E-commerce firm sees mobile future - The National Newspaper

E-commerce firm sees mobile future - The National Newspaper

Regional organisations such as Egypt’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency and Twofour54 ibtikar are investing in the development of content.

Sales of smartphones, the more powerful mobiles, in the Middle East are expected to increase 39 per cent annually through 2014, according to a recent report by Pyramid Research.

“Eventually mobile usage is predicted to grow more than computers,” Mr Toukan said.

“E-commerce on mobile is predicted to grow as well. This is not going to happen in the Arab world over the next few years, but it will eventually happen and we want to be ready to be there.”

He also hinted that Jabbar is looking for more online companies to add to its growing portfolio of e-commerce firms.

“We’ll be looking into that area, learning a lot, we want to understand it very well and understand [it] from other countries such as China,” Mr Toukan said.

“We believe that we’re in the beginning of e-commerce in the region … Jabbar is an investor, an incubator. We might invest in 20 companies and 10 might succeed and 10 might fail.”