Maktoob.com says regional dotcom industry still strong

Commenting on media speculations about the overall business scenario in the Middle East, Samih Toukan, CEO of Maktoob.com (www.maktoob.com), explained that while some of the business organisations, particularly those related to aviation and tourism, were the hardest hit, the Internet industry has yet to feel any major repercussions.

"In fact, we are witnessing an unprecedented upsurge in the number of page impressions due to the fact that Maktoob.com has been delivering up-to-the-minute and impartial news coverage from some of the highly respected regional and international sources," Toukan explained. "While we earlier served in excess of 44 million page impressions, that number has now crossed well beyond 60 million page views due to the latest events (according to independent verification by Accenture and Arabian Business magazine)."

Toukan also revealed that Maktoob.com had succeeded in achieving its sales targets for the year, registering 424 per cent growth in online advertising revenue in the period January to September 2001 as compared to the same period last year. "The Middle East still continues to contribute the major chunk of our online advertising revenue, with the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt commanding the largest share of our international sales." (See attached chart)

Another reason for Maktoob.com posting a strong growth this year is the diversification of its core businesses, including helping other private organisations to build their own online communities and providing e-consultancy to a number of companies. He added that Maktoob.com had begun the diversification process to expand its revenue streams and not to depend solely on advertising.

In continuation of its new strategy, Maktoob.com recently announced its alliance with two leading Arabic newspapers, Asharq Al Awsat and An-Nahar, to help develop the online presence of the two widely circulated publications. At the same time, Toukan said that the keenness of regional Arab governments to develop their own online infrastructures was paving the way for a more solid future for the regional Internet industry.

"The opportunities provided to Internet companies are too many to be listed but, as a company that has been at the forefront of this region's Internet revolution right from the beginning, we are pleased to see that the industry here has achieved a high degree of maturity," he said. "With companies here offering diverse and focussed online services that are comparable to international standards, we can only be positive about the industry's future."