The writer, Hammoud Al-Hamoud, thankfully made a dialogue about the iPhone and the popularity of it in the Arab world, especially Saudi Arabia .. And this was my answer to his questions ..

Q / The company has not yet launched the device in the Middle East region, and we see attempts to disassemble the device and introduce some programs (as you did). What are the reasons for this trend by users and not waiting for the Arabic version approved by the company? Is it true that the company has an intention to pursue those who dismantled the device? Especially with the difficulty of decoding the latest device update?
The company has a plan to introduce the device to the whole world, as it started in America, England, Germany, France and others, and some large countries such as China, for example, have not obtained the device until now .. This indicates that the device will take some time until it reaches the Middle East and the Arab region Officially ... although there are strong rumors saying that it will be in the Arab region in the sixth month of the year 2008, but my personal opinion is that we will not get the device officially before the end of 2008
As for the directive of users from now to deal with the device, this is for two reasons. First, everyone knows that this phone will not reach the Middle East soon, and this is because the purchasing power of Apple products in the Arab world is not great. Secondly, the device is irresistible in terms of capabilities and creativity in design, and it is enough that it got me The title of the best invention for the year 2007 and also the fastest selling device, as it sold five million phones in only six months, and many other titles, and this indicates that it is really a distinctive device in terms of designing programs and internal and external parts.
I do not think that the company will pursue those who disassemble the device or make programs for it, because Apple is a smart company and it knows that these achievements in terms of program work and development of the device system itself are in its interest and we see that the company has benefited a lot from the ideas presented by the hackers of the device, so that it She hired one of the hackers for him .. Also, the company has the ability to stop all additional programs, but this has not happened until now, and I do not see that this is the policy of a company that intends to pursue the hackers, but it is only an appearance to preserve the rights of the phone companies that have contracted with Apple to despise the device.

Q / Many electrical appliance companies took advantage of people's eagerness for the device and sold it for many times its price. What do you think of you as informed, knowing the real price of the device?
In fact, this is not an anomaly that happened on the iPhone only, but rather a phenomenon that occurs every day, which is when the demand for the commodity increases and the supply decreases, it results in a rise in the price of this commodity, and this also happened with the wii games device in all the world. I do not want to blame only the electrical equipment companies, but also the suppliers in foreign countries have raised the price at a time of increased demand.

Q / With the exaggerated price, many users have posed problems that may be important to many of them, such as bluetooth and mms support, which makes the device may not even its sold price in America?
Now you are talking about one of the defects of the device, which is its lack of support for MMS, and it is known about Apple that it is always trying to push the user to deal with modern technologies and impose on the user what it deems correct. When Apple did not support its device with the GPS feature to determine the location, that was because the components used to support this feature It consumes a lot of energy, which affects the time of operation of the device, and Apple knows well that the GPS system in mobile devices may be replaced by a system that depends on the location of the GSM cells to determine the location, and this is really what happened and with the new version, the iPhone user will be able to locate it without the need To GPS, then Apple knew this of course, and does what is good for the user and has it, and here is the same case with MMS, Apple believes that with the presence of e-mail capabilities, the need to use such a feature is less, because the capabilities of e-mail are much greater than MMS and Apple provided methods Very easy in the phone to support the mail very easily .. And this is the answer to your question, of course, not the price of the phone is not much, but it is a technological revolution that some must get used to and overlook some defects compared to the many other features. These defects, of course, will be resolved with the continuous updates of Apple.

Q. / Do you have programs that you have made, can you give us some information about them, and do you have an idea to market them commercially?
The truth is, the iPhone Islam website (www.iPhoneIslam.com) tried from the first months of the device’s arrival and spread in the Arab world to support the device with what the Arab user might need. And it is easy for him in simple ways to deal with the phone and the site has already provided Arabization tools that were gathered to the compatibility of the Arabic language .. such as the Arabic keyboard and a program for converting Arabic messages to be read from the phone programs itself, and the site also produced its own programs such as the iAzkar program. Ali Muslim daily remembrance of the morning and evening remembrances and more than 260 supplications and dhikr, as well as an electronic rosary .. There is a new program called iMoon i-moon to display the current moon shape or on any date, and the program also works on converting from the Gregorian date to the Hijri date. We are also preparing to create a program for prayer times. The program will be open source and currently youth from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other countries are participating in its programming .. The program will alert the user at prayer times and other tasks ..
As for the commercial orientation, what we said is free from the beginning will still be free .. We are trying more than financial gain in moral gain to raise the banner of programmers and Arab and Muslim youth, and we send a message that has already been directed .. that Arabs may ride camels with an iPhone in their hands, so we are We own the originality and technology.

Q / Have you thought about cooperating with the manufacturer to support the program when the device is launched in the Middle East?
Apple does not deal with individuals or small organizations, and it has great capabilities so that it can achieve what it wants without the need for any external resources.
Rather, we depend on the Arab user in his rapid response to modern technology so that the general culture in the Arab world is a culture that allows us to do huge technological projects, and if we are a small seed, then the origin of the big tree is a small seed.

Q / What is your evaluation of the agents and distributors of Apple in the Arab regions?
There are, of course, no authorized agents or distributors from Apple for the iPhone device, and if you mean about general Apple devices, the prices in the Arab world are exaggerated compared to the price outside the Middle East region, and customer service is not comparable to the outside, but I know that the situation It will change after the Arab user's interest in Apple products, which will force the agents to deal more professionally.

Q / Everyone noticed the existence of Arab minds racing to find technical solutions to such problems, and you are one of them. Do you find support from major companies and do you find encouragement from the government agencies, whether by attracting or supporting you?
This is the problem of the Arab world and the countries of the entire third world, and it is a problem of governments in the first degree, and the problem is not with individuals, and if you travel to non-Arab countries, you will find most of the Arab doctors and engineers who have received care outside the Arab world, and many Arab scientists have not shone for them. Until they left our beloved country and left so that Uncle Sam opens his house for them and prepares them for the capabilities, and of course Uncle Sam benefits, and our beloved country loses the qualifications and finances .. But thank God, with the large number of mature and conscious youth, I see a noticeable change in the young generation. He participates, and even has his presence despite the lack of support and capabilities. And this is not in one Arab country, but in the entire Arab world.

Thank you, my brother, Hammoud Al-Hamoud, for this dialogue, and we expect him to constantly follow up every conversation in the field of technology, especially the iPhone.

To read the entire topic from the newspaper's website ... Click here

Related articles