Digital Digest

30 recent Internet and Technology developments you may have missed from – and/or potentially impacting on - Qatar and the Middle East

Issue 7: Q1 2013

rassed@ict.gov.qa Contact us: Twitter: @ictqatar

Contents Issue 6: Q1 2013

Slides

1. Recent developments in the MENA region

• Internet easily most used daily media by Arabic Youth

• Top Twitter Influentials in MENA

• The Most active Twitter users are in Saudi Arabia, UAE and Turkey

• Using technology to tackle traffic issues in the Middle East

• Forbes unveils Top Media Online in the Arab World

• In Brief: Content

• In Brief: Social Media

• In Brief: Technology

• Spotlight: Social Media in Saudi Arabia

3-19

4-5

6

7

8-10

11-12

13

14-15

16-17

18-19

2. Wider Internet & Society Research

• Smartphones Leading to Declining Laptop and Desktop Use

• Teens and Technology 2013 (USA)

• How mobile – and mobile data – changed in 2012 (Cisco)

• Internet Governance – IXPs in emerging markets

20-26

21-22

23

24-25

26

3. Coming Up – three emerging issues

• Social Impact - Trends from the 2013 Consumer Electronic Show

• Technology – Cisco’s mobile predictions for 2017

• Internet Governance – the privacy challenge of Google Glasses

27-33

28-29

30-31

32-33

1. Recent developments in the MENA region

Includes: - Internet easily most used daily media by Arabic Youth

- Top Twitter Influentials in MENA

- MENA home to the world’s most active Twitter users

- Using technology to tackle traffic issues

- Forbes’ list of Top Media Online in the Arab World

http://bit.ly/X5Llmk FPmTc14bit.ly/://httpImages: SkV18bit.ly/Z://http Ri5lw10bit.ly/://http

1.1 Internet most used daily media by Arab Youth

• We’ve mentioned previously (see Digital Digest Sept/Oct 2012) research by Google and

Booz & Co. into the Arab Digital Generation.

• But two new graphics produced by eMarketer from this data caught our eye.

- The first shows just how popular the Internet is with Arab Youth.

• 83% of these Internet users

reported using the Internet daily.

• Once online, many of them use it for

a long time, with 70% of daily

Internet users spending more

than 3 hours online.

• This is more than 3 times the

number who claim to watch the

same amount of TV, the next most

popular daily media channel.

• The second chart, perhaps reflecting high smartphone penetration in the Gulf,

shows that Arabic Youth in the GCC are accessing the web almost as much on

the move as they are at home, or anywhere else.

• In contrast home usage and Internet cafes are much more popular places to go

online in North Africa, where smartphone penetration is typically lower and PC

access a more common means to going online.

Source: http://bit.ly/WTjLZz

FuOKv14http://bit.ly/Image:

1.2 Top Twitter Influentials in MENA

• The Top 100 Arabs website stemmed from an article published on Wamda about the top

100 influential people in social media in the Arab world (mentioned in Digital Digest 3).

• Khaled Al Ahmad and Alaa Batayneh have now created an interactive site which uses

Twitter, Facebook, and Klout to create a website which allows users to search lists

of Top Twitter Influentials in MENA by country, gender or profession.

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1.3 The most active Twitter users worldwide are in

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and UAE

• A survey of 152,000 Internet users in 31

markets by GlobalWebIndex found that

Saudi Arabia has the highest active

Twitter user rate in the world.

• The survey defined “active Twitter users”

as those who used the service in the past

month. Between Q3 2012 - Q4 2012 the

number of global active Twitter users

increased by 39.8% (see below).

Read more at http://bit.ly/11FRnub and http://bit.ly/15ema3b

1.4 The role of tech in solving local traffic issues

EGYPT

• Wasselni is a startup specializing in developing mobile and web

applications for traffic and transport problems in the region.

• In February the first-ever Cairo Transport App Challenge (Cairo

TApp) awarded first prize to a mobile app that helps drivers with

road assistance and car maintenance.

• The team behind Beliaa won US$3,000 at an awards ceremony held at

Smart City, a technology hub on the outskirts of Cairo. (40,000 people

work in Smart City, 99% of jobs are held by Egyptians.)

• The app – which is available on Android and Blackberry platforms -

uses GPS location data to help drivers locate road assistance centers

and sending car maintenance requests to authorized workshops.

The startup is operating from the Business and Technology

Incubator (BTI) in Giza, Egypt. Users can find other people

near them so they can carpool and reduce congestion.

