go to AppsArabia home page

Here’s an infographic which summarises the findings of the primary research that we conducted with Real Opinions earlier this year. The research was sponsored by BlackBerry.

Watch a video of the research findings here.

Congratulations to RIM! Read all about it here.

Research commissioned by AppsArabia, conducted by Real Opinions & sponsored by Research In Motion.

Click here for more information.

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.

Here’s a great article on Mashable which gives some insight into what the global smartphone market might look like in 2015, courtesy of insight from Gartner.

Key points are:
• Microsoft Windows Phone 7 will overtake Apple iOS market share by 2015
• Android will control nearly 50% of the mobile smartphone market within two years
• iOS will actually peak in market share this year at 19.4%, then drop to 18.9% next year and 17.2% by 2015
• BlackBerry is destined for a slow decline, dropping from 13.4% this year to 11.1% in 2015

Click here to read the article.

Via cnet News I spotted this report from IHS iSuppli which tells us that combined revenues from the four major mobile application stores (Apple App Store, Google’s Android Market, Nokia’s Ovi Store and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry App World) will leap nearly 78% in 2011 to $3.8 billion, with the Apple App Store projected to achieve 75% of the total market.

Click here to get access to the report from the IHS iSuppli web site.

The exciting news from Real Opinions is that they have completed the AppsArabia research which is sponsored by BlackBerry.

Some key highlights will be presented at Planet Of The Apps Arabia today and the report will be available soon.

Companies can buy the research findings (either just access to the data or including a contextual workshop from Real Opinions).

Entrepreneurs & developers may qualify for a summary report if they are AppsArabia members and if they also take part in the follow-up survey.

Click here to register your interest.

Nearly 10% mobile growth in MEA … and 1 in 12 handsets sold in the region in Q4 was a smartphone!

Check out this article from Gulf News for more.

RIM 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.

David 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.

Wow! This could affect a *lot* of individuals and companies too ..

Check out the full article @ The National.

In 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.

Magnus Nystedt @ Shufflegazine: “It’s nice that there is an App Store for the UAE but a full iTunes Store would be much better. Perhaps we should be glad that we got the apps at least on the Apple side since on Android there is no Market at all in UAE”.

There is so much demand for apps in MENA and yet there aren’t stores to meet this demand. Blackberry too don’t have a local store but at least Nokia Ovi recognise the potential of the Arab market

I’m going to do my best to engage in dialogue with all the smartphone OS / SDK providers to understand *why* they don’t have stores to distribute apps within the MENA region. I’m hoping we can influence them to set some up … but first we need to understand their reasons.

Read Magnus’s full article at Shufflegazine.