The Day in Tech

A cheapskate personal finance reporter takes a budget shot at the iPhone, Etisalat's man in Nigeria is discovering he isn't in the Gulf anymore, what do Arab startups need, and chats with Levantine dotcom luminaries, all in your morning tech roundup, after the jump.

- Asa Fitch, our resident

personal finance columnist, and editor of

,

. Although if you read the column, it becomes clear that the also considers tic tacs, sliced bread and hot water the kind of luxuries that a true penny-saver can live without.

- The Punch, a Nigerian newspaper with one of the greatest names in the industry,

, the CEO of Etisalat Nigeria. The complexity of rolling out a mobile network in a massive, heavily populated country filled with as much weirdness as one can imagine, is getting to him:

The biggest challenge we face is to be rolling the network out. It is difficult and there is a lot of logistical issues involved. There are communication issues and there is power issue in terms of the reliability of power. We deal with lots of sophisticated equipment which require reliable and stable power. It is an unusual market place where you have to put a generator in every cell phone shop. You have to then guard against the fuel running out. It is a unique challenge that I spend every hour of my waking day working on.

- What do Arab startup companies need the most? Cash? Mentorship?

?

- "original ideas" is currently in the lead.

-

has a couple of good video interviews - one with the

(Optimiza, D1G, etc) and another with the