The service will launch initially in Cairo and Amman. Image: http://bit.ly/ZxgsUu

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• The competition was sponsored by the World Bank and

hosted by The Ministry of Communications and

Information Technology (MCIT) and the Information

Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA).

• Other finalists included a GPS-enabled transportation guide

called "ArkaBeh" which is used for journey planning and

to report harassment directly to the relevant authorities.

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Writing on the World Bank blog

Hartwig Schafer, Country Director

for Egypt, Yemen & Djibouti noted

that:

“This would be an especially

useful feature for women, for

whom the risk of harassment is

the greatest deterrent to using

public transportation, which limits

their mobility and makes

economic opportunities that much

harder to reach.”

Read more about the

competition and the ideas

behind it:

http://bit.ly/12s2hb9

Image: http://bit.ly/10uj4U0

QATAR

• Local tech website Tfour.me reported that Google had launched live Traffic Updates

via their maps service.

• The move follows the launch of similar services in September 2012 for Jeddah and

Kuwait City and in December 2012 for the UAE.

Read more: http://bit.ly/ZeDTFZ

To use the service

visit maps.google.com

and click the traffic

layer on the top right

hand side of the map.

1.5 Top traditional media online in the Arab World

At the end of 2012 Forbes published its third annual list of the region’s biggest

online media channels. The report was based on user date from August 2011 -

August 2012.

Newspaper websites

- Unique Visitors

1. Al-Youm Al-Sabe'a (Egypt) 145.11 million unique visitors

2. Al Riyadh (KSA) 35.52m

3. Al Ahram (Egypt) 31.15m

Image:

http://bit.ly/1

6sPPWW

The Top Newspapers Online In the Arab World - Page visits

1. Al Youm Al-Sab'ea (Egypt) 842.84 million visits

2. Al Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) 123.94m

3. Echourouk el Youmi (Algeria) 79.17m

Worth noting: Oman's Al Rroya, which ranked last on the overall list of top newspapers

online, nonetheless enjoyed the highest %age of new visits at 67.11%.

The National from the UAE ranked 15th overall but second for new visits, with newcomers accounting for 60.76% of its total traffic.

Top TV News Channels Online in the Arab World

1. Al Arabiya (UAE) - 306.63m online visitors, 69.05m uniques, and 21.48% new visits.

2. Al Jazeera (Qatar) - 277.89m visits, 55.71m uniques.

3. Rusiya Al-Yaum (Russian based, broadcasts in Arabic) - 50.11m visitors, 26.40m uniques.

According to Google Analytics data, the Rusiya Al-Yaum (Russia Today) website is gaining

momentum with a new visit rate of 51.37%, the highest of the three TV channels.

Read More: http://bit.ly/12RimDS

Images: http://bit.ly/XveCse, http://bit.ly/12aX2IV and http://bit.ly/YYhSrW

• Al Jazeera users spend the highest

average time on a TV channel

website—10 minutes and four

seconds.

• They also have the highest average number of pages per visit, 3.49.

1.6 In Brief: Content News

The Next Web reports that YouTube has expanded its Partner Program to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The move allows users to generate revenue from their uploaded videos.

“Anyone with an account in these regions can become a partner by navigating to

their YouTube settings – located under the drop-down menu from the top-right

corner of the screen – and clicking on the blue monetization window.”

http://tnw.co/16EmCcy

Vodafone Qatar and Weill Cornell

Medical College (Qatar) have

launched a mobile app to promote

exercise and healthy eating.

As well as providing a calorie counter,

the app also uses a traffic light system

to indicate how healthy or unhealthy

different dietary choices are.

A burger and fries, for example,

displays a red light. (Bad!)

The app is available in English and

Arabic. More at: http://bit.ly/ZSQDjJ

Image: http://bit.ly/YcH5m3

Qtel has launched an mHealth service for diabetics

in Kuwait, Iraq and Palestine. Subscribers can

receive personalized alerts and information on

exercise and diet. Read More: http://bit.ly/ZQbu8V

1.7 In Brief: Social Media News

• Law 3andak Dam (If You Have Blood) is an Egyptian based online service that

matches blood donors with patients in need of blood. It uses social networks like

Twitter and Facebook to share emergency medical conditions.

• Users can sign up with their location and blood type.

• But as Ahmed Gabr noted in a piece for Wamda:

“Law 3andak Dam doesn’t offer any guarantees about their users; if

they're reliable or even have the right information entered.”

