JEDDAH, 22 April — COMDEX Saudi Arabia has come and gone for another year. Thursday, the last day of the show, was spent gathering information on some of the most popular technologies and taking comments from the participants so that we all can work together to make next year’s event even better.
What can the Kingdom look forward to in 2001? People took an interest in zgrocer.com, an online supermarket. They liked the Comfy keyboard which is a computer peripheral targeted at children one year plus. Lots of folks stopped to chat at CSFB direct, a stock brokerage firm with a new name, some new services and a more realistic outlook on business in the Gulf. Gadgets, from microphones to cameras, were as popular as ever. Many companies were demonstrating new online services. Arab News will be publishing in-depth reports on all these items in coming weeks.
Handheld devices caught a lot of interest and two stands featuring them were constantly busy. GPS receivers look to be a hit in this market. Staff at the Darmoja stand were overwhelmed trying to answer questions about their full range of personal navigators.
“This technology only became legal in the Kingdom a year and a half ago,” said Ahmad N. Al-Mashjari, manager, Darmoja. “People heard a lot about it but they don’t really understand how it works and they want to see the navigators in action. We have many people in the Kingdom who take off-road treks and a device like this is important for safety reasons. The navigator can also indicate the direction of Makkah and it very easy for anyone. The navigators retail from SR650 to SR3,000 so there is one that will suit every need and budget.”
Al-Mashjari stated that the company hadn’t come to COMDEX intending to see an immediate increase in sales. They really were there to educate the market and answer questions so that people could then spread reliable information about the technology to their friends and relatives.
Sony was another company that had its chief trainers and technicians on the stand during the show to answer a multitude of questions. They linked all their digital cameras, video cameras and notebooks so that people passing by the stand couldn’t help but see their faces appearing on the screens and inevitably they’d come to take a closer look.
Hajme Murano, general manager, sales, marketing and distribution, Modern Electronics, said: “Sony regards COMDEX as an ideal platform for its high-tech products. It allows Sony to reinforce its connectivity strengths through digital imaging solutions and to establish Sony as a key player and global leader in the integration of audiovisual entertainment and IT systems. An example of these advances is the VAIO notebook, which was the flagship product on the Sony stand. By participating in a prestigious exhibition such as COMDEX Saudi Arabia, Sony is able to reach the Saudi public whose interest in the latest technological advances is growing rapidly.”
The companies featured at the Egyptian Pavilion were more aggressive at this year’s COMDEX. They have now formed the Egyptian Exporters Association — Expolink (expolink.org) with the express mission of helping Egyptian exporters trade to the world.
At the Arabia Inform section of the pavilion, staff were showing off Moheet.com an Arabic news service. Moheet is a 24-hour service at which an average of 2,500 articles per day are fully compiled by more than 100 editors who monitor 37 news agencies, more than 300 newspapers and magazines plus television channels.
Soon the company will be launching Radio Moheet, the first personal radio over the Internet. Subscribers will design a 24-hour time line, choosing exactly what topics they would like to be informed on from a wide range of subjects. Arabia Inform is also developing a huge databank and will shortly be introducing to the Arabic community a reference source similar to Askjeeves.com.
“Our mission is to utilize the best technology to make available Arabic culture and knowledge to the Arabic citizen around the clock,” said Muhammad Elewa, CEO, Arabia Inform.
COMDEX Saudi Arabia 2001 was the second outing for the Egyptian IT companies but this year they were not the only nation with a presence. Sweden became the first European nation to join the show. For the second consecutive year, Sweden has been ranked as the leading IT nation by International Data Corporation. Sweden’s advanced position in IT and Internet maturity are largely due to its long history of being in the forefront in national infrastructure, education and IT investments.
Sweden’s appearance at this year’s COMDEX was led by its premier technology company, Ericsson. While Ericsson is going through some difficulties it is important to remember that the company is not a newcomer to the market. It was founded in 1876, is the inventor of Bluetooth technology and is the architect of today’s mobile revolution.
Ericsson was the largest Swedish company at the show but the one with the most unusual proposal for Arab businesses was IFRAnet.
This Swedish IT company wants the Arab world to become the third Internet hub of the world. This means that each country would have a much larger Internet capacity at a much lower cost than today. IFRAnet has already developed a hub concept that could be immediately implemented. IFRAnet’s main business, however, is to build wireless broadband networks and to provide broadband access to the Internet and data security services.
“I want to dramatically improve communications throughout the whole Arab world with broadband Internet access,” said IFRAnet Vice President Muhammad Fahd.
By having all the Internet traffic of the Arab countries going through the hub, IFRAnet could dramatically reduce the cost for the Internet access. Using the hub, the interregional traffic would stay within the Arab world, which would make Internet traffic much cheaper and more secure. Also, the cost for international calls could be reduced drastically by using the hub and the quality of service would increase greatly. There would be no more delaying, no more echoing and no more busy signals. This is because the international calls would benefit from the huge international connection capacity of the hub.
IFRAnet’s vision is to bring IT, as developed or experienced in Sweden, into the Arab world, and that these countries would walk “hand in hand” with Sweden at the technological edge. They feel that their mission is to help the people of this region to live a richer life by consuming broadband services and to help businesses develop their ability for competition against the rest of the world.
IFRAnet has now signed letters of intent with three powerful local groups for establishing subsidiaries in several countries in the GCC and North Africa. The first wireless broadband network in the Arab world may soon be started in Algeria.
“The great interest shown to us at COMDEX most likely would end up in orders for private wireless networks worth at least $5 million,” said IFRAnet CEO Sven Modig.
While every company at the show was committed to working to increase the use of IT, many companies felt that more fine-tuning was needed to help COMDEX Saudi Arabia reach its goals of educating the market and introducing new technologies to business professionals in the Kingdom.
“COMDEX was run in a much more professional manner this year. The organizer’s staff were very helpful. Such exhibitions are educational tools for our society. Attention to the society’s requirements for such a show will make it even more successful next year,” said Abdul Aziz S. Al-Ahmadi, Vice President, Shebaak.com.
Al-Ahmadi proposed that there be a change in the hours of the exhibition’s operation. Either it should return to a split morning and evening show like last year, or the opening should be later in the day, perhaps in the early afternoon so that the show could run later at night. He felt that one day of the show should be open to the general public.
“The public are not the major target of COMDEX,” stated Al-Ahmadi, “but they are still interested and it would be helpful for the government and the business community if they were better informed on these technologies.” He also pointed out that if the registration process could be streamlined it would be less frustrating to visitors. He wished that registration points could be opened at universities and hotels and that advance registration would be encouraged. He felt that companies participating in the show had to improve relations with the media and he hoped that the organizers would assist in this effort.
In general, the show was received well this year and the participating companies were all confident that there would be an even bigger and better COMDEX Saudi Arabia 2002.
Microsoft Arabia took the most floor space at the show and they are already analyzing the experience and planning for even bigger participation next year with their partners.
“Our investment in COMDEX Saudi Arabia is our belief in this country and in our long-term perspective on the importance of IT to this nation,” said Microsoft Arabia General Manager Muhammad Kateeb. “We are very excited about the coming year and the new technology that we will be presenting. The end of May will be the launch of Office XP which will revolutionize the way we work in offices and at the end of summer, consumers will have their chance to join in the revolution with the new Windows XP.
“For the first time, Microsoft has a full line of dotnet servers that allow businesses to take full advantage of the Internet as a platform for e-commerce and e-business. In five years I would love to look at COMDEX Saudi Arabia and find that it has become one of the top shows in the region. For that to happen there must be a strong effort to see that the show gets the increased presence and attendance it needs.”
