Portals – Page 5 – StartUpArabia

Stardoll And Maktoob Bring Avatar Fashion To Arab Market

November 16, 2008November 16, 2008 MMM 2 Comments

Stardoll, the world’s largest online entertainment destination devoted to girls interested in fame, fashion and friends, has announced a partnership with Maktoob, the world’s largest Arabic online community, to launch an all-new Arabic-language version of Stardoll.

The partnership, which was announced at the Dubai World Game Expo, introduces the Stardoll community to Middle Eastern fashion enthusiasts exclusively on the Maktoob network at stardoll.maktoob.com. The site is now available in 13 countries in the region including Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria and United Arab Emirates.

Users who join Stardoll’s interactive global community can enjoy the full Stardoll experience; they can create customized ‘MeDoll’ avatars in their own likeness, be able to use Stardollars, the site’s virtual currency, to shop for virtual fashions in the Starplaza, and purchase virtual décor to furnish their personalized suites–all while navigating the site seamlessly in Arabic. Other features of the site include the recently launched Stardoll Magazine, member-created clubs and StarDesign–a virtual design studio.

“Maktoob is proud to partner with Stardoll to bring this one-of-a-kind fashion community for girls in Arabic,” Ahmed Nassef, Vice-President and General Manager of Maktoob, said in a statement. “Teen and Tween girls already make up a huge segment of our audience, currently mostly focused around our casual gaming channels. By partnering with an international leader like Stardoll, we are bringing a whole new level of fun and interactivity to this online-savvy audience.”

“In keeping with the unique cultural traditions of the Middle East, the Arabic-language version of Stardoll has been tailored to reflect the values and sensitivities of the region, while ensuring the confidentiality of user identities as per Maktoob standards,” Nassef added.

“Stardoll is thrilled to partner with the highly regarded Maktoob to bring our content to the Middle East,” said Mattias Miksche, CEO of Stardoll. “As home to more than 20 million users worldwide, Stardoll prides itself on its global reach. We’re happy to connect young fashionistas throughout the Middle East to our global community of girls all over the world who share similar interests.”

Stardoll has about 20 million users worldwide and 8 million unique visitors every month – 94% of whom are teen and tween girls. Most users are girls between the age of 10 to 17 and online safety is a huge consideration. Stardoll adds a layer of anonymity to all accounts. Users can never reveal personal information such as their real name or city of origin on their pages.

SMELink.ae, Business Community Portal For UAE SMEs

November 7, 2008November 7, 2008 MMM

The Mohammed bin Rashid Establishment for Young Business Leaders (SME) and Tejari, the leading online B2B marketplace for global emerging markets, has announced the launch of SMELink.ae, a new online portal specifically catering to small and medium businesses.

The launch of this portal marks yet another addition to the rapidly expanding portfolio of services provided to Tejari members. “This achievement is a big step for Tejari and we are convinced that e-commerce will only grow from strength to strength through our initiatives,” said Omar Hijazi, CEO of Tejari.

Members registered with the Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Establishment For Young Business Leaders automatically become a member of this portal, gaining access to an online community of over quarter million members. In addition to this, all members of the community are eligible for an eExhibit package, whereby they can set up an online showroom to display their products and services.

“The new portal will without doubt benefit members of the establishment and will open up new windows of opportunity for existing and new small and medium size enterprises,” said Adbul Baset Al Janahi, CEO of Mohammed bin Rashid Est. for Young Business Leaders (SME).

# Source: Khaleej Times

First Online Nokia Music Store In Middle East To launch In UAE

October 3, 2008October 3, 2008 MMM 2 Comments

Nokia, the worldwide leader in mobility, recently announced that the first Nokia Music Store in the Middle East will be opening its virtual doors in the United Arab Emirates in December 2008.

The new online music store, to be accessible at music.nokia.ae, will feature a large array of tracks from major regional and international artists, independent labels, and up-and-coming acts. The site will include a host of interactive features such as music browsing, personal track recommendations and streaming service. Other highlights include the ability to listen to a 30 second clip from any track on the store. Part of the Ovi by Nokia offering, the Nokia Music Store offers a compelling combination of download and streaming services, empowering users to connect to the music they want, in the way they want.

“This is a first of its kind offering in the region in terms of the scope and diversity of the content, as well as user experience. The Nokia Music Store is a fantastic way to build a music collection that is truly mobile, where users can be confident that they are legally downloading music that is high quality and risk free. It brings a new kind of experience where people can preview, try and discover new music on their PC or on their mobile device like never before,” said Chris Braam, Vice President, Sales, Nokia Middle East and Africa.

