THE King Abdullah Initiative for Arabic Content in Saudi Arabia and the UAE's twofour54 are both pioneering projects that collectively seek to further enrich and enhance the quality of digital Arabic content. Badr Ward, CEO of Ertiqa, a leading provider of mobile and digital content in the Middle East, said that the “digital library” supports publishers and developers of digital content by providing a user-friendly and secure platform to host the most comprehensive range of Arabic digital content. Moreover, by virtue of being readily available and easily accessible to Arab readers worldwide, the e-library serves as an excellent tool to maximize the market potential of digital Arabic content publishers he said after announcing the launch of a groundbreaking digital platform called “Ertiqa Digital Library”, which provides access to all types of digital Arabic content. The launch, held during the recently concluded 21st Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, served as one of the highlights of the book fair's dedicated segment on electronic content, where high-profile speakers discussed the importance of enriching Arabic e-content to support efforts of establishing a knowledge-based society. This is something that the Saudi government is keen to achieve in the near future. In this context, King Abdullah Initiative for Arabic Content (KAIAC), was launched to allow the Kingdom to be able to function with e-content in all spheres of public life. King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) made a presentation last year on the extent of digital Arabic content achieved in Saudi Arabia. According to the presentation, Arabic content represents under one percent of all Internet content. KAIAC hopes to be the catalyst for Saudi Arabia to join the next generation of digital leaders. The KAIAC project, entitled “National DigiContent”, focuses on areas such as the government, DigiContent creation, infrastructure development, Arabization, marketing environment and regulatory bodies. KAIAC's stated vision is: “The King Abdullah Initiative for Arabic Content will drive the transformation of Saudi Arabia into a knowledge-based society, establishing the Kingdom's leading role in the Arabic and Islamic digital world.” Its key objectives include preserving and sharing the country's Arabic and Islamic identity and digital heritage; making digital content a driver of growth and innovation in the Saudi economy; ensuring that all segments of society have easy access to digital information and opportunities; and lastly, to promote a Pan-Arab partnership in digital content development. “Ertiqa creates new and exciting possibilities to further enrich digital Arabic content through a wide range of exclusive features and functionalities. The digital library is exceptionally user-friendly, secure and can be accessed anywhere, making it a very effective tool for Arabic content developers and publishers to reach out to different types of Arabic content seekers around the world,” Ward explained. Moreover, he said that the Ertiqa digital library has been launched at a highly opportune time, when demand for digital Arabic content has been on the rise, driven mainly by government-led initiatives in countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE that encourage and support the development of high quality Arabic digital content. “It is also now a lot easier to access content from Ertiqa library with the emergence of advanced mobile devices and wide access to different communication channels, which provide flexible and innovative means of accessing and using digital Arabic content,” he remarked, adding that Ertiqa's “digital library” will support publishers and developers of digital content by providing a user-friendly and secure platform to host the most comprehensive range of Arabic digital content. Ertiqa revealed that users can also access the digital library through various products including those from Apple, BlackBerry and Android, making it an ideal platform for publishers of Arabic content. Established in 2007 in the Middle East, Ertiqa specializes in producing high quality mobile and digital content and applications. Its latest initiative is in line with a series of upcoming initiatives that it plans to introduce in cooperation with high profile strategic partners. According to the Saudi Arabia Information Technology Report Q1 2011 (published in Business Monitor International), increased public awareness of the Internet, growth of broadband services, decreasing cost of Internet access and computers (both PCs and laptops) and a wider range of internet services have all been cited as reasons for strong growth in Internet usage. The widespread deployment of wireless broadband networks by the three new national fixed-line consortia will help drive increased broadband supply, it said. Although ADSL connections will play a crucial role in the development of the market, the report predicts that much of the new growth over the next few years will come from wireless services such as WiMAX. Investment in broadband and government initiatives has seen an improvement in e-services development and utilization, which was reflected in the UN's most recent e-government rankings, in which Saudi Arabia rose 10 places. Meanwhile, a report released in July 2009 by consulting firm Arab Advisors Group ranked Saudi Arabia first among Arab countries for e-commerce growth. The report valued e-commerce transactions in Saudi Arabia at SR12 billion with 14.26 percent of the population engaged in such transactions. The report identified government support and growing internet penetration as key factors behind the growth. Ertiqa's digital library: www.ertiqabooks.com