He later added:

“Without this concrete data and success stories to point to,

the platform may have trouble expanding in the region, though this is

certainly a much-needed service for users across the Arab world.

And with a service as serious as this, it may be a good idea

to find a way to verify each new user.”

Read more: http://bit.ly/YKL5sH

• Twitter has launched a new partnership with the

Egypt-based company Connect Ads, to allow

MENA companies to advertise via a range of

'Promoted Products'.

• Initially available to businesses in Egypt, Saudi Arabia,

Kuwait and the UAE, marketers can utilize Twitter’s

Promoted Tweets, Promoted Accounts, and Promoted

Trends products.

More: http://reut.rs/Yx6WGy

Images: http://bit.ly/11G9nod

Twitter is developing partnerships with operators across the globe, including the

MENA region, to put its service on feature phones, according to Bloomberg: http://bloom.bg/W1PFzQ

In the past year alone, the number of Twitter users in the Arab world tripled,

according to Shailesh Rao, Twitter’s vice president for international operations: Source: http://nyti.ms/12KdUsS

1.8 In Brief: Technology News

Dubai launches virtual mall

• Tejuri.com, (meaning “traditional safe” or “vault”)

features more than 40 retailers and

brands such as Sharaf DG, Grand

Optics and Reebok.

• Shoppers can purchase from stores

offering Computers & Electronics,

Fashion, Furniture, Home & Garden,

and Health & Beauty products.

• Retailers can have their store up and

running in 2-4 weeks.

• The National reported online shopping

in the UAE was valued at US$281.6

million last year by Euromonitor,

compared with $47.8bn in the United

Kingdom and $11.1bn in Brazil.

"The complete e-commerce infrastructure,

payment gateway, customer services, IT hosting

and website development are already taken care

of by Tejuri,” said Ayaz Maqbool, managing

director of Tejuri.com. “hence, makes it extremely

easy and economical for the retailers to go online.”

Read more: http://bit.ly/11fB9cz

Jordanian capital in global list of top 10 cities to launch a tech startup

• Rachid Sefrioui, the founder of Finaventures, a California-based venture-capital firm,

has published a list of “Top 10 cities to launch a tech startup” - Amman was 10th

on the list. The only city from the MENA region. (Dubai was one of the five runners up.)

• Rankings are based on the “vibrancy of each city's entrepreneurial community, no

matter how small. Using relative terms, a city with $200M in seed and venture capital

may achieve a better ranking than a city with more capital simply because other

human, legal and infrastructure factors scored higher.”

Source: http://bit.ly/yWDa3v

Software Piracy still a problem in MENA

• Microsoft recently praised Qatar, reported Doha News, saying its efforts to eliminate

piracy “are quite remarkable” despite a 50% rate of pirated software.

• This figure is lower than the Middle East average of 58%.

• Piracy is highest at 86% and 89% in Iraq and Yemen, and 51% in Saudi Arabia.

- In UAE the rate is 37%.

Read more: http://bit.ly/14BGgGO

And: http://bit.ly/YsEynJ

1.9 Spotlight: Social Media in Saudi Arabia

An infograph released by The Social Clinic, an agency based in Jeddah, Saudi

Arabia, revealed how quickly the country is taking up social media.

Here’s our Top 10 stats:

1. Facebook use in Saudi Arabia is 90% Arabic, 8% English and 2% the other languages.

2. 2m of KSA’s 6m million Facebook users access via mobile only.

3. Facebook is the 3rd most visited website

4. Twitter is growing faster in Saudi Arabia than any other country. While the global average is 300%

growth year-on-year, Saudi Arabia grew more than 3,000% from 2011 to 2012.

5. 50,000,000 tweets per month come from the country.

6. 30% of the global tweets tweeted in Arabic come from KSA.

7. Twitter’s website is the 6th most visited website in Saudi Arabia.

8. More than 90,000,000 videos are watched daily on YouTube on Saudi Arabian soil.

9. KSA has over 840,000 active LinkedIn users, against 5.9 million MENA users.

10. KSA is second, after UAE, in LinkedIn users.

2. Wider research related to ICT and Society

Image: http://www.google.org/ Image: http://bit.ly/YIdey5 Image: http://bit.ly/YCEhkq

Includes: - Smartphones Leading to Declining Laptop and Desktop Use

- Teens and Technology 2013 (USA)

- New Cisco data on mobile data

- Improving and creating IXPs in emerging markets

2.1 Social Impact - Smartphones Leading to Declining Laptop and Desktop Use

Read More: http://bit.ly/YE9LDZ

1. The proliferation of Internet-connected devices, and in particular the rapid

adoption of smartphones, which are substituting time spent on laptop and

desktop computers.

