Consumers in the Middle East are increasingly moving towards a wireless age, say industry experts. With the introduction and increasing adoption of a new breed of multi-functional mobile phones, a growing number of consumers in the region are using their mobile phones as a wireless PC.
According to recent research conducted by Info2cell.com there are over 3 million mobile phone users currently in the UAE, indicating 111% per cent penetration of mobile phones use amongst the country's residents.
The numbers are growing at an average rate of 10 per cent each year. Amongst the mobile phone users, there are 250,000 MMS subscribers and more than 2000 subscribers to the recently launched 3G (third generation) mobile
service.
According to the research, there were more than 24 million
mobile phone subscribers in the Arab world at the end of 2003. The growth rate for the whole year was 69 per cent.
Bashar Dahabra, Founder and General Manager of Info2cell.com stated, "With the rapid developments in technology and the introduction of mobiles devices with advanced features, the mobile phone has emerged as an ideal vehicle for delivery of information in the Middle East. Mobile phones, handhelds and PDAs (personal digital assistants) are currently designed to perform
like wireless PCs. Users can exchange textual and graphic content through SMS (short message service) and MMS (multimedia messaging service), schedule appointments, undertake voice recording, surf the web, send emails, download pictures and play MP3 files."
The trend of mobile phones and PDAs is projected to increase in the coming years in the Middle East. The market for these devices is multiplying across the world, especially in the Middle East, where the number of mobile phone users marginally exceeds fixed landline subscribers. (menareport.com)
© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
