The increasing use of smart applications in the Kingdom may have just whetted the appetite of international companies to pump in investments in the Kingdom, particularly in technology.

Experts believe that the expected foreign investment in Saudi Arabia during the next two years in the field of smart applications, including smart phones, could be as much as $10 billion.

Abdul Rahman Ata, a research and information analyst, said Saudis are increasingly taking to various social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.

He said the Social Clinic, which is active in the use of social networks, in a report said that five million Saudis used Facebook last year through their smart phones, and 46 percent of the users were from the Saudi capital alone.

According to the report, the users of LinkedIn in the Kingdom had touched the one million mark. As far as YouTube is concerned, viewers totaled 90 million daily in the Kingdom at the rate of seven videos per day per user while the number of Twitter users touched 500,000, growing by 45 percent annually.

The report revealed that 73 percent of Twitter users in Saudi Arabia were using smart phones, indicating that the prevalence of Twitter among Internet users in the Kingdom is the highest in the world.

Walid Taha, an economic researcher, said that statistics on users of social networking and media among Saudis was a strong indication of the capabilities of the Saudi market to absorb as much of the investment in the specialized field of technology from abroad.

He attributed the trend of international companies’ keenness to invest in the field of technology in Saudi Arabia to the widespread use of applications and social networking.

He noted that a Saudi-Singaporean joint venture company in the field of technology launched its product called “Won Tolk” at the International Conference on Mobile in Barcelona recently.

He noted that this product was also expected to increase business and finance in the Kingdom.