This is the 12th music store that Nokia is rolling out globally. Music will be provided by all major international and regional labels including Universal, Sony BMG, Warner, EMI, Rotana and leading content aggregator Qanawat, as well as thousands of independent labels.

“The UAE is a melting pot, and people here literally come from all parts of the world. This is why we have ensured that we are offering a diverse collection of music that suits people’s different tastes covering Arabic, Bollywood and international music. Music, by nature, is ever-evolving, and as new music comes out, we will be continuously adding and updating our catalogue,” said Ayman Chalhoub, Business Manager, Music, Nokia Middle East and Africa.

Users will be able to purchase music as individual tracks, as albums, or through a monthly subscription for PC streaming. With a single account, music lovers will access the Nokia Music Store via their desktop computer or directly from a range of optimized Nokia devices to browse for new music, get recommendations or search for their favorite artists, songs or albums all from the palm of their hand. Once a track captures their attention, users will be able to add it to their wishlist to buy later or purchase it immediately for download to a mobile device without having to download the same song again on their computer. They will also be able to transfer purchased songs via a PC to compatible Nokia devices.

To celebrate the announcement of the Nokia Music Store in the UAE, Nokia will be presenting Kylie Minogue’s exclusive concert to take place in Dubai Festival City on 21st November 2008, as part of Kylie’s X2008 Tour. The event will be the Australian Pop singer’s first ever show in the Middle East.
As part of this sponsorship, Nokia will be conducting an online competition offering tickets and a host of other prizes.

# music.nokia.ae

ShooFeeTV Free Arab TV Guide Service Officially Launched

September 9, 2008September 9, 2008 MMM 4 Comments

ShooFeeTV, a free online Arabic television guide, has officially been launched as a useful resource for TV fans, allowing them access to the program grids for the 120 most popular channels, carried by NileSat and ArabSat.

ShooFeeTV has been under development for some time now, recently going public with a beta while they ironed out the final details before this release. But they’ve already been syndicating content to Maktoob’s TV Guide section well before the launch.

The site holds a wealth of information revolving around Arab TV channels, their programming, details about the different shows, movies and actors (both Arab and foreign); and this information is provided in a number of different ways, to make it as easy as possible for the user to find what they’re looking for quickly.
Short news features about popular programs and actors are provided by the ShooFeeTV team too.

Photos and videos from the world of television are also made available that users can view and share with their friends. ShooFeeTV users can add comments, vote in weekly entertainment polls and participate in discussion forums and television-related blogs available on the site.

From the beginning, the site recognizes which country a user is located in, and automatically sets the programming grid to their local time, eliminating any painful time conversions.
To further personalize their use of the website, users can log on on and create their own listings grid featuring their favorite channels, using the ‘My ShooFeeTV’ feature.

The website features selected programs highlighted by the site’s independent editorial team, as well as the most popular programs, as ranked by users of the service.

ShooFeeTV also provides a podcast, which in three minutes each time takes viewers one week ahead, highlighting upcoming movies, sports events and television shows. The podcast will also be available on iTunes.

ShooFeeTV doesn’t stop at the online side of things; taking things a step further to distribute their content through a number of other channels. For example, they plan to distribute a special version of the podcast to radio stations who wish to provide TV programming to their listeners; mobile services giving users access to TV listings on their mobile phones should be coming soon; deals are being pursued to syndicate their content to other portals, newspapers and magazines; and a satellite TV channel featuring Arab TV listings is part of the plan.

ShooFeeTV was launched from Jordan; it was founded by entrepreneur Amjad Tadros.
Accelerator Technology Holdings (ATH), through their IV Holdings arm, announced their investment in the startup earlier this year.

# ShooFeeTV

If I Can Vote: Express Your Opinions & Build Connections

August 13, 2008August 13, 2008 MMM 6 Comments

If I Can Vote is a new service launched from Dubai to give people from all around the world a chance to voice their opinions on elections and causes from around the world, that they’re not necessarily eligible to vote in.

In an ever so interconnected world, the results of an election in one part of the world, a referendum in another, or a policy change somewhere or the other, can have a ripple effect throughout the world. It’s not to say that the whole world should have the right to vote, but it’d at least be interesting to have their voice be heard and their opinion known.

