There’s one thing growing faster than Nancy Ajram’s popularity in the Middle East - and that’s the sale of smartphones.
According to a recent Global Intelligence Report, smartphones are the most desired devices among the 18-34 year age group in the Middle East (sorry argilehs). In addition, more than half a billion people in the region are expected to use a mobile phone sometime this year. That’s a lot of people.
And what do people use their mobile phones for? Apps. We use our smartphones constantly to navigate our cities, take photos of our family members and check our email. (Some of us even use our smartphones to make phone calls. #oldschool)
The app economy is valued at $53 billion dollars today and is expected to grow to $143 billion dollars by 2015. The Middle East is one of the fastest growing app markets in the world. Today, there are an estimated 86,000 app developers making apps to help people sing, laugh, educate, play and cry (OK, probably not cry).
But just what are the best apps in the Middle East? Well, we all like to tweet, we all like to post random thoughts on Facebook. And we all like to throw birds at pigs (they had no business stealing the eggs of those once “not so angry” birds!)
However, apps are like food - the best kinds are the ones that are specific to our region.
And some Arabs have not let slide that only the father of the iPhone no less, Steve Jobs, had paternal roots -- with a Syrian Dad. And it would seem that the apple did not fall far from the olive tree in terms of Arabic enthusiasm for the Jobs line of applications.
So which are the best apps in the Middle East? We did a little digging in the App Store and came up with a few. Are there apps that are specific to the Middle East that you use and are not covered in our slideshow?
If so, tell us in the comments.
