| ATTN: Business
Editor / Internet Editor |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, March 20th, 2001 |
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MAKTOOB.COM THE MOST POPULAR ARAB WEB SERVICE
Latest audits by Alexa Research and Arabian Business.com
endorse its foremost stature
Dubai: Maktoob.com, the leading online Arab community, has
once again topped the list of most popular Middle Eastern
websites.
Two independent surveys, conducted separately by the US-based
Alexa Research and the Dubai-based Arabian Business.com magazine
in conjunction with Accenture (formerly known as Andersen
Consulting), have found Maktoob.com as the most popular Internet
service in the Arab world.
The recently released Arabian Business.com web index shows
Maktoob.com maintaining its lead for the second consecutive time
with 24.7 million page impressions, well ahead of its closest
regional competitors.
“We aim to make this index the benchmark for the online
industry in this region,” explained Rushdi Al-Saleh, Manager
(Financial Services), Accenture. “Knowing which sites are busy
gives both users and site developers a perspective on what is
leading to online success. The numbers provided in the web index
will help promote real competition among sites based on
performance that is measurable, especially for sites of the same
category.”
Maktoob.com’s leading status was further endorsed by Alexa
Research, the highly reputed subsidiary of Amazon.com specialising
in Internet rankings, which rated it the top Arab web service, as
viewed by a Middle Eastern user panel, and the seventh most
popular international site in the Middle East. The latest Alexa
survey, carried out across 13 countries in the Middle East, put
Maktoob.com among the top international websites, including Yahoo,
MSN, Google and Geocities.
The Internet rankings (see attached lists) provide an important
tool for evaluating dot-com companies, especially in an emerging
technology market such as the Middle East.
“There are plenty of reasons why the Middle East needs an
independent third party that can provide web site visitor
information,” said Rob Corder, Editorial Director of ITP. “Marketing
managers and media planners need to know that their advertising
budgets are being well-spent, venture capitalists want to invest
in the best companies and employees want to join a ‘leading’
organisation. The Arabian Business.com / Accenture Web Index
provides information that helps them decide whether a dot-com’s
claims are true.”
Al-Saleh added that the results would also provide the web
service’s clients and media agencies with accurate data to guide
them on their decisions on where to advertise. “As the industry
becomes more competitive, site developers will have to think more
and more about introducing new concepts, tools and features to
keep the site fresh and attractive, and constantly drive more
traffic,” he pointed out.
Samih Toukan, CEO of Maktoob.com, sees his company’s consistent
leading position as a powerful endorsement by the Middle East’s
online community of Maktoob.com’s continued innovation and growing
availability of Internet-based facilities.
“We are constantly aiming to improve our services and features
to meet user demands, especially now that Internet surfers in the
Middle East are becoming ever more sophisticated,” he
explained. “The results of the two surveys clearly show that we
are on the right path, and we hope to continue with our mission in
the future.”
However, he pointed out that while the Arabian Business.com survey
focussed exclusively on Arab web services, the Alexa Research poll
covered more than 13 Middle East countries, including
non-Arabic-speaking nations such as Iran and Turkey.
Toukan added that Maktoob.com would continue with its endeavour to
enrich the web service with the latest cutting-edge features.
Launched in October 1998, Maktoob.com currently enjoys a
membership base of 900,000, growing at an average of 3,500 new
members daily.
(more)
“We are encouraged to see that our success over the years has
spurred other players in the region to explore the exciting
potentials offered by this particular medium,” Toukan pointed
out. “I am confident that the Middle East’s rising prominence
in the global Internet race will force major international players
to look at the region with renewed enthusiasm.”
Maktoob.com is the first Arabic / English web-based email
solutions provider and leading virtual community for Arabs
worldwide. Besides the free email service, the company offers a
comprehensive range of interactive Internet-based facilities
including Instant Messaging, Live Internet radio station,
Voicemail, WAP, a comprehensive business directory, Arabic music,
chat, online auction and shopping, electronic greeting cards and
information services.
For more details, please contact,
Edward D’Mello
Headline Public Relations
Tel: 009714 – 3475006; Fax: 009714 – 3475013
e-mail:
edward@headlinepr.com
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