[WikimediaMobile] Mobile Use in Egypt, Qatar, Palestinian Territories and Jordan - Informal Research for Wikimedia Foundation/Mobile-L

[Philip Chang]

Hey Sara,

Just awesome! This is a great snapshot and gives us a good starting point
for further research.

Thanks for being so thorough with what was an extracurricular activity!

Phil


On Thu, Nov 10, 2011 at 10:21 AM, Sara Yap <syap at wikimedia.org> wrote:

> Hi Wikipedians/Mobil-Lians, Following the lead of others at WMF, I've
> attached some non-scientific mobile notes after a 9 day visit to Egypt and
> a four day trip to Qatar.
>
> With no surprise, mobile phone usage has increased in these two countries
> (call it political revolution, social media fascination, and a high
> concentration of connectors/community-oriented folk). Attached are pictures
> of mobile phones and a few findings which hopefully informas and maybe
> piques more interest (like data gathering) on device-use in the Middle East
> and North Africa.
>
> To start...
>
> In *Egypt*, there are four main cellular communication services:
>
>    - Mobinil <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobinil>
>    - Vodafone Egypt <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vodafone_Egypt>
>    - Etisalat Egypt <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etisalat_Egypt>
>    - Orascom Telecom Holding<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orascom_Telecom_Holding>
>
> In *Qatar*, the lone carrier is:
>
>    - Qtel <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qtel>
>
> Mobile Use and the Impact on Arabic
>
> One Egyptian professor stated: "The uptick in phone use will cause Arabic
> readership to increase; writing in Modern Standard Arabic will be helpful
> or essential for people if they want to participate in the communication
> wave, whether through texting or emailing. People want to stay informed on
> the current events happening across the MENA region."
> What Does This Mean?
>
> Several thoughts:
>
> - Technology could play a role in resuscitating Arabic.
>
> - Between the varied opinions, and two different economies (Qatar and
> Egypt), undoubtedly reading and writing in Arabic and English will increase.
>
> - Arabic content on Wikipedia could boost readership on mobile [1]<http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/printArticle.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=465688&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16> in
> this region if people have these types of devices.
>
> - On the flip-side, the professor and I discussed that English could also
> grow as the “lingua franca”, thus decreasing Arabic readership; however, I
> don't have the modeling tools to predict this. :(
> Egypt
>
> In Cairo, many locals use cheaper, no-name brand phones that have great
> media functions. For many, capturing the local protests through videos and
> photos is still important for sharing content with a wider audience. Of
> course this is just a sample size of the community, but it reflects how
> people are using technology for another different set of purposes in Egypt.
> One person commented that some phones look like Transformers: one moment it
> can makes calls and within seconds, snap into a camera for pictures or
> videos. In general, Egyptians are heavy users of mobile phones (just sit in
> the back of a taxi and you’ll witness this).
> Smartphones
>
> iPhones would be more popular if priced lower and if data was cheaper.
> Cairenes use a mix of mobile brands from Korea, phones less commonly seen
> in the United States. Egyptians primarily send text messages, make calls
> and use the media function on a phone. Emailing is a lower priority (which
> explains the lag in response time!).
>
> In Egypt, people tend to browse the Internet less because of the costs of
> sending data. Another sample size of users owned mostly Blackberries
> (primarily to send text messages and email). Transferring data also costs
> less on a Blackberry.
>  *Use of Mobile Web -- Facebook, IM apps, etc.* From a limited sample
> size in Cairo, I didn't see many people using apps or logging into Facebook
> (dueto high data expenses) unless they were within reach of WiFi.
> Challenges of Reading Arabic on Phones and Accessing Wikipedia
>
> 1. Many people don't know that they can access Wikipedia on their phones
> 2. Arabic script renders incorrectly on certain mobile platforms
> 3. There is a lack of Arabic content on Arabic Wikipedia so people will
> search less in this language
> 4. Data costs are high in Egypt
> 5. Low literacy rates, especially in the rural areas of Egypt
> Samples of Phones Used in Egypt and Qatar
>
> 1. Person 1 (Egypt): uses two devices simultaneously
>
>    - Phones: HTC Windows device and 1 iPod touch for the WiFi aspect
>    - Findings: Arabic Wikipedia displays correctly on iPod touch
>    (expected!)
>
> 2. Person 2 (Qatar): one device
>
>    - Phone: Nokia E72 (Vodafone)
>    - Findings: Arabic Wikipedia on the Nokia renders correctly on the
>    Nokia E72
>
> 3. Person 3 (Egypt): one device
>
>    - Phone: LG GS505
>    - Finding: Arabic Wikipedia was garbled. Person uses phone only for
>    texting and email, not necessarily for talking.
>
>
>    - Added note: In Qatar, Blackberry phones and Nokia smartphones seem
>    to be the preferred devices.
>
> *Additional Research: **Interviewees from Jordan and Palestinian
> Territories*
> *How do people top up their phones?*
> There are phone pre-paid plans where people pay a yearly fee or use a
> rebate card(?).
> Jawal is the most expensive. Orange, Zain and Omnia are also popular
> carriers. I spoke with one Jordanian woman and she uses three phone lines.
> She is committed to Orange (since '06) because the rates are good and the
> network is coverage is decent. Palestinians uses Jawal which is the most
> popular. Palestinians have more restricted coverage and 3G use in their
> area.
>
> *Would people be willing to do a quick surveys/answering a few questions?
> Why/why not?
> *It depends on the length of the survey and how will this benefit our
> country (she recommends communicating the incentives to respond in the
> survey). It also depends on the number on questions. 20 minutes is time
> consuming for doing a survey.
>
> *How do people get their news?
> *People hear about updates on technology, companies, ideas, etc. through
> Facebook and less through Twitter. Newspapers are also helpful sources of
> information. She also uses Wikipedia
>
> *Feedback*
> This person (works at a tech company) and didn't know that Wikipedia could
> be edited!
>
> Shokran jazeelan | شكرا
>
> Sara Yap
>
> Catalyst Project Associate | Global Development
> Wikimedia Foundation | http://wikimediafoundation.org/
> <http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate>
>
> [1]
> http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/printArticle.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=465688&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16
>
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>
>


-- 
Phil Inje Chang
Product Manager, Mobile
Wikimedia Foundation
415-812-0854 m
415-882-7982 x 6810
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