Yahoo, Maktoob and the Big Switch
There's not much to talk about in the Middle East Online Space. Occasionally, you'll hear of something cool at startup arabia, but the acquisition of Maktoob by Arabia is a biggie. A biggie for the Gulf and Middle East, and a big eyebrow raise by the rest of the technosphere. Why is this important for Yahoo? Well, it's all about the future and potential. In itself, maktoob is the most dynamic of sites, but it keeps the local populations engaged - it has local content and is made for region. In sum, it works. Works so much that it has 16.5m people. A drop in the ocean if you consider the potential of many many more coming online on a daily rate. Here's what they had to say in their blog:
To put this in perspective, Maktoob reaches one in every three people online throughout the region –- or 16.5 million people. This will be Yahoo!’s biggest geographic expansion in years. This deal is part of Yahoo!’s broader strategy to grow our international business, particularly in emerging markets. In many countries, vast populations — and advertisers — are just starting to come online. The potential is tremendous. Yahoo! has a large and growing audience in these markets today, and our acquisition of Maktoob represents the kind of investment we’re making to cater to the needs of these promising regions. We plan to join forces with the Maktoob team, the strongest in the region, to create locally relevant content, services, and programming. That’s no easy task when you consider the differences between countries like UAE, Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. But we’re committed to literally translating our winning formula for this growing market in many ways, including through locally-based editorial teams. Initially, we’ll plan to introduce Arabic versions of Yahoo! Mail, Messenger, Search, and our homepage and then eventually local versions of properties like News, Sports, and Finance. We’ll also focus on creating content and services tailored to the region. No other global company has made this kind of investment in local relevance for the Arab world. Arabs are vastly underserved by today’s Internet offerings. The World Bank estimates that there are 320 million Arabic speakers around the globe, yet less than one per cent of online content is written in their language (despite a vibrant Arabic blogosphere). We have a big opportunity to meet this growing demand, and we think Yahoo!, building on Maktoob’s local expertise, brings the scale and heft to draw many more people online in the region –- and we plan to give them compelling reasons to log on. We also recognize the Middle East is deeply complex, a complexity mirrored in the online world, and that it will present certain challenges. As an Internet pioneer in the emerging markets, we’ve learned important lessons and we’re committed to responsible global engagement. This means being sensitive to local laws, customs, and norms while also protecting and promoting the rights of our users. We believe our engagement in the Middle East can be a positive force for people by increasing access to information, supporting a thriving marketplace for the exchange of ideas, and bridging local, regional, and international communities.
It’s easy to forget the fastest growing Internet audiences are in the emerging markets. That’s not lost on us. We’re passionate about growing our presence in places like Southeast Asia, India, Latin America, and Africa. And we can’t wait to yodel in the Middle East.
The founders (and Abraaj Capital) have done well - $85m - thank you very much - and it has been a smart move by Yahoo. But what's more interesting is what they haven't bought. You'll all be familiar with the like of souq.com etc. Well, none of those properties are included. Techcrunch says this:
However, the deal does not include a number of Maktoob’ products, including Souq (an eBay-like auction site), CashU (prepaid card payment system), Araby (search), and Tahadi MMO games. These will become part of Jabbar Internet Group, which we hear may be headed by one of Maktoob’s founders.
But why? We suspect that the real value is in these milions of Arab Internet users who will all be accessing information. While all the other products are all interesting they are all distractions in the acquisition. Yahoo doesn't have any value for them - it's not its core game. And if all of these areas become core one day, they will have developed them for a global audience and rolled it out, rather than for a niche regional audience.
Also, the return is the uptake of Arab users, the increase in advertising dollars being spent and the risk of not doing something like this. I mean how many maktoobs are there? And if there aren't that many and if the future is about access points to a greater mass of information and processing, yahoo's strategy is on the money.
The only question is why did it take so long for something like this to happen? Are you ready for the cloud?
Press release
Yahoo Blog
Maktoob
To put this in perspective, Maktoob reaches one in every three people online throughout the region –- or 16.5 million people. This will be Yahoo!’s biggest geographic expansion in years. This deal is part of Yahoo!’s broader strategy to grow our international business, particularly in emerging markets. In many countries, vast populations — and advertisers — are just starting to come online. The potential is tremendous. Yahoo! has a large and growing audience in these markets today, and our acquisition of Maktoob represents the kind of investment we’re making to cater to the needs of these promising regions. We plan to join forces with the Maktoob team, the strongest in the region, to create locally relevant content, services, and programming. That’s no easy task when you consider the differences between countries like UAE, Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. But we’re committed to literally translating our winning formula for this growing market in many ways, including through locally-based editorial teams. Initially, we’ll plan to introduce Arabic versions of Yahoo! Mail, Messenger, Search, and our homepage and then eventually local versions of properties like News, Sports, and Finance. We’ll also focus on creating content and services tailored to the region. No other global company has made this kind of investment in local relevance for the Arab world. Arabs are vastly underserved by today’s Internet offerings. The World Bank estimates that there are 320 million Arabic speakers around the globe, yet less than one per cent of online content is written in their language (despite a vibrant Arabic blogosphere). We have a big opportunity to meet this growing demand, and we think Yahoo!, building on Maktoob’s local expertise, brings the scale and heft to draw many more people online in the region –- and we plan to give them compelling reasons to log on. We also recognize the Middle East is deeply complex, a complexity mirrored in the online world, and that it will present certain challenges. As an Internet pioneer in the emerging markets, we’ve learned important lessons and we’re committed to responsible global engagement. This means being sensitive to local laws, customs, and norms while also protecting and promoting the rights of our users. We believe our engagement in the Middle East can be a positive force for people by increasing access to information, supporting a thriving marketplace for the exchange of ideas, and bridging local, regional, and international communities.
It’s easy to forget the fastest growing Internet audiences are in the emerging markets. That’s not lost on us. We’re passionate about growing our presence in places like Southeast Asia, India, Latin America, and Africa. And we can’t wait to yodel in the Middle East.
The founders (and Abraaj Capital) have done well - $85m - thank you very much - and it has been a smart move by Yahoo. But what's more interesting is what they haven't bought. You'll all be familiar with the like of souq.com etc. Well, none of those properties are included. Techcrunch says this:
However, the deal does not include a number of Maktoob’ products, including Souq (an eBay-like auction site), CashU (prepaid card payment system), Araby (search), and Tahadi MMO games. These will become part of Jabbar Internet Group, which we hear may be headed by one of Maktoob’s founders.
But why? We suspect that the real value is in these milions of Arab Internet users who will all be accessing information. While all the other products are all interesting they are all distractions in the acquisition. Yahoo doesn't have any value for them - it's not its core game. And if all of these areas become core one day, they will have developed them for a global audience and rolled it out, rather than for a niche regional audience.
Also, the return is the uptake of Arab users, the increase in advertising dollars being spent and the risk of not doing something like this. I mean how many maktoobs are there? And if there aren't that many and if the future is about access points to a greater mass of information and processing, yahoo's strategy is on the money.
The only question is why did it take so long for something like this to happen? Are you ready for the cloud?
Press release
Yahoo Blog
Maktoob
posted by grapeshisha at
3:02 AM
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