai, asks David what app developers should consider when forming their app idea and what role AppsArabia plays in the apps development ecosystem.
Do you have anything to add? Please join in the dialogue by posting your comments.
UPDATE: Research in Motion have recently announced that BlackBerry App World will be coming to the MENA region. Hooray! So there are now three viable platforms in this region … AppsArabia will consider investing in app projects for Nokia, Apple or BlackBerry.
read more respondDavid George-Cosh’s article in today’s The National quotes some of our local developers who are holding back their BlackBerry app projects because of uncertainty over BlackBerry’s future within the region.
But is this a blessing in disguise? Would the BlackBerry app projects have been commercially successful? Maybe, but only if the apps were *not* targeting BlackBerry users in MENA.
The article says “About 10,000 BlackBerry apps are available on RIM’s App World, a fraction of the 253,000 apps available for the iPhone device. However, there are 41 million BlackBerry users around the world, providing ample potential for developers to make an app that could generate significant sales.”
But how are you supposed to distribute and sell BlackBerry apps *here* in MENA? BlackBerry App World is not available in any of the MENA countries and the only distribution channels currently available (provided by the likes of the telcos) are actually pretty inefficient. So I think it is quite hard to generate significant sales with BlackBerry apps in our region. There’s no denying there is a sizeable market and a considerable demand for apps here but an effective distribution channel is *essential* for commercial success in MENA.
So come on RIM … give us BlackBerry App World in MENA!
What do you think? Please click on RESPOND to leave your comments.
The print edition of this article included this useful bit of data about the number and spread of new handsets in UAE in Q4 2009:
Click here to read the full article on The National web site.
read more respondIn a guest post on TechCrunch, PR consultant Vijay Chattha of VSC/AppLaunchPR gives some unsolicited marketing advice to Research in Motion.
There’s a lot in here that I really agree with. In the MENA region especially, the BlackBerry App World is not available and, while there are loads of BlackBerry users, they are frustrated by limited numbers of apps, poor quality apps and overpriced apps. This is compounded by there being no easy way to get the apps!
I like the suggestion that RIM should focus on an iTunes killer, not an iPhone killer … publishers need a decent distribution platform!
Click here to read the full article at TechCrunch.
read more respond
