RIYADH: Google Saudi Arabia announced that it will organize in Riyadh, Saturday “G-Saudi Days”, a two-day event targeting Saudi students, small business owners, technology entrepreneurs and web developers in the Kingdom, said Abdulrahman I. Tarabzouni, Google Country Manager, Emerging Arabia. Tarabzouni said that this would be the first time that Google Days have been held in the Kingdom. “This is the latest in a series of events being held around the Arab region, bringing computer science students, software developers, small businesses and tech entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia together with Google executives and techies,” he said. About 30 top class engineers, product managers and business development “Googlers” from across the world will arrive in Riyadh to participate in the event. “The basic aim is to strengthen the Internet community in Saudi Arabia encouraging the growth of Internet products and applications for use in the Kingdom and the Arab world,” he said. Google will talk about its commitment to encourage developer talent in the Kingdom, he said. The event will serve as a platform to strengthen support for local developer communities and highlight useful products from the Google portfolio for application development, he added. “In terms of Internet and broadband penetration, Saudi Arabia is rated as one of the fastest growing countries in the world. The Internet penetration in Saudi Arabia rose to 38 percent in 2010 from merely one percent in 2000,” said Tarabzouni. Currently over 10 million users in Saudi Arabia are connected to the web and the number is expected to double within the next two-year period, he added.
