Qualcomm and Mobily are working together to boost Saudi Arabia’s mobile application developer community.
The companies plan to offer Mobily developers a combination of technology resources, development tools and training, and special developer events to reinforce and encourage the creation of new mobile applications and Arabic language applications for the Saudi region.
At the Mobily Developer Forum this May, Qualcomm will work with participating members of the Mobily developer community in providing real-time information on technology and tools that enable developers to differentiate their products in the competitive mobile apps market.
“Qualcomm is one of the world’s leading providers of technology to the mobile industry and to application developers,” said Mohammed Saad Beseiso, chief consumer officer at Mobily.
“This collaboration will strengthen the mobile community in Saudi and will ultimately benefit consumers who use the apps, as well as the local economy, which benefits from entrepreneurship,” he added.
A recent survey of cellular users by research firm Arab Advisors Group revealed that 47% percent of the respondents who use applications in Saudi Arabia prefer to use them in the Arabic language compared to 8.2% in each of Jordan and the UAE. The firm projects the smartphone applications combined annual revenues in Saudi Arabia, UAE and Jordan to grow from $44 million in 2011 to $210 million in 2015.
“Saudi Arabia has one of the highest rates of mobile usage in the Arab world, and consumers are demanding content that is relevant to their location, their language and their culture,” said Jihad Srage, President of ME, Africa and Central Asia operations at Qualcomm.
“By providing apps developers with sophisticated development technologies and guidance, Qualcomm and Mobily are working together to empower Saudi Arabia’s growing legion of entrepreneurial apps developers and the entire Saudi mobile ecosystem,” Srage added.
