Smartphones account for 44% of all handsets in UAE, 55% in Saudi Arabia and 42% in Jordan

"Arab Advisors new surveys reveal that Smartphones constitute 43.7% of total cellular handsets in the UAE, 54.6% of total handsets in Saudi and 41.6% in Jordan.
A new Arab Advisors Group’s survey of cellular users in the UAE reveals insightful details on the smartphones adoption and usage patterns in the UAE. The survey also probed general cellular usage habits, smartphones awareness in addition to tablets availability among cellular users in the UAE. This survey comes on the heals of a similar survey in Jordan. Full results of a similar Saudi survey will be out in October 2011.
The Arab Advisors Group concluded a ground breaking survey of cellular users in the UAE probing smartphones adoption and usage. The survey revealed that Blackberry leads with 51% share of smartphones operating systems (calculated based on handsets’ brands). iOS (iPhone) ranked second while Symbian came in third. Smartphone users prefer the English language for their applications. Over 300 delegates will discuss and deliberate the ongoing trends in the regional smartphone ecosystem at Arab Advisors’ Smart Handheld Summit which will be held on December 5 & 6, 2011 in Dubai. Saudi Telecom Company (STC) is the Strategic Summit Partner. Qualcomm is sponsoring the summit which is also supported byAppsArabia, Microsoft, nPario, Teletimes, DVV, ITP CommsMea, MediaME and Telecom Watch."

Source:  Press release from the Arab Advisors Group, 19th October 2011

68 Percent of Saudi girls drop their last name on Facebook

"Dammam, Asharq Al-Awsat - Are you on Facebook under your real name? This is the question that continues to haunt a large number of Saudi Arabian women, despite the fact that internet social networking sites rely primarily on factual personal information. However a recent study carried out in Saudi Arabia shows that 68 percent of Saudi girls prefer to withhold their family name due to the sensitivity of this information, in comparison to just 32 percent of girls who appear on Facebook under their own full names. The study revealed that 16 percent of girls polled were members of Facebook under aliases or false identities. As for the Saudi Arabian boys who use Facebook, the study showed that 60 percent of those questioned were members of Facebook under their own full name, with just 4 percent appearing under an alias or a false name."
Source: Asharq Alawsat, 19th January 2010