To that extent this simple service hits the nail straight on the head, giving people around the globe the chance to be heard. The current vote that is open for the world to voice its opinion on is of course the US presidential elections, and the choice between Barack Obama and John McCain as the next president of the United States of America.
In fact, recently I’ve been reading many articles on who’d be better for this or that region among the two contenders, and this website is pretty much an effective way to know that.

An interesting choice that was taken by the team behind the service is that the person voting must explain why he chose one side over the other, which should offer even more insight into what the world thinks.

After the US elections are over, they aim to extend it to cover any future elections or causes: elections in India for example, debates about causes like environment and world peace, …etc.

The service also aims to build an online community, focused on enabling opinionated people to connect with like-minded people or others with opposing views; to that effect people can choose to connect with other people around the world depending on their votes and opinions, and also invite their friends and contacts to the service to let their voice be heard as well. More social features are being added to the site to drive feeds from and into major social platforms.

The site shows the percentage of votes that each side got, the number of votes from top voting countries, and also rotates the votes of some random people, helping you find people you can connect to and read their different opinions.

The site is available in English only for the time being, although I think it’d be interesting to enable other languages as well, so as to open it up to more people, and as the interface is pretty simple and light, it shouldn’t even be a big fuss to add major languages.

# If I Can Vote

Cinéma Tunisien, The Portal For Tunisian Cinema

August 1, 2008August 1, 2008 MMM

Cinéma Tunisien is a recently launched portal dedicated to Cinema in Tunisia.

The portal aims to be an online database of information on Tunisian movies, directors, actors, critics, producers and associations involved with cinema making in the country.

It also provides details about the history of Cinema in Tunisia, and how it has evolved over the years; Also listing the different cinematic festivals and gatherings taking place throughout the country.

Cinema fans can also find the latest news, interviews, upcoming movie openings, as well as what movies are currently being shown in cinemas around Tunisia. They also have the possibility to connect with each other in the discussion forum, and to rate and review their favorite movies.

The portal is in French only for the time being. Hopefully it will keep growing into a very interesting resource documenting all sides and aspects of Tunisian Cinema.

# Cinéma Tunisien

Sukuk.net, Online Islamic Finance Portal

July 15, 2008July 15, 2008 MMM 1 Comment

Sukuk.net is a new online financial portal dedicated to “Sukuk” (Islamic Bonds), and Islamic financing, that aims to be the definitive source of information on the global Sukuk market and the premier online destination for the Sukuk industry providing investors, financial services professionals, researchers and institutions with up to date market information.

It also hopes to go one step further by providing investors with all the tools necessary to understand the market and analyse the competition and market data; and assisting firms in developing strategies, market forecasting and identifying new business and investment opportunities.

Users can track global Sukuk activity, market data and register for market tracking analysis tools. The website’s Sukuk Wire also provides an up to the minute feed of the latest news and information on global Sukuk.

The launch of this portal is in response to a growing number of investors and enterprises seeking Shariah compliant funding and general public interest in Islamic finance; The Sukuk market, in particular, is seeing rapid growth and Sukuk paper has the advantage of competitive pricing as a risk-mitigation structure.

Sukuk.net is a Dubai and Jeddah based initiative formed through a joint venture between Siraj Capital Ltd., a leading Saudi based Islamic asset management company, and alClick Ltd., a leading provider of online advertising and marketing services in the Gulf region.

# Sukuk.net

MBC Group & CDC Games Partner On Arabic Online Gaming Portal

June 29, 2008June 29, 2008 MMM 5 Comments

MBC Group recently partnered with CDC Games, a global market leader in online gaming and distribution based in China, to develop and launch an Arabic online gaming web portal which will include a portfolio of massive multi-player online games (MMPOG/MMPORG), in both English and Arabic.

MBC Group aims to reproduce the success of the online multi-player game genre in the Arab world, through launching games that are customized for the region’s audience and that appeal to the numbers of Arab gamers that have been pretty limited in their choices up to now.

Online gaming has become a huge global industry with an estimated value expected to reach $13 – $15 billion by 2012. This progressive trend is clearly what incited MBC Group to develop this venture for the Arab market.

This is yet another online project by MBC Group, that is part of their strong online strategy push recently, which has produced projects such as MBC iMatter, a social networking site for Arab women, and MBC2 Movies In Motion, a video sharing and social networking service; and which Sam Barnett, Chief Operating Officer and General Manager of MBC Group, describes as their “overall strategy of leading the region towards digital and media convergence.”

# More: Zawya