David George-Cosh: August 2009 archives

What the web is saying about the Maktoob-Yahoo acquisition

Posted in: Beep Beep
Posted by: David George-Cosh on August 25, 2009 3:49 PM
Tags: acquisitions,, internet,, jordan, maktoob,, startup,, web,, yahoo,
A hearty mabrouk should go out to the Maktoob team in light of their acquisition by internet pioneers Yahoo. As my colleague Tom Gara mentions in his online story for The National:

"Yahoo has made the most significant push into the Arab world of any major internet company, acquiring Maktoob, the region's most popular web portal. The deal is the first large-scale foreign acquisition of a Middle Eastern website."
Indeed, the local and international press have been following today's announcement with gusto. "Maktoob" even made Twitter's top trending topics today. Anyways, it's always nice to see some positive technology news hit the Middle East, especially a high-profile acquisition in the middle of the worst recession since the 1930's.

A preview of the new Maktoob-Yahoo site can be found here, while the Techmeme stream can be found here and a selection of what the web is saying about Maktoob is after the jump.


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The genesis of UAETweets.com - Interview with Baher al Hakim

Posted in: Beep Beep
Posted by: David George-Cosh on August 6, 2009 3:55 PM
Tags: CloudAppers, Twitter, UAE, UAETweets
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With Twitter on the rise here in the UAE, it really wasn't much of a surprise to see some enterprising individuals take advantage of the popularity and create a central area to index all our local tweets.

So, the guys at Dubai-based CloudAppers decided to do just that, launching UAETweets. In the week or so that UAETweets has been online, it's already indexed more than 900 Twitter users and 44,000 Twitter messages. Not bad, given the UAE only has about 5.600 users.

I had the chance to interview the website's founder, Baher al Hakim, via e-mail about the site, the results of which are after the jump.




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Beep Beep: Tom Gara , David George-Cosh
A journey into technology in the Middle East. If it beeps, buzzes, shines or glows, you'll read about it here on Beep Beep. Read more
Crane Country: Bradley Hope , Keach Hagey
Property in the UAE is a spectator sport with an international audience. Read more
In The Black: Asa Fitch
News and views on finance, investing and asset management in the Middle East. Read more
The Current Account: Wayne Arnold
Tracking the ebb and flow in the wealth of nations. Read more

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