2. The take-up of the Internet among older consumers, who typically tend to

spend less time online.

• New international data from the UK

communications regulator Ofcom

suggests that time spent online on

a laptop or desktop computer has

peaked in many countries.

• The report authors mention two

factors that are affecting the

consumption habits of Internet

audiences:

As an example of how much smartphones have changed users’ data from

the UK was used to create this infographic, which reveals the extent to

which smartphones have transformed UK consumer behaviors.

2.2 Youth Research

- Teens and Technology 2013 (USA)

New data from Pew Research Center’s Internet and

American Life Project and the Berkman Center for

Internet & Society at Harvard has found that

smartphone adoption among American teens has

increased substantially and that one in four teens

are “cell-mostly” Internet users.

Read more: http://bit.ly/11LrXyN

Image: http://alturl.com/wb435

“In many ways, teens represent

the leading edge of mobile

connectivity, and the patterns

of their technology use often

signal future changes in the

adult population.”

Mary Madden,

Senior Researcher, Pew

Research Center’s Internet

Project and report co-author.

Key findings from a survey of 802 youth ages 12-17 and their

parents include:

• 78% of teens have a cell phone, 47% a smartphone.

• That means 37% of all teens have smartphones, up from

just 23% in 2011.

• 23% of teens have a tablet computer.

(Which is comparable to the general adult population).

• 95% of teens use the Internet.

• 93% of teens have a computer or access to one at home.

• 71% of teens with home computer access say the laptop or

desktop they use most often is shared with family members.

2.2 Emerging Technology

- Cisco report on how mobile + mobile data, changed in 2012

Key findings included:

• Global mobile data traffic grew 70 % in 2012.

• Last year's mobile data traffic was nearly 12x the size of the entire global Internet in 2000.

• Globally, mobile network connection speeds more than doubled in 2012.

• In 2012 4G connections generated 19 times more traffic on average than a non-4G connection. (Although 4G connections represent only 0.9% of mobile connections, they already account for 14% of mobile data traffic.)

• Average smartphone usage grew 81% to 342 MB per month, up from 189 MB p/m in 2011.

• Smartphones represented only 18% of total global handsets in use in 2012, but represented

92% of total global handset traffic.

• 33% of total mobile data traffic was offloaded onto the fixed network through Wi-Fi or femtocell.

Image: http://bit.ly/XGvGaq

Region Mobile Traffic Growth Examples

Korea • As reported by Korean regulator KCC, mobile data traffic on 2G, 3G, and 4G

networks increased approximately 80% between January and November of 2012.

China • China Mobile's mobile data traffic grew 77% from mid-2011 to mid-2012.

• China Unicom's mobile data traffic grew 112% from mid-2011 to mid-2012.

Japan • As measured by Japanese regulator MIC, mobile data traffic grew 113% from

September 2011 to September 2012.

Australia • As reported by Australian regulator ACMA, mobile data traffic grew 40% from mid-

2011 to mid-2012.

Italy • As reported by Italian regulator AGCOM, mobile traffic in Italy in 3Q12 was up 32%

year-over-year.

Global • Telefonica's total year-over-year mobile traffic growth was 35% in 1Q12, down from

75% in 1Q11.

• Vodafone's year-over-year mobile traffic growth was 34% in FY2012, down from

69% in FY2011.

Examples of Mobile Data Traffic Growth in 2012

Read More: http://bit.ly/YCFDf2

2.3 Internet Governance

Benefits of IXPs

A 2012 study by the Internet Society and

Analysys Mason looking at the role of IXPs

in Kenya and Nigeria argued that:

1. IXPs enabled these countries to save

millions in telecommunications costs,

2. They provide a means to raise

additional revenues

3. Whilst also speeding up the exchange

of local data and

4. They can encourage the development

of locally hosted content and services. Read More: http://bit.ly/XGvRCo, http://bit.ly/10dBvwa

& http://bit.ly/10i0wI2

- Google.org gives $1.3m to the Internet Society (ISOC) to

improve and create Internet Exchange Points (IXP) in

emerging markets.

