Nowdays the number of Arabic technology start-ups multiply, and grow
exponentially. Numbers aside, what Arabic start-ups defy the traditional
technology scene, and add depth to the development of the Arabic
Internet? Well, here I complied five start-ups to watch. Five start-ups
that IMHO will create a difference.

So here is the list (in no order):

1. weNear

weNear is a location based awareness application. By defining your
interests it allows you to connect with people who might be sitting
next to you in a public place and have the same interests as you.
Now why is this a big deal? Its mobile-based model is no-brainer.
The penetration of mobile phones In Arabic countries is far ahead
of internet penetration which gives weNear access to far more
users than any other Arabic start-ups. weNear is developed by
eSpace in Egypt.

2. Yamli

The popular tool that translates what you type in Arabic
(using Latin alphabets) to English. We just cant stop talking
about it! It tackles a problem encountered by a vast majority
of Arabic users, who might have no access to an Arabic enabled
keyboard. Also, they have announced their API which allows
other start-ups to integrate the service in their own websites.
Need I say more? recently it won the Best Web Technology Award
courtesy of The Pan Arab WebAwards. Yamli is based in Boston
and developed by Habib Haddad.

3. EatLime

Alright, this one is unique. EatLime allows you to upload videos
and share them on different social networking outlets
(Facebook, MySpace, YouTube) or even e-mail. But wait, what is
special about that? Glad you asked, it does it in fraction of the time!
The service is based on a patent pending technology, and was
developed by two friendly guys Mohamed and Adil from Jordan
and Pakistan respectively.

4. Feedoor

My personal favorite. Feedoor allows you to mix different feeds
in one feed, to filter your feeds, add videos, photos, and even
audio into your own feed. Create a podcast from the feed or interact
with different posts. The possibilities are endless! The service makes
a dwarf of Google’s FeedBurner. It is developed by Mahmoud Mehyar from Jordan.

5. Muxlim

Muxlim is a social network for Muslims. The start-up is based in Finland,
but its Arabic (we swear)! The founder of the service is Mohammed El-Fatatry
who is an Egyptian entrepreneur living in Finland. The portal includes video,
blogs, social, images and file sharing services. A virtual space service is also
in the making. Recently, it was selected as one of the Top 100 Start-ups
in Europe by Red Herring. The service has an API and you can build you own
applications for Muxlim and it is compatible with Google’s Open Social.

Disagree with the list, Tell us who you think should make the top 5.

Tomorrow GadgtesArabia, Swalif, and the Emirates Internet Group are organizing
a thinking tank about the Arabic internet industry.

Where and When?

Dubai,
Dubai Knowledge Village
Conference Hall
First Floor, Block 1

Why we think its a remarkable event?

1. It is the first event co-organized by three distinctive entities, GadgetsArabia the blog about new devices and technology, Swalif the website with tremendous user database both in term of quantities and qualities, and the Emirates Internet Group a UAE based non-profit which seeks to nurture the web scene in the UAE.

2. The event features interesting speakers and an open discussion on the status of the Arabic internet industry.

3. We are attending the event!
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