Etisalat unveils Weyak, UAE's first virtual community

Weyak, which means 'With You' in Arabic, is designed to offer the best and most relevant community content to people living in the UAE, along with services that are highly personalized and secure. It can be reached on www.weyak.ae for Internet and mobile.weyak.ae for mobile devices.

The fully customizable content and services portal includes the latest entertainment services and news from around the nation and around the world, Islamic content, and community resources ranging from e-mail, blogs and discussion forums to shared photo albums, downloadable content and gaming.

"Technology can be a lifestyle enhancer, and Weyak is a fine example of the potential of the convergence between the Internet and mobile phones to enhance our customers' lives," said Khalifa Al Forah, Acting Chief Marketing Officer, Etisalat. "Weyak, as the name suggests, will always be with you - at home, in the office, and when you are on the move. It is information and entertainment anytime, anywhere, from your computer and mobile. It will be the one-stop destination for information and community connections, the only place you need to visit to communicate, interact, learn and be entertained."

Weyak is the first such online community in the region to be both a full-fledged Web portal and a full-fledged mobile portal, he added.

"With the launch of Weyak, we are entering the world of online media, because that is where our customers want us to be," Al Forah added. "We want to encourage our customers to voice their opinions, share their life experiences and their knowledge, and truly use our solution to come together."

"This is one of many milestones in our journey to connect the UAE community and to deliver cutting-edge, life-enhancing solutions everywhere our footprint extends," he said. "The UAE is an increasingly connected society that deserves convergence technology services to match and Weyak will play a significant role in our drive towards expanding our broadband and 3G initiatives."

"Over the last year", Khalifa added, "The UAE's number of broadband subscribers alone has grown by 45 per cent. As of August 2006, Internet penetration in the UAE reached more than 600,000 subscribers, with the number of users exceeding 2.5 million. Mobile penetration exceeds 120 per cent, with more than 5.1 million subscribers. "

According to Ahmed Nassef, General Manager of leading Arabic portal Maktoob.com, "The future of media lies in convergence. Using the strengths of online community creation and integrating with mobile services and broadband is a step in the right direction and its heartening to see Etisalat, a leader in the telecommunication and mobile space, understand the importance of online communities and leverage this potential with the launch of Weyak."

"Two things are currently driving mobile communications around the world: community services allowing friends and families to get together, and multimedia such as photos and video. HP is delighted to participate in the launch of this exciting new mobile portal called Weyak to support these objectives," said Claude Florin, Multimedia Marketing Manager, HP Software.

Weyak users can choose from a variety of services including online learning and e-greetings, and will also be able to download the latest ring tones, video clips, games, wallpapers and other exclusive content onto their mobile handsets.

Etisalat customers using conventional Internet connections or GPRS-enabled mobile phones will be able to subscribe to the Weyak portal for free through their existing user IDs and prepaid or post-paid mobile numbers. Customers seeking premium content to download can pay for it securely over their existing connections.

To access Weyak from a mobile phone, consumers can send an SMS with the message 'a weyak' to 1010, and will immediately receive setup instructions.