ISOC explains that:

“The primary role of an Internet Exchange

Point (IXP) is to keep local Internet traffic

within local infrastructure and to the reduce

costs associated with traffic exchange

between Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

In many developing countries, poor connectivity

between ISPs often results in the routing of local

traffic over expensive international links simply

to reach destinations within the country of origin.

IXPs can also improve the quality of Internet

services in a country by reducing the delays.

IXPs also can be a convenient hub for hosting

critical infrastructure within countries.”

3. Emerging Issues

dBzMl10http://bit.ly/Image: Image: http://bit.ly/XGws74 Image: http://bit.ly/14FMdml

Includes: - Potential trends from the 2013 Consumer Electronic Show

- Cisco’s mobile predictions for 2017

- The privacy challenge of Google Glass

3.1 Social Impact

- Potential trends from 2013’s Consumer Electronic Show

• The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas can offer insights into emerging technologies and changes in use of ICT.

• This huge event is often a source of product launches and prototypes.

• The emerging trend of 2013 was IP connectivity.

• Alongside TV’s there are moves to connect all devices to the web.

• This includes kitchen devices like fridges (long promised) and cutlery (not so long promised). Some ideas are just plain potty. Literally.

Ideas which caught our eye:

Prototype of Samsung ‘bendy’

phone running Windows Phone 8

Plastic Logic PaperTab - a

flexible 10.7” tablet / e-reader.

A few more ideas which caught our eye

(some practical, some not so practical!)

Spare One Phone

- $49 via spareonephone.com

Uses a single AA battery offers power for up to 15

years and 10 hours talk time.

Designed for emergency use for people who don’t

need a phone the rest of the time, or who need a

direct link to the emergency services e.g. hikers or

mountaineers.

The “iPotty” which features a slot for an

iPad above the bowl.

HapiFork

- vibrates if

you eat too

quickly,

forcing you to

chew your

food and eat

more slowly.

Read More: http://bit.ly/16XK9Fv

3.2 Technology

– Cisco’s mobile predictions for 2017

Alongside reviewing the state of

mobile data in 2012 (see Section 2.2)

Cisco also reported on how the sector

will change in the next five years.

Of the 10 trends they discussed,

three stand out:

Chart: Global Mobile Data

Traffic Forecast by Region

1. Traffic growth will be driven

by the continued take up of

smartphones.

2. Mobile video will be the

single source of most mobile

traffic growth.

3. 4G connections will dominate

traffic. (By 2017, Cisco predicts that 4G

will represent 10 % of connections, but 45

% of total traffic.)

Cisco predicts that the Asia Pacific and North

America regions will account for almost two-thirds

of global mobile traffic by 2017.

But the Middle East and Africa is the region

which will grow the fastest, with mobile data

usage increasing 17.3-fold (a CAGR of 77%) over

the forecast period.

Smartphones Lead Traffic Growth Mobile Video Will Generate Over 66 %

of Mobile Data Traffic by 2017

4G will be 10 % of

Connections and 45

% of Traffic in 2017

3.3 Internet Governance – the privacy challenge of Google Glasses

• The announcement of Google Glass was met with quite a lot of excitement by the

Digerati last year (including our Digital Digest Volume 2).

• But now that the product is starting to be tested (I’ve seen tweets from people

reporting seeing users wearing them on the New York subway and in restaurants)

some commentators are asking questions about some of the privacy issues which

Google Glass may present.

http://bit.ly/WVMcGi: Image

Joshua Fruhlinger - in a piece entitled

“The dark side of Google Glass” says:

“I'm not so sure that Google Glass is

going to be good for us as a society.”

1. “…People will capture everything and we'll see it all. Some will be amazing,

most of it will be unbearable and even hard to watch, if not completely boring.”

2. The risk of theft/muggings.

3. “Glass enthusiasts sitting next to one another yet choosing to communicate via

their HUDs. [Ed: Heads up displays] Run. Run away.”

4. “…we'll see a rash of accidents caused by

people paying attention to their Glass,

making adjustments or trying to execute

a command while they should be paying

attention to other cars, pedestrians,

poles and children….”

Fruhlinger suggest five issues to consider including:

Read More: http://bit.ly/10dC610 , http://bit.ly/ZvIoLG

Image: http://bit.ly/ZY8Cq4

•Thank you for reading.

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Disclaimer: all content in these slides is in the public domain and referenced so that you can read the original sources.

Any omissions, errors or mistakes are mine, and mine alone.

rassed@ict.gov.qa : Contact us

Twitter: @ictqatar