A higher proportion of mobile phone users in the UAE own a top-of-the-range gadget such as an Apple iPhone or a BlackBerry than anywhere else on Earth.
An Arab Advisors Group (AAG) survey found that smartphones, the high-tech internet-connected handsets that give users access to email, social networking and mobile applications - make up 43.7 per cent of mobile phones in the UAE, compared with a 25 per cent average rate for countries elsewhere in the world included in the survey.
"Broadly speaking there's a strong take-up of smartphones in the UAE," said Matthew Reed, a telecommunications analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media.
"It is a relatively affluent market. There are some advanced telecommunications infrastructures, both operators [du and Etisalat] have 3G and HSPA networks [that offer mobile internet services], so those are some of the enabling factors," he said. The trend has provided a big boost for mobile phone vendors across the country.
Mahmoud Ezzat, who works at Asalala Mobile Phones, a small shop in Abu Dhabi, said his store sold about 13 smartphones every day, something he could never have previously envisioned.
"About two years ago, all the shops thought nobody will use these smartphones. Now, everybody wants one," Mr Ezzat said.
He said that of the devices he sold every day, the majority comprised Research In Motion's (RIM's) BlackBerrys, which were especially popular among Emiratis.
The AAG survey said BlackBerry was the dominant player in the UAE's smartphone market, with a 51 per cent share. Apple's iPhone follows with 31 per cent, while Nokia and Android phones make up the balance.
The popularity of RIM's handsets comes as no surprise, with the UAE a commercial hub for the region and a large number of business users accessing their email accounts on the move.
The free BlackBerry Messenger service is also popular among customers keen to avoid paying SMS fees.
But BlackBerry's grip on the local market will not remain, according to analysts who forecast that Google Android phones will dominate in the next five years.
The Android phone system leads the global smartphone market, being present on 39.5 per cent of devices such as Samsung and HTC phones. That number is forecast to grow to 45 per cent by 2016, according to IDC research.
And countries such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia, where there is a 54 per cent smartphone penetration rate according to the AAG survey, are also set to adopt that trend, Mr Reed said.
"At a global and regional level, we're forecasting Android to be the biggest OS [mobile operating system present on phones] over the next few years," he said.
"The trend is in Android's favour over the longer term."
Nevertheless, the growing adoption of a range of devices, whether they be BlackBerry or Android, will continue to drive up smartphone penetration rates in the Emirates.
Informa Telecoms and Media predicts a 71 per cent smartphone penetration rate, with 3,752,100 handsets owned in the UAE by 2016.
gvanzyl@thenational.ae
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Tuesday's fixtures
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
Company Profile
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The specs
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Company%20Profile
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What is tokenisation?
Tokenisation refers to the issuance of a blockchain token, which represents a virtually tradable real, tangible asset. A tokenised asset is easily transferable, offers good liquidity, returns and is easily traded on the secondary markets.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The five pillars of Islam
Married Malala
Malala Yousafzai is enjoying married life, her father said.
The 24-year-old married Pakistan cricket executive Asser Malik last year in a small ceremony in the UK.
Ziauddin Yousafzai told The National his daughter was ‘very happy’ with her husband.
